Risk, operations & control
Risk, Operations and Control are the teams that keep a bank safe, accurate and inside the rules. Risk teams measure what the bank could lose. Market risk watches the trading desks' positions, credit risk decides how much the bank can lend to or trade with each client, and operational risk looks for what could go wrong in systems and processes.
Operations makes sure every trade actually happens. The cash and the securities move to the right place on the right day, accounts reconcile, and new clients are set up correctly. Control covers product control, which works out each trading desk's profit and loss every day and checks its valuations; compliance, which makes sure the bank follows regulation; and financial crime teams, who check clients are who they say they are and that money is clean.
These seats sit close to the front office; product controllers and risk managers work alongside traders every day. Hours are more predictable, graduate programmes are large and well structured, and a move to a front-office role later is possible, though not guaranteed.