Career growth comes in many different forms at MarketAxess. But one of the most rewarding ways we’ve seen our people develop is through internal mobility – moving around to different offices, teams, or even entirely different functions, to broaden their experience within the company. Our new story series “MarketAxess Moves,” spotlights our employees and their individual journeys at the company, as they’ve navigated the changes that come with stepping out of their comfort zone and into a new opportunity.
For Solenn Maton, a Senior Research Analyst, who’s been with us over 4 years since joining as an intern in NYC, she always knew that there was a possibility she may want to move back to Europe to be closer to her family in France. So, the stars really seemed to align when there was a need for a second dedicated team member to join our Research team in London to focus on our growing presence in EMEA and APAC.
But let’s take a step back and talk a little more about what being a Research Analyst at MarketAxess really means. Our Research team is focused on analyzing all the data generated on our trading platform and looks at how we can inform data driven decisions. The team builds products to help our investors, clients, and dealers trade more efficiently, and make sure the information is transparent and available to everyone. Solenn is responsible for all the analytics we create for our dealer community (think: banks) and our client community (think: asset managers and hedge funds).
Like many of our employees who find their way to MarketAxess, Solenn initially found out about the internship opportunity (as part of our first summer internship program!) through her university, where her now manager and current Co-Head of Research, Julien Alexandre, also attended. He mentored her during her internship, then brought her on as a part-time intern during her senior year, and ultimately, she joined in a full-time role in the NYC office after graduation. She still works for him to this day.
In the past, there was a much smaller Research presence in the UK. Solenn shares that historically, one person from the New York team would spend a year working in London and then come back to the US, but there was a growing need for more permanent team members on the ground to focus on EMEA and APAC. Given that Solenn is French, she immediately came to mind – which happened to work out well because she was thinking about moving to Europe but wanted to remain within MarketAxess.
It’s hard enough relocating to a new city (much less a different country!) under normal circumstances – but add a global pandemic to the equation, and it becomes even more challenging. “I won’t lie, it was difficult initially, particularly because it was the middle of Covid, and everything was closed in London.” shares Solenn. “However, the fact that I stayed in the same company made it easier, as I knew the UK team already.”
Eventually the pieces fell into place: London started to reopen and Solenn could be in the office. The social nature of working in London has helped as well – going to the pubs and participating in other social activities has made it much easier to meet new people.
When asked what the biggest difference was working in London vs. New York, Solenn tells us that she initially thought that NYC was the heart of the business and that it would be difficult not being in the main HQ. But things have changed dramatically, due in part to the pandemic: we are way more connected now. She no longer feels that London is a small office, and it’s much more connected with the rest of the world, which has been rewarding to watch.
She of course misses the people in our NYC office and loved that the Research team had its own little section of the floor there. But on the flip side, in London, she can really see the diversity of clients we have, their unique needs, how they trade, and how they interact with data. Her biggest lesson learned throughout this whole experience? “There are always new challenges that arise, and not every time where you expect them to be. Even in a familiar environment, you continue to learn even more,” Solenn says. “Moving to London just opened the way I think about everything we are doing. Our European customers are much more data savvy, so they challenge us constantly. Facing these different views pushed me to innovate further, to improve our offering both for Asia, Europe, and the US.”