About Cobra Trading
Cobra Trading is an established broker-dealer serving active and professional traders. Our business is built around direct-access trading, sophisticated equity and options clients, short-selling and hard-to-borrow securities, multiple trading platforms, and high-touch client service.
We are seeking an experienced Director of Compliance Operations to help manage the day-to-day execution of our compliance and supervisory program.
This is not an entry-level compliance role. The ideal candidate will have significant broker-dealer compliance experience and be comfortable working in a fast-paced trading environment where regulatory requirements intersect with trading, operations, client service, marketing, technology, clearing relationships, and securities lending.
This position will work closely with Cobra’s senior compliance leadership and senior management. The Director of Compliance Operations will take primary ownership of a number of day-to-day compliance functions while also serving as an important backup, support resource, and second layer of coverage for certain responsibilities that remain under the direct ownership of Cobra’s senior compliance leadership.
The goal of this role is to strengthen Cobra’s compliance infrastructure, improve operational coverage, and ensure that key supervisory processes are consistently executed, documented, monitored, and followed through to completion.
Key Responsibilities
Compliance Operations & Supervisory Program
- Manage the day-to-day execution of assigned areas of Cobra’s compliance and supervisory program.
- Ensure required supervisory reviews are completed accurately, consistently, and on schedule.
- Maintain supporting documentation and evidence of supervisory reviews.
- Identify compliance exceptions or deficiencies, escalate issues appropriately, and track corrective actions through completion.
- Work with senior compliance leadership to ensure Cobra’s procedures accurately reflect the firm’s operations.
- Provide additional compliance coverage and continuity when senior compliance personnel are unavailable.
Trade Surveillance
- Manage daily trade surveillance alerts, exception reviews, investigations, and documentation.
- Review trading activity for potential wash trading, spoofing, layering, marking the close, manipulation, and other potentially problematic activity.
- Document alert reviews, conclusions, and escalations.
- Coordinate with brokers, trading operations, clearing firms, and senior compliance personnel when additional investigation is required.
- Identify patterns or trends that may require additional supervisory attention.
Short Sale, Reg SHO & Locate Compliance
- Oversee day-to-day compliance processes associated with short selling and hard-to-borrow securities.
- Review locate procedures, documentation, and related supervisory controls.
- Monitor Reg SHO Rules 203 and 204 processes, fails-to-deliver, closeout requirements, and related restrictions.
- Work closely with Cobra’s operations personnel, clearing firms, and locate providers regarding delivery and settlement matters.
- Maintain documentation supporting the firm’s short-sale, locate, and fail-management processes.
- Escalate significant or recurring issues to senior compliance leadership.
AML, KYC & Customer Due Diligence
- Manage routine AML surveillance, exception reviews, and investigations.
- Investigate unusual deposits, withdrawals, wires, transfers, trading activity, and account behavior.
- Conduct KYC, CIP, customer due diligence, and enhanced due diligence reviews as required.
- Review higher-risk accounts, entities, beneficial ownership information, and control persons.
- Document investigations and escalate matters that may warrant additional review or a Suspicious Activity Report.
- Support senior compliance leadership in SAR investigations and preparation while senior compliance leadership retains primary responsibility for SAR determinations and filings.
Account Opening & Client Approvals
- Oversee compliance aspects of the account-opening process and related exceptions.
- Review higher-risk accounts and documentation requiring additional scrutiny.
- Coordinate approval processes involving margin, options, and other account capabilities.
- Ensure required customer documentation and disclosures are properly maintained.
- Work with client service and operations teams to resolve account-related compliance issues.
Options Compliance
- Help oversee Cobra’s options supervisory program as the firm expands its options business.
- Review options account approvals, documentation, permissions, and supervisory exceptions.
- Monitor unusual or higher-risk options activity.
- Assist with the development and maintenance of options-related supervisory procedures.
- Support compliance implementation associated with new options platforms, products, and services.
Marketing, Advertising & Affiliate Compliance
- Manage day-to-day compliance review and approval of marketing and advertising materials.
- Review website content, social media, email campaigns, promotions, educational materials, and other client communications.
- Work directly with Cobra’s marketing team during campaign development and prior to launch.
- Oversee compliance processes relating to affiliate, referral, influencer, and promotional relationships.
- Review affiliate compensation structures, disclosures, promotional content, and required documentation.
- Conduct periodic reviews of affiliate communications and activity.
- Maintain required records and evidence of compliance approvals.
- Help ensure communications comply with applicable FINRA and SEC requirements.
- Escalate novel, higher-risk, or potentially problematic marketing arrangements to senior compliance leadership.
Responsibilities Supporting Senior Compliance Leadership
The Director of Compliance Operations will also serve as a backup and supporting resource in the following areas. Primary ownership and decision-making responsibility for these functions will remain with senior compliance leadership.
Licensing & Registration Support
- Assist with broker and employee registration matters.
- Provide backup coverage for FINRA Gateway and related registration systems.
- Assist with FINRA registrations, Form U4/U5 matters, continuing education, renewals, and registration tracking.
- Provide support related to NFA registration systems and requirements, when applicable.
- Maintain internal tracking and help ensure deadlines and required filings are not missed.
Regulatory Responses
- Assist senior compliance leadership with responses to FINRA, SEC, law-enforcement, subpoena, and other regulatory inquiries.
- Gather documents, trading records, communications, and other information needed for regulatory responses.
- Help organize and maintain response files and supporting documentation.
- Provide backup coverage during periods of increased regulatory activity.
- Senior compliance leadership will retain responsibility for material regulatory communications and final responses.
Regulatory Exams & Audits
- Assist with FINRA and SEC examinations.
- Coordinate document requests, internal information gathering, and response tracking.
- Support internal compliance audits and testing.
- Help track examination findings, remediation items, and corrective actions through completion.
- Maintain organized examination and audit documentation.
- Senior compliance leadership will remain the primary point of contact and owner of regulatory examinations.
Legal Matters
- Provide compliance support for arbitration matters, attorney inquiries, debt collection matters, and other legal issues.
- Assist with document gathering, record preservation, and operational support.
- Assist in the compliance review of contracts and agreements as requested.
- Coordinate internally with appropriate personnel while senior compliance leadership retains primary ownership of legal and attorney-related matters.
Compliance Vendor Management
- Assist with ongoing management of compliance technology and service providers.
- Communicate with vendors regarding product updates, upgrades, issues, and new compliance needs.
- Participate in vendor due diligence and vendor risk assessments.
- Help evaluate whether existing compliance systems adequately support Cobra’s evolving business.
- Senior compliance leadership will retain overall ownership of compliance vendor relationships.
Complaints & SAR Support
- Assist with the review, documentation, investigation, and tracking of customer complaints.
- Work with brokers, client service, and operations personnel to gather facts and resolve issues.
- Escalate complaints that may require FINRA reporting or additional regulatory review.
- Assist with AML investigations and documentation supporting possible SAR filings.
- Senior compliance leadership will retain responsibility for material complaint escalation, FINRA complaint reporting, and SAR filing decisions.
WSPs, Compliance Meetings & General Compliance Management
- Assist with maintaining and updating Cobra’s Written Supervisory Procedures and compliance policies.
- Identify operational or regulatory changes that may require WSP revisions.
- Help prepare materials for monthly compliance meetings and track resulting action items.
- Maintain compliance calendars, testing schedules, certifications, and required reviews.
- Support senior compliance leadership in the ongoing management and development of the firm’s compliance program.
- Senior compliance leadership will retain overall ownership of the WSPs and general compliance program.
Employee Compliance
- Assist with employee personal trading and outside account reviews.
- Coordinate outside business activity and private securities transaction reviews.
- Support annual compliance certifications and employee attestations.
- Coordinate compliance training and maintain required records.
- Escalate exceptions or higher-risk matters to senior compliance leadership.
Clearing Firms, Vendors & New Business Initiatives
- Provide compliance support related to clearing firms, trading platforms, locate providers, routing vendors, and other critical third parties.
- Participate in due diligence and periodic reviews.
- Participate in the compliance review of new products, platforms, routes, partnerships, and business initiatives.
- Identify potential regulatory or supervisory issues before new products or services are launched.
- Work cross-functionally with operations, technology, trading, marketing, securities lending, client service, and senior management.
- Escalate material regulatory questions or policy decisions to senior compliance leadership.
Qualifications
- 5+ years of broker-dealer compliance experience required.
- Strong knowledge of FINRA and SEC broker-dealer regulatory requirements.
- Experience working with an active-trading, online brokerage, direct-access, proprietary trading, or similar trading environment strongly preferred.
- Working knowledge of trade surveillance and market-manipulation reviews.
- Strong understanding of Reg SHO, short-sale compliance, locate requirements, and fail-to-deliver processes strongly preferred.
- Experience with AML, KYC, CIP, customer due diligence, and account-opening supervision.
- Experience reviewing broker-dealer marketing, advertising, social media, and communications.
- Experience with affiliate, referral, influencer, or promotional programs strongly preferred.
- Knowledge of options compliance and options account supervision preferred.
- Experience with Written Supervisory Procedures and compliance testing.
- Experience assisting with FINRA, SEC, or other regulatory examinations and inquiries.
- Strong organizational, investigative, and documentation skills.
- Ability to independently manage multiple compliance responsibilities while recognizing when an issue requires escalation.
- Ability to work collaboratively with senior compliance leadership rather than operating solely as a policy or advisory function.
Licensing
- Active Series 7 required.
- Active Series 24 strongly preferred.
- Additional FINRA licenses are a plus.
- Candidates without a Series 24 may be considered if they have substantial relevant broker-dealer compliance experience and can obtain the registration within an agreed-upon period after hire.
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for someone who understands that an effective broker-dealer compliance program requires more than written policies. It requires consistent daily execution, strong documentation, thoughtful investigation, effective escalation, and close coordination with the business.
This person should be capable of independently owning significant compliance workflows while also being comfortable operating as the second layer of compliance leadership and backup to the firm’s senior compliance officer in key regulatory, legal, licensing, examination, and AML matters.
The successful candidate will be practical, detail-oriented, organized, and comfortable working directly with brokers, active traders, operations personnel, technology teams, marketing personnel, clearing firms, vendors, senior compliance personnel, and executive management.
This is an opportunity to play a significant role in strengthening and scaling the compliance infrastructure of an established broker-dealer serving sophisticated active traders.
Compensation & Benefits
- $125,000–$150,000 base salary
- Performance bonus
- Competitive benefits package
- Full-time, in-office position in Carrollton, Texas
Cobra Trading is an equal opportunity employer.
Pay: $125,000.00 - $150,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
Experience:
- Trading : 2 years (Required)
- Online Broker: 3 years (Preferred)
License/Certification:
Work Location: In person
