Leading financial planning firm in the Washington DC metro area seeks a Director of Operations to help facilitate and accelerate growth of our team has been recognized by Forbes as a Best-In-State top financial security group. The successful candidate will be an essential member of the executive team and have responsibilities across key areas of the firm including, but not limited to HR, Operations, Marketing, and Finance.

General Responsibilities:

The responsibility of the Director of Operations (DO) is to oversee the primary firm operations necessary to achieve the highest levels of productivity, growth, and profitability. As a key member of the DCP leadership team, the ideal DO will effectively anticipate the needs of the firm, strategically plan for its growth and development, recommend necessary changes, and take independent action within areas of the DO's authority. The DO embraces the philosophy, value proposition, and practices of DCP and Northwestern Mutual.

Specific Responsibilities (including but not limited to):

Executive Leadership Team (ELT) Member

- Participates in the creation of the ELT firm vision.

- Responsible for oversight and execution of firm strategic plan including:

- Talent/HR, Operations, Marketing, and Financial matters

- Effectively creates and aligns OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) across the firm to achieve the ELT vision.

- Leads change management initiatives with a continual focus on creating efficiencies and reducing expenses.

Talent/HR

- Directs the interviewing, selection, onboarding, training, coaching and termination of talent within the firm.

- Supports team members through the co-creation of personalized developmental and coaching plans.

- Creates and facilitates consistent performance management tracking across the firm.

- Participates in the development and documentation of firm compensation philosophy for advisors and support team members.

- Administers, implements and oversees all employee benefit programs.

- Recommends salary increases and promotions to the ELT.

- Establishes documentation procedures for team member underperformance issues and creation of performance improvement plans (PIPs) as needed.

Develops and maintains DCP Employee Handbook based on agreed-upon policies, procedures, and practices.

Operations

- Drives alignment across the firm to provide a consistent client planning, onboarding, and service experience.

- Acts as the communication and change management liaison with the ELT and team.

- Reviews all NM/NMDC/ compliance communication and shares across the firm on a timely basis.

- Strategically recommends enhancements for support structure, systems, personnel, and client experience.

- Leads DCP weekly and quarterly team meetings-- including advisor performance tracking.

- Provides oversight and leadership in building, maintaining, and enhancing the DCP training program.

- Maintains and manages vendor/partner relationships.

Marketing

- Creates firm branding and marketing initiatives

- Creates social media marketing strategy through LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

- Assists with firm client segmentation and creation/oversight of targeted client concierge touch point plan.

-Provides ideas for unique experiences that DCP can offer to clients.

- Ensures marketing support team delivers on desired client experience.

- Develops and leads culture-enhancing events for DCP team members.

Financial

- Responsible for the DCP cash flow management on a bi-weekly basis.

- Provides Monthly Balance Sheet/ Income & Expense reporting to ELT.

- Assists with the creation of the firm financial budget as well as ongoing tracking.

- Oversees payroll/employee benefit services for the DCP.

- Serves as liaison between DCP and the bookkeeping service (Unify).

Ideal Candidate Qualifications:

- Bachelor's degree, preferably in business. MBA desired.

- Five or more years of experience in a leadership position with experience in hiring, training, planning, and people/program development (preferably in the financial services industry).

- Local to the DC Metro area.

- Experience in strategic agility and managing/supporting firm MISSION, VISION, and VALUES.

- Proven ability to plan strategically for both the long and short term.

- Strong excel skill set with the ability to use the program as a primary tool for business purposes.

- Aptitude in problem-solving and decision-making.

- Track record of successfully leading teams through change and building effective teams.

- Proven ability to lead, motivate, influence, and hold others accountable.

- Superior project management skills with strong attention to detail (Integrator Profile).

- Resourceful and analytical with exceptional communication skills.

- Ability to deal with ambiguity and to take independent action to make sound decisions.

- Understanding all facets of business including:

- Financial management

- Investing for growth

- Analytics and performance metrics

- Prior Human Resources experience with knowledge of state/federal HR laws desired, but not required.