My primary role has been automating proprietary technical trading systems for private hedge fund trading desk. By taking streaming DDE price feeds from Reuters Dealing 3000 PowerPlus Pro into Excel and embedding them in the formulae in the model sheets that I developed, the amount of manual calculation by the traders is reduced. I developed a model whereby the different signals were overlaid with other systems and an Alert Matrix was created. As this was real-time and connected to live prices, the relevant area would change colour and alert the traders when a trade criteria had been met and they would then trade accordingly. Approximately 6 systems have been completed. The traders use various trading platforms including RBS Greentrade and TT for futures trading, as well as London Capital and Hotspot for FX trading. By utilizing my trading and spreadsheet experience I have effectively created a working model. This model could be used as use cases and form the basis of function specifications for a developer to write to the API’s of the various platforms to create a STP trading system. The second part of my role included testing the system for accuracy and trading these signals in small size to ensure validity

ISEB qualified senior test analyst from the banking sector with 8.0 years experience in software testing, requirement and functional specification analysis, test script writing, test facilitating. I completed a number of technical courses and a business analysis workshop. I possess excellent analytical, communication, presentation and interpersonal skills.

I was a senior test analyst responsible for testing at all stages of the software development lifecycle. The project consists of a number of change requests and new functionality requirements to enhance the Trading Software & Market Administration software ICE Admin & Futures Admin. I have been responsible for the following:

• Team Leader of four people test team. Manage resources, allocate available work from existing project management & test script management tools & monitored progress. Undertake problem resolution and provided daily reports to management.
• As Senior Test Analyst I fulfil a liaison role between the software developers, the project managers and the business and test centre management.
• Analysis of the business requirements and functional specifications from the Business Analysts and the Technical Specifications from the Developers.
• Collation of test requirements, creation of test plans, test cases and test scripts in Test Director 8.1
• Co-ordinate the creation of data sets for testing.
• Full life cycle testing of the market trading software and associated market management tools.
• Execution of Functional, Integration, Regression and User Acceptance testing of all aspects of WEBICE, a java, web based futures and options trading and risk management client for the energy markets, trading in both cleared futures, options and OTC contracts.
• System integration testing of internal and external systems from pre trade risk management and validation, trade entry, post trade risk management systems, membership, price reporting and quote vendor systems, open interest and reporting and into the Trade registration system (TRS). From there the trades go into CPS at the London Clearing House (LCH Clearnet) are subjected to SPAN margining and risk parameters and eventually end up in the house, client or segregated accounts of the clearing member firms. I have also been involved in the reconciliation of test data to the Banking and Fees systems at LCH. This project involved close cooperation and working with Euronext LIFFE, ATOS Euronext Market Solutions, Intercontinental Exchange and LCH Clearnet.
• Reporting of test defects into StarTeam 5.2 directly liaised with the developers on what the issues are & retested the fixes.
• Daily Environment checking of test environments and liaison with configuration management to ensure availability for the in-house team and the customers.
• Undertake analysis of software errors, recording of defects and testing of defect fixes.
• Analysis of assigned change requests

This position was a placement from ICE Futures working on a related project at the LCH.

Integration testing prior to launch of Carbon Derivatives for trading Emissions spot and quarterly contracts, daily US Oil, Power and Gas contract strips, bundles and packages in coordination with IPE, Intercontinental Exchange, LIFFE and LCH Clearnet. Systems tested include TRS / CPS, TRS Admin, Banking and Fees.

• Functional testing of all aspects of WEBICE, a java, web based front office, futures and options trading and risk management client for the energy markets, trading in both cleared futures, options and OTC contracts including forwards and swaps.
• Test case creation and review from Product Functional Specifications, to include new functionality added on a release basis.
• Multi Platform System Integration Testing and reconciliation including coverage of all IPE internal open outcry and electronic trading systems and testing with ICE, LIFFE and LCH systems including TRS.
• Regression testing each build / release and test case rationalisation in line with new functionality.
• Defect identification, categorisation, documentation and retesting on individual basis.
• Other projects include:-
• Integration Testing prior to launch of 15 OTC Cleared UK and US Oil, Gas and Electricity contracts in coordination with Intercontinental Exchange, LIFFE and LCH Clearnet. Planning and preparation for the upgrade of the IPE to SPAN 4 margining. Introduction of 3 character commodity codes to ICE / IPE contracts. These projects involve testing of internal systems, database, price reporting, wallboard, trade execution, quote vendors, settlement, reporting and membership.

Managed a team of six people.

Designed and configured test labs on site to facilitate in house testing.
Technical testing of Java server, communication protocols and client applications.
Wrote test scripts to test against Reqs, RFC documents and Functional Specifications.
Developed use cases for the team to use whilst testing intricate technical functionality.
Conducted stress/soak testing and performance benchmarking.
Bug reporting and liaison with development teams and management team.
Diverse hardware environments running Solaris6, 7 and 8, Tru64 and Aix UNIX.
Client systems PC based running Windows 98, 2000, XP and Linux
Mobile client systems running Windows CE, EPOC, J2ME
Interoperability with media gateways and intelligent switches from Cisco and Snowshore
Interoperability with Oracle 8i, MySQL, Apache, Tomcat, iPlanet, HP Openview,
Managed performance testing with Sun Microsystems at their Bracknell site in the UK
Trial and rollout of products at Qwest Communications in Denver, Colorado
Tested IOS functionality in conjunction with Cisco as a partner at their Stockley Park site

• Prepared specifications for the development of a multi-gateway Trading application to support equity and derivative trading on European exchanges.
• Member of the Management Team that reported to the Board of Directors.
• User requirement identification and documentation,
• Product design and functional specification preparation,
• Version and rollout planning,
• Arranged beta test sites and managed client relationships and expectations,
• Consultancy on special projects to customers, including integration of middle and back office systems

Multi Platform testing of communication protocol software by writing and performing test cases. Full testing lifecycle undertaken.

My contract involved creating a test lab network. They were used for unit, integration and stress testing of the Reuters / LIFFE Connect derivative trading software. I prepared test scripts both manually and using automated tools and managed a bug and version database. Liaised with LIFFE and the Reuters development team.

Initially I worked on the LIFFE floor as a broker, executing orders, recommending trades, hedges and strategies. After six months I moved to the Fixed Income and Futures desk in the London trading room, dealing with a wider range of clients and products. This involved monitoring relative value trading, volatility, and yield curve activity. LIFFE, CFTC and SFA Registered. Courses attended Fixed Income Markets and Trading, Trading Modules – L.I.F.F.E.

I was a proprietary financial and commodity, futures and options and FX trader, working as part of a fund management team. I managed a mixed portfolio of fixed income, commodity and index products. LIFFE, DTB, MATIF, MEFF, COMEX, CBOT, CME, FX and bullion. Courses attended Futures & Options Trading and Risk Management Issues - City University Fund Management Techniques - Securities Institute.

My training enabled me to gain an understanding of Futures and Options, Forward Rate Agreements, Swaps, Eurobonds and equity products, through hands on experience in all these areas from deal input through settlement and clearing to financial reporting and analysis. This included hedge-monitoring, position closing, marking to market, transferring funds and maintaining broker account balances. Other responsibilities included project work in analysis for the Bank of England Foreign Exchange Survey documentation, monitoring trading volumes by currency. Courses -Capital Markets and Financial Mathematics - Société Générale

My responsibilities with IMC included planning, designing, analysing and interpreting the results in the form of recommendations, of a research survey. Its aim was to establish the changing potential client consultancy needs amongst the FT100 companies. This formed the basis of my dissertation. Course attended Management Development - Harvard Business School & Indiana University, (residential 2 week).