Associate - Equity and Special Solutions Operations

About the role

We are seeking a detail-oriented and proactive Associate to join the Public Markets Middle Office in Boston, providing hands-on operational support to the Equity and Special Solutions investment teams, including Exchange Funds. The role will support Portfolio Managers and Trading teams across daily portfolio readiness, trade processing, cash and position oversight, reconciliations, contributions and redemptions, tax-lot and in-kind activity, corporate actions, and timely resolution of operational exceptions.

The Associate will partner closely with Middle Office Operations, Trade Support, Portfolio Services, Fund Accounting, Tax, Legal, Compliance, Technology, Custodians, Brokers, transfer agents, and other service providers to help ensure accurate portfolio data, clean reconciliations, timely lifecycle processing, and effective issue escalation. The successful candidate will be organized, control-focused, responsive, and comfortable managing high-volume, time-sensitive workflows while contributing practical ideas for process improvement, automation, AI-enabled support, and enhanced reporting.

In the Operations division, we partner with business units across the Firm to support financial transactions, devise and implement effective controls and develop client relationships. This is an Associate level position within Product Support & Services, which is responsible for providing transaction support and managing post execution processes.

Morgan Stanley is an industry leader in financial services, known for mobilizing capital to help governments, corporations, institutions, and individuals around the world achieve their financial goals.

Interested in joining a team that's eager to create, innovate and make an impact on the world? Read on…

What you'll do in the role

Daily Investment Team Support

• Provide day-to-day operational support to Equity and Special Solutions strategies across funds, mandates, and accounts, including Exchange Funds.
• Monitor portfolio cash, positions, trade activity, pricing and valuation flags, settlement status, corporate actions, and other exceptions to support accurate start-of-day and end-of-day readiness.
• Support front-to-back equity trade flows, including trade capture, allocations, confirmations, settlement instructions, failed trades, broker and standing settlement instruction issues, and related exception management.
• Respond promptly and professionally to Portfolio Manager and Trading queries, providing clear status updates, ownership, expected resolution timing, and escalation where required.
• Maintain transparent trackers for open breaks, aging items, follow-ups, dependencies, and required actions to support effective handoffs across teams.

Exchange Funds and Special Solutions Operations

• Support Exchange Fund subscriptions and contributions, including coordination of contributed securities, eligibility and restriction checks, valuation inputs, tax-lot data, custody movements, and completion of required operational documentation.
• Support redemption and distribution workflows, including cash and in-kind activity, security selection inputs, tax-lot accounting and release, transfer instructions, settlement monitoring, and reconciliation of resulting portfolio activity.
• Coordinate with Portfolio Management, Trading, Tax, Legal, Compliance, Fund Accounting, Custodians, and transfer agents to resolve data or processing exceptions and meet transaction timelines.
• Monitor portfolio diversification, concentration, liquidity, restricted-security, and other operational considerations relevant to Exchange Funds and bespoke Equity solutions, escalating potential issues to senior team members.
• Assist with new account, vehicle, and mandate onboarding, including operational readiness reviews, reference data, account setup, testing, controls, procedures, and go-live support.

Reconciliations, Corporate Actions, and Trade Lifecycle

• Perform and support daily cash, position, transaction, and tax-lot reconciliations across internal books, custodians, accounting records, and other relevant platforms.
• Investigate breaks, stale items, and discrepancies; identify root causes; coordinate corrective action; and drive items to timely closure.
• Support equity lifecycle events, including dividends, splits, mergers, tenders, rights, warrants, proxies, voluntary elections, IPOs and new issues, and stock loan or short-coverage exceptions where applicable.
• Monitor settlement activity and corporate action deadlines, escalating material risks, aging items, missed elections, or issues that could affect portfolio accuracy, trading, valuation, performance, risk, or client reporting.

Controls, Incident Management, and Process Improvement

• Complete established daily control checks accurately and within required timelines, maintaining appropriate evidence and escalating control exceptions promptly.
• Support incident triage, root cause analysis, remediation tracking, and clear communication for significant breaks, settlement failures, corporate action exceptions, or other operational events.
• Prepare and maintain operational metrics, break reports, aged-item trackers, incident updates, and management reporting for internal stakeholders.
• Identify recurring manual processes, data-quality issues, control gaps, and exception themes; propose practical opportunities for simplification, automation, AI-enabled workflow support, and enhanced reporting.
• Document procedures, checklists, and playbooks and contribute to testing and implementation of platform, vendor, market, regulatory, and operating-model changes.

Teamwork and Stakeholder Management

• Build effective working relationships with Equity and Special Solutions Portfolio Managers, Traders, Middle Office, Operations, Fund Accounting, Tax, Legal, Compliance, Technology, Custodians, Brokers, and transfer agents.
• Participate in status meetings, issue reviews, transaction-readiness discussions, and process forums, providing concise updates on risks, blockers, ownership, and next steps.
• Work collaboratively across locations and functions, support effective handoffs, and contribute to a culture of accuracy, accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Escalate issues clearly and promptly when operational risks may affect investment activity, fund transactions, portfolio records, client outcomes, or regulatory obligations.

What you'll bring to the role

• 2-5 years of experience in investment operations, middle office, trade support, fund operations, reconciliation, or a related role at an asset manager, bank, custodian, or financial institution.
• Exposure to equity products and lifecycle events, including listed equities, ADRs, rights and warrants, dividends, splits, mergers, tenders, proxies, and voluntary corporate actions.
• Experience supporting pooled vehicles, separately managed accounts, alternative or bespoke investment solutions, or Exchange Funds is preferred.
• Hands-on experience with cash, position, transaction, or tax-lot reconciliations; trade settlement; corporate actions; and operational exception management.
• Understanding of subscriptions, redemptions, cash and in-kind transfers, security movements, valuation inputs, and fund-level operational controls is advantageous.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to investigate data, cash, position, trade, and tax-lot discrepancies through resolution.
• Familiarity with Aladdin or comparable OMS, IBOR, ABOR, accounting, reconciliation, custody, or transfer-agency platforms is preferred.
• Strong Microsoft Excel skills; experience with reporting tools, dashboards, macros, workflow tools, automation, or AI-enabled solutions is helpful.
• Organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a time-sensitive environment.

What You Can Expect from Morgan Stanley

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients - helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that's differentiated - and we've done that for 90 years.

Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren't just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries.

At Morgan Stanley, you'll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences.

We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There's also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

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Pay and benefits

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $80,000 and $114,500 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.