Calypso Platform Manager

Farmer Mac is seeking an experienced, technically strong Calypso Platform Manager to own the stability, governance, and long-term direction of Farmer Mac's Calypso platform, which runs on the Nasdaq CapCloud managed service. As the technical subject matter expert (SME) for Calypso at Farmer Mac, this role will be instrumental in maintaining the platform, ensuring overall technical stability, enforcing platform governance, and making sure system enhancements and version upgrades are delivered successfully. The role will manage the relationship with Nasdaq and will be responsible for the technical roadmap for the Calypso platform, including upgrade strategy and release management.

The People You Will Work With

The position will report directly to the Director - Finance Technology & IT Operations and will have a direct report, a Calypso Systems Analyst and oversight of the external Calypso support team. As the technical SME for Calypso, the role will work closely with the Calypso business owner, the IT team, the Calypso support team, IT leadership, and business stakeholders. The role will also collaborate with Cybersecurity, IT Infrastructure, Internal Audit, External Audit, and Nasdaq account, support, and CapCloud teams.

Where and When You Will Work

This position can be performed remotely, with limited travel to Farmer Mac's headquarters at 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC. Farmer Mac is a Presence with a Purpose work environment, providing flexibility while creating opportunities for teams to come together in the office with purpose. Occasional work outside core hours may be required for planned upgrades, releases, and production events, as well as unplanned issues and time-sensitive projects.

Primary Responsibilities and Duties

Responsibilities and essential job functions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Technical SME: Serve as the technical subject matter expert for Calypso at Farmer Mac, providing guidance on platform configuration, architecture, data flows, and capabilities to the business owner, IT team, IT leadership, and business stakeholders.
• Platform stability and operations: Own the overall technical health and stability of the Calypso platform, including monitoring, incident and problem management, root cause analysis, performance, and service level expectations. Serve as the escalation point for the Calypso support team.
• Platform governance: Establish and maintain governance for the Calypso platform, including configuration standards, environment management, security and access roles, change control, release approvals, and documentation. Ensure the platform meets IT general control, audit, and SOX expectations and support internal and external audit requests.
• Enhancements: Work with the Calypso business owner to intake, assess, prioritize, and deliver system enhancements. Oversee design, configuration, development, testing, and deployment, including regression testing and quality gates, so changes are delivered on time, with quality, and with proper approvals and evidence.
• Upgrades and release management: Plan, coordinate, and manage Calypso version upgrades and vendor releases, including impact assessment, environment readiness, regression and user acceptance testing, cutover planning, go live support, and post release hypercare.
• Test automation strategy: Partner with the internal Quality Engineering team to design and build an automated testing strategy for Calypso, including regression test automation, test data and environment readiness, and integration of automated tests into enhancement, upgrade, and release cycles to reduce manual effort, shorten testing windows, and improve release quality.
• Technical roadmap: Own and maintain the technical roadmap for the Calypso platform, including upgrade strategy, release cadence, technical debt reduction, and alignment with Farmer Mac's business priorities, architecture direction, and budget.
• Nasdaq vendor management: Manage the relationship with Nasdaq as the primary technical contact for the CapCloud service. Oversee support case escalation, service level performance, release and maintenance notices, environment requests, custom code deployment, and contract and service reviews.
• Integrations and data: Oversee the interfaces, data feeds, scheduled processes, and reporting that connect Calypso with upstream and downstream systems. Ensure data integrity, reconciliation, and timely resolution of integration issues.
• Team leadership: Lead, coach, and develop the Calypso Systems Analyst. Set priorities, review work, and ensure cross training and documentation to reduce key person risk.
• Stakeholder communication: Provide clear status updates, risk and issue reporting, and recommendations to the Director - Finance Technology & IT Operations, IT leadership, the business owner, and business stakeholders, translating technical topics for non technical audiences.
• Planning and continuous improvement: Provide input to annual project planning and the platform budget, including Nasdaq services and licensing, and identify opportunities to automate manual processes and improve resilience, including the use of AI and related tools.

Desired Skills and Qualifications

• At least ten years of experience in IT, application management, or technical support for capital markets, treasury, or financial services platforms, including at least eight years of hands on experience with Calypso in a technical, administration, support, or platform management role.
• Strong working knowledge of Calypso architecture, configuration, workflows, scheduled tasks, interfaces, messaging, reporting, and the underlying data model.
• Demonstrated experience leading Calypso version upgrades and release cycles, from planning and testing through cutover and hypercare.
• Experience with vendor managed or cloud hosted platforms such as Nasdaq CapCloud, including managing vendor relationships, service levels, and escalations.
• Experience managing integrations, APIs, file based interfaces, and batch processing between Calypso and other enterprise systems.
• Working knowledge of SQL, and familiarity with Java or scripting used for Calypso development, troubleshooting, and automation.
• Strong understanding of change management, SDLC, release management, and IT general controls, with experience supporting audits and using tools such as ServiceNow and Azure DevOps.
• Proven ability to lead and develop a small team and to act as a trusted technical advisor to business and IT leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for technical and non technical audiences.
• Strong analytical, problem solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree strongly preferred, ideally in Information Systems, Computer Science, Finance, Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum of eight years of related professional experience, including five or more years with Calypso.
• Experience in the financial services industry, particularly treasury, capital markets, or secondary market operations, is a plus.
• Relevant certifications such as Nasdaq Calypso Technical or Certified Administrator, ITIL Foundation, PMP, or similar credentials are a plus.

Our compensation philosophy is targeted pay positioning relative to peers, our industry, and external markets. Farmer Mac is committed to a compensation program that will enable the organization to attract, motivate, reward, and retain highly skilled and creative talent to maintain sustained long-term performance and achieve the organization’s strategic business objectives. Salary is competitive. The typical starting salary range for this position is between $160,000-$200,000, although wages can vary based on experience and geography, plus performance-based bonus and equity-based awards. Individual compensation will be commensurate with the candidate's experience.