Credit Derivative Processors Look For IT Pros

For software developers, activity among credit derivatives processors is resulting in opportunities.

"It's a good time to be a software developer," says Brad Bailey, a senior analyst with Aite Group, Inc., which recently completed two reports examining the credit derivatives markets' processing dilemma. "That goes for the middle office, the back office - they're certainly in demand."

A major incentive to hire came from the gasp emitted by the Federal Reserve Bank last fall, when it learned the scope of errors taking place in the accelerating derivatives market. Today, job-seekers would be wise to check out small consulting firms first, since many were taken by surprise when Wall Street finally decided to address the backlogs and errors in trading and processing on both the buy and sell sides of the business. "They're as busy as bees," observes Bailey.

"Our research certainly indicates that there's going to be a rapid increase in spending on automation, which should inspire vendors to hire talented people to help build the necessary systems," he says. That means candidates with specialized skills - such as quantitative analysis - who are comfortable with C++, Java or database technology will do well. Those with backgrounds in equity derivatives will find openings, also, as attention spreads to equity products.

To narrow your targets, Bailey suggests checking out IT companies that have recently received a large infusion of private equity. Chances are they're about to hire more people.

If you're not a quant, don't despair: This is one technology crisis that will require both general skills as well as more exotic ones. Expertise in Oracle, SAP and just about any relational database will be wanted.

For example, Thomson's TradeWeb, an online bond trading network with offices in Jersey City, is looking for people who can manually test its software systems, perform bug-tracking and report errors, as part of its development team.