About this role

Overview:

The Index & Data Solutions team (IDS) is responsible for the index and data strategy for the firm and the management of the commercial relationships with each provider. The Operations team within IDS is looking for a hands-on experienced Vice President to lead a team of market data professionals & help transform processes. This team handles the end-to-end administration of contracts by supporting the IDS relationship managers during the negotiation phase, maintaining an inventory of active contracts, validating invoice payments, declaring data usage to vendors, and partnering with BlackRock's Finance team to manage market data budget accruals.

The ideal candidate will be high-energy, ambitious, passionate about performance and excited about an opportunity to lead a high performing team. We are seeking a great leader with a proven track-record of successfully managing people preferably from an invoice operations management background. Must be an excellent communicator and comfortable interacting with senior audiences both internally at BlackRock and with external data providers. A critical thinker with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to simplify complex matters, assess problems and execute on solutions is required. Excellent data management skills will be ideal.

• Lead a team of market data contract administrators; actively coach and mentor team members, provide regular feedback and create development plans.
• Invest in the continuous development of a team with the core proficiencies required to manage the firm's market data contract commercial terms.
• Lead the execution of process improvement projects that increase efficiency and reduce risk.
• Analyze, explain & visualize trends in market data spend each month and over time.
• Partner with the relationship managers on contract negotiations by providing current usage and cost metrics, as well as evaluate and forecast the financial impact and our ability to operationalize the terms of new deals.
• Maintain the market data inventory which includes a catalog of active services, fee schedules, consumers, and cost allocation, as well as address any inventory related inquiries.
• Lead all aspects of the invoice validation and accrual reconciliation process to ensure accurate and timely financial reporting and payments.
• Manage the contractual usage declaration process (i.e. exchange users, external redistribution usage) by evaluating reporting requirements, partnering with internal business partners to obtain usage data, prepare, analyze and submit declarations to the providers.
• Handle providers change notifications to services and fees; evaluate the impact on users, obtain any necessary approvals and execute any required changes.

• Graduate or post-graduate degree in related field.
• Leader & people manager with 10-15 years relevant work experience.
• Knowledge of the Financial Services Industry.
• Knowledge of Market and Index Providers is a plus.
• Ability to interpret contract commercial terms and conditions.
• Proficient with Excel and other MS Office applications, and able to quickly learn proprietary systems.
• Outstanding verbal, written and listening skills. Comfortable interacting with and influencing a wide range of audiences, from peers to senior level managers.
• Highly detail oriented and customer focused self-starter. Ability to prioritize and deliver assignments as promised, while maintaining high quality and consistent results.
• Ambitious, proactive problem solver. Positive, "can-do" attitude and willingness to stretch outside your comfort zone and grow.
• Reliable and trusted teammate with strong integrity and ethics. Driven to be a productive part of a highly functioning, collaborative team, and to work in a high expectation and high impact environment.
• Proven record of alignment with BlackRock's Principles.