Job Description

Brief description

The purpose of this position is to deliver high-quality work efficiently and effectively in order to meet internal and external client expectations. The candidate will be expected to oversee junior Financial Markets Specialists who conduct transactions and capture trades on behalf of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), and to guide and support the implementation of monetary policy as well as the management of the assets of the Corporation for Public Deposits (CPD). In addition, the candidate will be expected to stay abreast of financial markets developments and provide accurate market information, commentary and recommendations on a regular basis.

Detailed description

The successful candidate will be responsible for the following key performance areas:


Prepare design proposals on monetary policy tools and frameworks, and analyse the impact of implementation. Write and present reports on research and analysis conducted on market operations and investments. Manage bespoke elements of committee administration as requested by assuming the role of secretary or co-secretary of internal and/or external committees on a rotational or permanent basis. Implement monetary policy by monitoring the market, providing input into the trading strategy, conducting transactions such as auctions for purposes of liquidity management and also on behalf of government (bond auctions and Treasury Bill auctions), and capturing trades such as CPD assets and financial markets transactions for liquidity management. Undertake investments for the CPD in accordance with investment guidelines, operational requirements, and policies and legislation. Supervise the transactions of junior Financial Market Specialists. Contribute to the analysis of existing reference rates and the design of new rates where necessary, and contribute to the design of governance frameworks that relate to the code of conduct on benchmark rates. Provide oversight on the market commentary prepared by junior Financial Market Specialists. Coordinate, consolidate and finalise regular market analysis reports (e.g. financial market daily) without quality assurance by a more senior Financial Market Specialist. Draft rules relating to the oversight of market functioning and structure, including the code of conduct. Look for opportunities to automate routine tasks by leveraging innovative programming languages (e.g. Python), and encourage and assist junior specialists to continually innovate and improve their work processes. Conduct comprehensive research for special projects by applying a robust and structured research methodology. Stay abreast of all methodological developments relevant to own disciplines that affect the collection and development of time series and market research, trade execution and investment management process as well as operations, and apply this in own research. Analyse how these changes impact current methodologies and make proposals on how current methodologies should be adjusted to accommodate these changes. Assess what is required from current work, and then make specific changes to systems or own work methods in order to improve the standard of current work being done. Review, update and improve database structures on a regular basis to ensure all data are properly captured, and aggregate time series and cross-section data are calculated accurately. Prepare and make convincing presentations to own team on a regular basis as well as to departmental forums and other departments of the SARB. Assist with the preparation of briefings, speeches and presentations for senior management forums in the SARB as well as external forums. Contextualise presentations for a particular audience, with the ability to respond effectively to questions that may be posed by the audience. * Support on-the-job training for junior Financial Market Specialists, which may be in the form of workshops or internal forums on research conducted.