Risk Arbitrage Trader, Director

The Risk Arbitrage Trader is a senior-level position responsible for overseeing a dedicated risk/merger arbitrage and event-driven trading book. This role involves managing book risk and capital allocation in coordination with the broader Event-Driven and Global Markets teams.

The overall objective of this role is to generate consistent, risk-adjusted revenues by trading announced corporate transactions (mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, spin-offs, and restructurings) while safeguarding the firm's capital. The Risk Arb Trader will coordinate with key internal stakeholders—including Research, Sales, and M&A Advisory—to develop and expand the firm's event-driven trading franchise and deliver superior execution and market insights to institutional clients.

Key Responsibilities:

Portfolio Management & Trading Execution

• Book Management: Actively manage and trade a senior-level Risk Arbitrage book, executing long/short strategies primarily focused on announced M&A transactions, equity stubs, spin-offs, and other corporate reorganizations.
• Spread Capture: Identify, analyze, and capture arbitrage spreads between target and acquirer securities (stock-for-stock, cash, or mixed-consideration deals) while optimizing execution timing.
• Hedging & Risk Mitigation: Implement sophisticated hedging strategies using options, credit default swaps, equity derivatives, and index products to isolate deal-specific risks and mitigate market beta, interest rate, and currency exposures.
• Deal-Break Management: Proactively manage tail-risk and potential deal-break scenarios, establishing disciplined stop-loss limits and exit protocols for high-risk transactions.

Research, Analysis & Idea Generation

• Transaction Analysis: Perform rigorous fundamental, legal, and regulatory analysis of merger agreements, tender offer documents, and proxy statements. Evaluate key deal terms, including Material Adverse Effect (MAE) clauses, termination fees, and financing conditions.
• Regulatory & Antitrust Assessment: Assess regulatory approval pathways, including Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filings, European Commission reviews, CFIUS clearances, and other global antitrust or national security hurdles.
• Shareholder Dynamics: Analyze shareholder bases, voting requirements, and activist investor involvement to gauge the probability of deal approval.
• Collaboration: Partner closely with Event-Driven Research analysts to synthesize legal, regulatory, and financial inputs into actionable trading strategies.

Franchise Development & Client Engagement

• Client Coverage: Build and maintain strong relationships with key institutional clients, including event-driven hedge funds, merger arbitrage funds, and multi-strategy asset managers.
• Market Intelligence: Anticipate client demand, facilitate large block trades in arbitrage situations, and provide high-touch market color, flow analysis, and spread-pricing insights to the sales force and clients.
• Cross-Functional Coordination: Coordinate with Sales, Research, Capital Markets, and Investment Banking to enhance the firm's overall event-driven franchise and capture market share in transaction-related flows.

Leadership, Governance & Controls

• Mentorship: Manage, mentor, and develop junior traders and desk analysts, fostering a collaborative and high-performing desk environment.
• Control Partnership: Work in close partnership with control functions—including Legal, Compliance, Market Risk, Credit Risk, Audit, and Finance—to ensure a robust governance and control infrastructure.
• Responsible Finance: Build and maintain a culture of responsible finance, good governance, strict expense discipline, and high ethical standards.
• Reputational Risk Management: Appropriately assess the risk/reward of complex transactions, demonstrating proper consideration for the firm’s reputation, safeguarding Citigroup, its clients, and its assets.
• Compliance Adherence: Adhere to Citi’s Code of Conduct, the Plan of Supervision for Global Markets, and all applicable local and international laws, rules, and regulations. Maintain all required regulatory registrations and licenses.

• Experience: 10+ years of experience in trading, with a proven track record of at least 7–10 years specifically managing a profitable Risk Arbitrage / Merger Arbitrage or Event-Driven trading book.
• Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of corporate finance, M&A legal structures, securities law, and global regulatory/antitrust frameworks.
• Risk Management: Proven history of disciplined risk management, including successful navigation of historical deal breaks, market drawdowns, and liquidity squeezes.
• Analytical Skills: Advanced analytical, quantitative, and numerical competency. Ability to model complex deal spreads, option-implied probabilities, and multi-scenario payoff matrices.
• Communication: Consistently demonstrates clear, concise, and persuasive written and verbal communication skills. Ability to articulate complex legal or regulatory situations and their trading implications.
• Interpersonal Skills: Strong relationship-building skills to collaborate effectively with internal stakeholders (Sales, Research, Legal) and external institutional counterparties.
• Systems Knowledge: Advanced proficiency in Bloomberg (specifically arbitrage and M&A functions like M&A, CACS), proprietary booking and risk management systems, and electronic trading protocols.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree/University degree in Finance, Economics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
• Master’s degree (MBA or quantitative finance) or professional designations (CFA, JD) highly preferred.

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Job Family Group:

Institutional Trading

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Job Family:

Trading

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Time Type:

Full time

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Primary Location:

New York New York United States

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Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$200,000.00 - $300,000.00

In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

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Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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Anticipated Posting Close Date:

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Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

 

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

 

Illinois residents – AI Notice and Right

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Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

 

If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.

View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.