Capital Markets Associate

About the Role

The Capital Markets team is integral to daily business processes and new feature development for Betterment's in-house portfolio management, custody, and trading platforms. As a Capital Markets Associate, you will leverage subject matter expertise and quantitative rigor to propose, coordinate, and drive key projects related to the research and development of Betterment's trading systems. This role requires you to be process-oriented, results-focused, curious, and eager to learn. You will be iterative and collaborative, bringing innovation and efficiency to systems while ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks. You are expected to integrate modern AI tools (LLM assistants, AI-assisted coding, workflow automation) into your daily workflow for faster analysis, documentation, and research, always applying your own judgment.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee Betterment's order management and execution systems, including required oversight and intervention throughout market hours and all required regulatory reporting.
• Collaborate with senior team members to scope, plan, and execute trading-related initiatives, contributing to business case development, testing, and implementation.
• Assist in building and maintaining business reporting metrics related to execution quality, trade volumes, and cost analytics to support decision-making.
• Contribute to platform improvements by identifying operational inefficiencies and supporting research and production enhancements, including automating or streamlining recurring team workflows with AI.
• Maintain awareness of the evolving regulatory environment, including rule filings, industry commentary, and market structure developments.
• Draft and maintain clear team documentation, procedures, and stakeholder updates.
• Manage existing external counterparty relationships (brokers, market data providers, reporting vendors) and onboard new partners.
• Work closely with cross-functional partners (Investing, Product, Marketing, Engineering) to support capital markets initiatives.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Financial services experience (trading strongly preferred), software, or consulting, with contributions to the development and analysis of complex systems, particularly financial technology products.
• Interest in capital markets and curiosity to learn about trading systems, market data, market structure, and regulatory requirements.
• Experience with project management and demonstrated success in collaborative deliverables.
• Experience working with large datasets for data manipulation, with a strong attention to accuracy and efficiency.
• Proficiency in tools like SQL, Python, or similar languages is a plus.
• Hands-on experience using current AI assistants and agentic tools for everyday work (drafting queries, analyzing data, summarizing documents).
• Ability to pivot quickly and effectively.
• Excellent communication skills to engage and align stakeholders.
• Series 7 or ability to obtain the license within 3 months of hire.
• Familiarity with market data concepts (e.g., NBBO, SIP vs. direct feeds) is a plus.
• Sound judgment regarding AI's value and limitations, including verifying AI-generated analysis and code, understanding its limitations, and handling sensitive or regulated information appropriately with firm-approved tools.

Qualifications

• Process-oriented, results-focused, curious, and eager to learn.
• Iterative and a successful collaborator.