Citi operations head: We are the ninjas behind the scenes

efinancialcareers.com:

Operations jobs in investment banks have a seemingly well-deserved reputation for being a bit dull. When Goldman Sachs managing director Rebecca Anderton-Davies worked in operations, she found it very boring. "I didn’t love the work, which mainly involved repetitive tasks such as checking the basic time/date/amount/account details against the equivalent entries from other banks," she wrote in her recent autobiography, observing that it was — however, better than her previous job of stacking supermarket shelves. 

Some people love operations, though. They include Matt Sugden-Jones, Citi's head of data and analytics for its operational excellence division, who has spent his entire career in the 'back office' of the US investment bank after joining as a middle office operations analyst in 2010. He is a big fan. We asked Sugden-Jones what makes his job more than merely tolerable. This is what he said...

What is your role and what does it involve?

At present, I am in charge of overseeing the Data & Analytics division within Citi’s Enterprise Operational Excellence group, located in London. Our primary responsibility is to develop and implement innovative new strategies and tools to assist enterprise-wide Operations groups to articulate their performance at delivering against Citi’s strategic objectives. To accomplish this objective, my team collaborates closely with Operational Leaders across Citi Shared Services, the Institutional Clients Group, Private Banking & Wealth Management.

I joined the Citi Graduate program in 2010 and have remained with the company since then, assuming various positions. Prior to my current role, I served as the lead of tech transformation for Markets Operations.

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