GLAS
Client Services Team Leader
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Client Services Team Leader
Location: London
Salary: Negotiable
Hybrid Working
The Role of Client Services Team Leader
GLAS is an international provider of institutional debt administration services, serving lenders, borrowers, issuers, and advisers offering a global platform across Loan Agency and related services, Capital Markets and Restructuring.
GLAS’ vision is to be recognised as the best-in-class independent, non-creditor, conflict-free provider of institutional debt administration services, enabling global clients and counterparties to achieve successful outcomes on their transactions.
The business currently comprises c.500 employees who deliver a solution-based, innovative service, ensuring GLAS is the preferred global partner of choice. GLAS has a blue-chip customer base developed over many years; select clients include Apollo, Blackstone, CVC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs. GLAS has been recognised as the premier independent provider of loan agency and bond trustee services with a portfolio of over $800 billion assets across its global platform. The company is headquartered in London with offices in Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid, New York, New Jersey, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Milan and Rome.
To support the continued growth of GLAS, we are seeking an experienced Client Services Team Lead to lead the operational delivery within the traded deals team within Client Services. The role combines responsibility for a reduced portfolio of heavily traded Loans with formal people leadership, risk oversight, workload management and accountability for consistent service delivery across the team. The Team Lead is accountable for translating management priorities into day-to-day execution. The role acts as the first point of escalation for operational, client and documentation matters; maintains effective controls; develops team capability; and works closely with Client Services management, Transaction Management and global colleagues to improve processes and operating standards.
Key Accountabilities
- Lead, supervise and support a sub-team of Client Services colleagues, setting clear priorities and maintaining appropriate oversight of individual and team workloads.
- Own day-to-day operational delivery across the team, ensuring deadlines, service standards, control requirements and client commitments are met.
- Act as the principal escalation point for complex trades, cash movements, documentation interpretation, client issues and operational risk matters.
- Manage a reduced portfolio of complex traded Loans, acting as the primary operational contact for Borrowers, Lenders and other transaction parties.
- Promote a consistent, controlled and client-focused approach across traded deal servicing, transfers and cash management.
People Leadership and Team Management
- Provide direct line management, including regular one-to-one meetings, objective setting, coaching, feedback and development planning.
- Allocate new transactions, trades and recurring responsibilities across the team, balancing capacity, experience, complexity and development needs.
- Monitor team diaries, shared inboxes, work queues and upcoming lifecycle events to ensure timely ownership and completion.
- Plan and coordinate coverage for annual leave, sickness and other absences, escalating resourcing pressures and control gaps promptly to Client Services management.
- Oversee onboarding, training and cross-training, ensuring colleagues can demonstrate competence before taking independent ownership of higher-risk activities.
- Identify performance or conduct concerns early, maintain clear records and work with management and HR under the relevant internal process.
- Create a culture of accountability, knowledge sharing, constructive challenge and continuous improvement.
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Operational Oversight and Controls
- Oversee and, where appropriate, review or approve lifecycle events including drawdowns, rollovers, rate fixes, pre-payments, redemptions and maturities.
- Coordinate maker/checker coverage for payments, notices, calculations, settlement instructions, transfer documentation and material system updates.
- Review and sign off transfers, ensuring compliance with transaction documentation and accurate settlement through ClearPar or offline processes.
- Ensure accurate and timely maintenance of Solvas, DebtDomain and other relevant operational platforms, with discrepancies investigated and resolved promptly.
- Oversee transfer fee billing and reconciliation, including appropriate ageing, escalation and reporting of unresolved items.
- Ensure account reconciliations and cash breaks are completed, reviewed and escalated in line with internal requirements, including accounts operated through Barclays and JPMorgan.
- Oversee validation of SSIs and call-back procedures, ensuring payment controls and evidence requirements are followed before funds are released.
- Monitor the timely production and distribution of borrower and lender notices, including notices for PIK and non-pro-rata events.
Traded Deals and Portfolio Responsibilities
- Interpret facility agreements, transfer certificates, assignment agreements, accession documents and related transaction documentation to determine operational requirements.
- Oversee transfer requests from initial review through settlement, including conditions, minimum holds, consent mechanics, fees, KYC dependencies and effective-date requirements.
- Manage cash movements between Borrowers and Lenders, including principal, interest, commitment fees, other charges and foreign exchange transactions where required.
- Understand and apply waterfall provisions, agreements among lenders, fronting or loss-sharing mechanics, and letters of credit servicing requirements where relevant to the portfolio.
- Respond to complex Borrower, Lender, counsel and client queries in a clear, timely and professional manner.
- Maintain direct ownership of a smaller portfolio so that the Team Lead remains technically current and can provide credible hands-on support during peak periods or material events.
Risk, Escalation and Governance
- Conduct and oversee due diligence relating to potential fraud, money laundering, sanctions, financial risk and reputational risk to GLAS.
- Escalate material operational incidents, payment issues, missed deadlines, documentation ambiguity and control failures promptly, with a clear assessment of impact and proposed action.
- Support incident investigation, root-cause analysis and implementation of agreed remediation actions.
- Maintain clear evidence of key reviews, approvals, decisions and exceptions in accordance with internal record-keeping standards.
- Challenge unclear or non-standard instructions and ensure the team does not proceed without an appropriate contractual basis, authorised instruction or management escalation.
- Provide appropriate management cover during absences, supporting continuity of service and timely decision-making within delegated authority.
Leadership Beyond the Team
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- Collaborate with other Client Services leaders on capacity, operating priorities, complex transactions and consistent application of procedures.
- Liaise with global Team Leads to share issues, lessons learned, good practice and opportunities for standardisation.
- Contribute to strategic discussions and decisions affecting Client Services EMEA, providing practical insight from day-to-day operations.
- Lead or support process improvement and change initiatives, including requirements definition, user testing, implementation and post-implementation feedback.
- Build effective working relationships with Transaction Management, Compliance, Finance, Risk, Legal, Technology and other internal stakeholders.
Experience and Qualifications
- Substantial experience in syndicated loans, loan agency, secondary/primary loan trading or a comparable financial services operations environment.
- Demonstrable experience of reviewing complex work, managing operational risk and delivering accurately to tight deadlines.
- Confident interpretation of facility and transfer documentation, with the judgement to identify ambiguity, non-standard terms and escalation points.
- Experience using loan administration and settlement platforms such as Solvas, ClearPar and DebtDomain is desirable.
- Previous experience coaching, mentoring, supervising or line managing colleagues is strongly preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of traded deal servicing, transfers, cash movements, reconciliations and lifecycle events.
Person Specification
- Visible and accountable leader, who combines technical credibility with a supportive and inclusive management style.
- Clear and confident communicator, able to manage challenging client or stakeholder conversations professionally.
- Proactive problem-solver who challenges constructively, escalates appropriately and follows issues through to resolution.
- Able to always represent GLAS to a high standard.
- Committed to developing others, strengthening controls and improving consistency across teams and locations.
- Highly organised, resilient and comfortable managing competing deadlines in a fast-paced, growing business.
- Excellent attention to detail, sound judgement and the ability to distinguish urgent matters from important longer-term priorities.
Benefits
- Base salary + bonus
- Hybrid working
- 28 days annual leave + bank holidays
- Long service award
- Private Medical Insurance
- Private pension plan
- Life insurance plan
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Season ticket loan scheme
- Yearly eye examination
- Gym membership discount
- Career development and study support
Our people are at the heart of GLAS's success. We are committed to attracting, developing and retaining talented individuals in an environment built on inclusivity, diversity and opportunity. We believe that diverse perspectives drive innovation, encourage meaningful discussion and help us deliver the best outcomes for our clients.
We are passionate about supporting our employees' career development and long-term success. Our culture is underpinned by our core values of Excellence, Client Centricity, Collaboration and Innovation, which guide the way we work, support our clients and achieve results together.
At GLAS, we are committed to creating an environment where everyone has the opportunity to contribute, develop and thrive, regardless of background or experience. We believe that fostering an inclusive workplace strengthens our business, our people and the service we provide to our clients.
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