Senior Control & Assurance Manager

At Optiver, the Global Control and Assurance team plays a key role in the first line of defense for our Business Support functions. The team partners with stakeholders to strengthen risk maturity, guide change initiatives, and independently review control frameworks to ensure they evolve with the scale and complexity of our business. Partnering with Finance, Middle Office, Tax, and Legal, the team helps shape risk-aware decision making and strengthens our control culture across Europe, the United States, and APAC.

What you’ll do

 Based in Amsterdam, you will work closely with stakeholders in Europe, the US and APAC. Reporting to the Head of Control Assurance, this newly formed global team plays a central role in strengthening risk culture, governance, control assurance practices, and proactive risk mitigation across these locations.

In this role, your key responsibilities will be:

• Partner with business teams to advise on risk in change across new system rollouts, process redesign, and strategic initiatives.
• Shape global risk & control frameworks by setting minimum standards, benchmarking best practices, and driving structured reporting and escalation.
• Lead thematic reviews on topical issues and high impact areas, translating insights into local or cross-regional action plans.
• Facilitate risk incident reviews, ensuring timely remediation, escalation to senior management, and knowledge-sharing across regions.
• Develop and maintain risk management metrics and reports to assess the effectiveness of our risk & control frameworks and identify areas for improvement.
• Provide training and guidance to Business Support teams on risk management best practices, incident management, control testing, policies, and other compliance requirements.
• Work closely within the global team to ensure alignment of team objectives and deliverables.
• Collaborate with other departments, such as Operational Risk team (second line of defense), Internal Audit (third line of defense), and Enterprise Technology, to ensure risk management practices are aligned with our organizational objectives.

Who you are

 We are looking for a hands-on, forward-thinking individual with 10+ years’ experience in finance, product control, audit, or risk advisory, ideally in the financial services sector. You bring a strong internal control mindset, a proactive approach to identifying risk themes, and a collaborative yet challenging communication style.

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Accounting, Business, Commerce).
• Further post graduate qualifications in Risk Management are a plus.
• Experience managing risk in change, including project and operational risk across system implementations and other strategic initiatives.
• Strong understanding of operational risk management frameworks, control assurance, and related tools.
• Strong data-analysis skills (Excel/VBA, Databricks) and familiarity with workflow and AI tools (e.g. JIRA, Confluence, Alteryx).
• Project management skills and/or participation in enterprise-wide projects is desirable.
• A critical, inquisitive thinker who confidently challenges the status quo, analyzes complex control processes, and influences behavioral change to elevate risk and control awareness across the organization.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to convey key themes to senior stakeholders.
• A strong drive to succeed and collaborate with high-performing teams.

Who we are

At Optiver, our mission is to constantly improve the market by injecting liquidity, providing accurate pricing, increasing transparency and acting as a stabilizing force no matter the market conditions. With a focus on continuous improvement, we participate in the safeguarding of healthy and efficient markets for everyone who participates. As one of the largest market making institutions, we are a trusted partner of 70+ exchanges across the globe.

What you’ll get

You’ll join a culture of collaboration and excellence, where you’ll be surrounded by curious thinkers and creative problem solvers. Motivated by a passion for continuous improvement, you’ll thrive in a supportive, high-performing environment alongside talented colleagues, working collectively to tackle the toughest problems in the financial markets.

In addition, you’ll receive:

• A performance-based bonus structure, enabling all of our employees to benefit from our global profit pool.
• The opportunity to work alongside best-in-class professionals from over 50 different countries.
• 25 paid vacation days in your first year, increasing to 30 from your second year onwards.
• Training opportunities, discounts on health insurance, and fully paid first-class commuting expenses.
• Extensive office perks, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, world-class barista coffee, in-house physio and chair massages, organized sports and leisure activities, and Friday afternoon drinks.
• Training and continuous learning opportunities, including access to conferences and tech events.
• Competitive relocation packages and visa sponsorship where necessary for expats.

How to apply

Apply directly via the form below. If you have any questions feel free to contact our Recruitment team via our recruitment inquiry form.

Please note:

• We do not require any assistance from third-parties including agencies in the recruitment of this role
• We cannot accept applications via email

Diversity statement

Optiver is committed to diversity and inclusion.