Director, Equity Derivatives Trading

Job Description:

At Bank of America, we are guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better through the power of every connection. We do this by driving Responsible Growth and delivering for our clients, teammates, communities and shareholders every day.

Being a Great Place to Work is core to how we drive Responsible Growth. This includes our commitment to being an inclusive workplace, attracting and developing exceptional talent, supporting our teammates’ physical, emotional, and financial wellness, recognizing and rewarding performance, and how we make an impact in the communities we serve.

Bank of America is committed to an in-office culture with specific requirements for office-based attendance and which allows for an appropriate level of flexibility for our teammates and businesses based on role-specific considerations.

At Bank of America, you can build a successful career with opportunities to learn, grow, and make an impact. Join us!
 

Director, Equity Derivatives Trading

Role Overview:

The Director will be a senior member of the Exotics Equity Derivatives Trading desk, responsible for pricing, trading, and risk management of complex, non‑vanilla equity and volatility derivatives for institutional clients. This role requires deep technical expertise, independent judgment, and leadership in managing risk, developing trading strategies, and collaborating across sales, structuring, and quantitative teams. The individual will operate with limited supervision, owning the full front‑to‑back trading lifecycle while helping drive product innovation and revenue growth, particularly for Institutional equity derivatives clients.

Key Responsibilities:

• Price, trade, and manage risks associated with complex equity and volatility derivatives, including autocallables, issuer callables, basket options, correlation products, dispersion trades, and volatility/variance swaps.
• Provide bespoke pricing for derivatives with unique payoff structures tailored to client needs, constructing and managing hedge strategies using vanilla options and related instruments.
• Independently manage market, model, and liquidity risk across a diversified portfolio, exercising discretion consistent with desk risk limits and balance sheet constraints.
• Trade in the inter‑dealer market to accumulate inventory, optimize hedging costs, and enhance the desk’s ability to facilitate client flow.
• Generate replication strategies across asset classes, including equity index replication, dispersion, correlation, and cross‑asset payoff structures.
• Calibrate and enhance exotic pricing models to capture spot–volatility correlation, skew dynamics, and other market features relevant to non‑linear payoffs.
• Perform ongoing enhancement of pricing and risk analytics to incorporate new product features, market regimes, or regulatory requirements.
• Apply advanced Python‑based modeling and analytics to support pricing, risk decomposition, and scenario analysis for non‑vanilla products.
• Work closely with equity derivatives sales teams across multiple time zones to deliver the “right price” to the “right client,” balancing client objectives with risk, capital, and balance sheet considerations.
• Source and develop new trading ideas and product opportunities based on client demand, market dislocations, and relative‑value opportunities.
• Facilitate client expression of trading views through tailored equity derivatives solutions, aligned with the bank’s product capabilities and strategic priorities.
• Own the complete front‑to‑back workflow, including pricing, quoting, execution, hedging, booking, lifecycle management, and downstream operational processes.
• Conduct daily P&L analysis, risk reporting, and reconciliation, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and timely escalation of material issues.
• Partner closely with structuring, quantitative research, technology, operations, and risk management teams to ensure robust controls and efficient execution.
• Act as a senior point of reference on the desk, providing guidance to junior traders and contributing to the desk’s risk culture and best practices.

Product & Technical Expertise:

• Deep knowledge of equity and volatility derivatives, including:
  • Geometric and vanilla dispersion
  • Relative‑value variance and volatility spreads
  • Correlation products and structured indices
  • Listed and OTC single‑stock, ETF, and index options
  • Structured notes, equity swaps, variance swaps, volatility swaps, and futures
• Strong understanding of asset optimization, hedging theory, and risk transfer for institutional equity clients.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Master’s degree or higher in Finance, Mathematics, Engineering, Physics, a related quantitative discipline, or equivalent work experience.
• Significant experience (typically 8–12+ years) in equity derivatives trading, with a strong track record in exotic or structured products.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex risks and deliver consistent P&L through varying market environments.
• Advanced quantitative and programming skills, particularly in Python; experience with model calibration and analytics for non‑vanilla products is essential.
• Strong commercial instincts, excellent communication skills, and the ability to influence across trading, sales, and infrastructure teams.

Shift:

Hours Per Week: