Senior Business Analyst – Capital Markets

Job Description: Senior Business Analyst / Operating Model Lead – Whole Loan Trading Desk (Capital Markets)
Location: New York, NY or Chicago, IL
Duration: 6-month contract
Client: Large North American Bank – Capital Markets Group
Overview
A large North American bank is building a new Whole Loan Trading desk within its Capital Markets group and is seeking a senior contract resource to help define the target operating model, capture front-to-back requirements, and translate business needs into clear technology and process outcomes. The role is designed for a candidate who can work across the full mortgage whole loan lifecycle, from acquisition and trade execution through boarding, servicing oversight, securitization, and reporting, while partnering across front office, operations, technology, and control functions.
This mandate is especially well suited to a delivery-oriented business analyst or operating model lead who is comfortable bringing structure to an evolving environment, documenting workflows across multiple systems, and driving execution in support of a newly established desk. Similar mortgage capital markets roles emphasize end-to-end trade lifecycle support, settlement, reconciliation, securitization readiness, and close coordination with legal, tax, accounting, and technology stakeholders.
Role Summary
The consultant will work closely with newly hired Front Office leaders to capture business requirements and convert practitioner knowledge into a scalable end-to-end operating model for the new Whole Loan Trading desk. A central objective of the engagement will be to define what must be built or enhanced from a technology perspective, including complete and unambiguous requirements covering workflows, data, controls, integrations, and downstream impacts.
The role requires strong end-to-end thinking across the mortgage whole loan lifecycle, with a focus on ensuring that the desk can operate effectively from day one while establishing a foundation for scale, control, and future securitization activity. Comparable market roles highlight the importance of supporting acquisition, monitoring, reporting, disposition, and securitization of loan portfolios, while maintaining strong internal controls and accurate trade lifecycle processing.
Key Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end requirements gathering for the mortgage whole loan lifecycle, covering acquisition, purchase and sale execution, settlement, loan boarding, remittance, corporate actions, securitization readiness, and reporting.
• Define clear business requirements, process maps, operating procedures, exception flows, and control points across multiple systems and stakeholder groups.
• Partner directly with Front Office hires leading the desk to capture business intent, trading workflows, and product-specific requirements, then translate those inputs into scalable operational and technology designs.
• Support design of workflows for trade settlement and purchase / sale execution support, reflecting the importance of trade capture, position management, settlement, reconciliation, and exception handling in whole loan and mortgage capital markets environments.
• Define requirements for loan boarding and data integrity processes, including data quality expectations, lineage, reconciliation standards, and controls across upstream and downstream platforms.
• Establish process and control requirements for cash flow reconciliation and remittance oversight, including servicer reporting review, discrepancy investigation, and alignment between firm records and servicer records.
• Document requirements for corporate actions and lifecycle event handling across the portfolio, including changes that affect servicing, reporting, financing, securitization, or downstream accounting treatment.
• Support servicer oversight and relationship management processes by coordinating with external counterparties and internal functions to resolve data, cash, and operational issues.
• Work cross-functionally with Technology, Operations, Legal, Credit, Tax, Accounting, Market Risk, and Liquidity & Funding to ensure impacts are understood and dependencies are captured in the target model.
• Produce complete, unambiguous technology requirements so engineering teams can build or enhance workflows, data interfaces, controls, and reporting with minimal rework.
• Drive execution across multiple workstreams, identify decisions and blockers, and help sequence deliverables for a new desk operating in a fast-moving and ambiguous environment.

Required Skills and Experience

• Strong end-to-end understanding of the mortgage whole loan lifecycle, from acquisition through securitization and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to define structured requirements and process flows across multiple systems in support of trading, operations, and control functions.
• Experience supporting or designing processes related to trade settlement, whole loan purchase and sale execution, loan boarding, reconciliation, remittance, and securitization support.
• Strong data and integration mindset, with the ability to assess upstream and downstream impacts, identify data breaks, and embed controls into process design.
• Cross-functional experience working with technology, operations, legal, tax, accounting, risk, and funding stakeholders in a capital markets or structured finance environment.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence front office, control functions, and technology teams.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and structuring loosely defined problems in a new business build or transformation context.
• Execution-oriented, self-starting approach with the ability to drive progress across multiple parallel workstreams.

Preferred Background

• Prior experience in mortgage capital markets, structured finance, securitization, loan trading, warehouse financing, or related banking environments.
• Experience building or enhancing target operating models for new products, desks, or front-to-back business capabilities.
• Familiarity with residential mortgage products, servicer data, remittance processes, and post-trade controls.
• Exposure to working with traders, middle office, accounting, custodians, agencies, servicers, or external counterparties in mortgage or asset-backed businesses.

Deliverables

• End-to-end current-state and target-state process flows for the new Whole Loan Trading desk.
• Business and functional requirements for technology build and integration activity.
• Workflow definitions covering trade execution support, settlement, boarding, reconciliation, remittance, lifecycle events, and reporting.
• Data mapping, control requirements, and dependency documentation across impacted systems and teams.
• A practical operating model that supports launch readiness, scalability, and governance for the new desk.

Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is a senior business analyst, product owner, or operating model consultant with strong mortgage capital markets knowledge and the ability to bridge Front Office vision with operational and technology execution. This person should be comfortable working with senior stakeholders, turning loosely defined goals into concrete deliverables, and helping a new desk stand up with the right process, data, and control foundations in place.