Product Owner - Derivatives

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

The anticipated salary range for this role is between $168,000.00 and $227,000.00. The specific salary offered to an applicant will be based on their individual qualifications, experiences, and an analysis of the current compensation paid in their geography and the market for similar roles at the time of hire. The role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive award. In addition to cash compensation, SMBC offers a competitive portfolio of benefits to its employees.

Role Description

We are seeking an experienced Product Owner with a strong Derivatives background. This role will be integral in the organization’s ongoing transition from traditional project delivery methodologies to an Agile product operating model.

The Product Owner will partner closely with Front Office, Trading, Structuring, Risk, Operations, Finance, Compliance, and Technology teams to define and deliver strategic capabilities across the derivatives lifecycle. The successful candidate will own the product vision, roadmap, and backlog while driving business value through iterative delivery and continuous improvement.

This is a highly visible role requiring deep derivatives domain expertise, strong stakeholder management skills, and the ability to bridge business and technology teams across multiple regions and time zones.

This role offers the opportunity to shape the future-state derivatives operating model for a major global bank while driving a significant Agile transformation across business and technology teams.

Role Objectives

Product Ownership & Agile Leadership

• Serve as the Product Owner for all derivatives technology products across our various internal platforms.

• Define and communicate a clear product vision aligned with business and regulatory objectives.

• Develop and refine the product backlog and work with the business to ensure prioritized work is validated and successfully pushed through development.

• Lead backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews, and product demonstrations.

• Establish Agile best practices and help drive the bank’s transition toward a business prioritized, product-driven operating model.

• Act as the primary decision-maker for product scope and delivery priorities.

• Define future-state operating models supporting scalable, automated, and efficient derivatives processing.

Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with senior business sponsors, technology leadership, and regional stakeholders for the America’s Division, focusing primarily on SMBC Capital Markets and SMBC Nikko with occasional global initiatives

• Translate complex business requirements into actionable user stories and acceptance criteria.

• Facilitate alignment among Front Office, Risk Management, Operations, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and Technology teams.

• Provide regular updates to executive stakeholders regarding product roadmap, delivery progress, risks, and dependencies.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Computer Science, Engineering, or related discipline.

• 8+ years of experience within Capital Markets, Investment Banking, or Financial Services.

• 5+ years of experience working with derivatives products and associated technology platforms.

• Prior experience serving as a Product Owner, Product Manager, Business Analyst, or similar role within a financial institution.

• Strong understanding of the derivatives trade lifecycle, including:

o Trade capture

o Confirmation

o Clearing

o Settlement

o Margining

o Valuation

o Risk reporting

o Regulatory reporting

• Experience with Agile delivery methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban.

• Proven ability to create and manage product roadmaps, epics, user stories, and backlogs.

• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Experience working in global, cross-functional environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading large-scale transformation or platform migration initiatives.

• Knowledge of capital markets regulations and industry standards.

• Familiarity with derivatives platforms such as:

o Murex

o Calypso

o Summit

o MarkitSERV

o FIS Front Arena

• Experience implementing Agile frameworks within traditionally waterfall-oriented organizations.

• Agile certifications such as Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO), or SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager.

• Experience working within Japanese or multinational banking environments and an understanding of Japanese business culture and governance practices.

Success Measures

• Successful adoption of Agile product delivery practices.

• Delivery of strategic derivatives platform capabilities on schedule and within agreed objectives.

• Reduction in operational risk and manual processing.

• Improved stakeholder satisfaction and business engagement.

• Increased automation and straight-through processing rates.

• Enhanced transparency, scalability, and resilience of derivatives technology platforms.

Additional Requirements

SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at View email address on click.appcast.io.

EOE, including Disability/veterans