Managing Director, Professional Practice

The Managing Director of Professional Practice serves as the enterprise leader for CFP Board’s professional standards and practioner ecosystem, providing strategic oversight of certification competency standards across Examination, College and University Registered Programs, Continuing Education, and Experience. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, this role blends business acumen with executive leadership, driving revenue performance, operational excellence and stakeholder value. The Managing Director leads Stakeholder Services to strengthen administration, enforcement, and practitioner engagement, ensuring the profession’s standards advance the mission, protect the public and support long-term organizational growth.

Essential Responsibilities

• Serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team that sets the organization’s strategic direction and actively contributes to strategic discussions to further the CFP Board’s mission and organizational objectives.
• Provide strategic leadership to uphold the relevance, integrity, and operational excellence of the CFP Board’s competency standards program, ensuring it remains impactful and aligned with the evolving needs of the profession.
• Manages and is accountable for revenues associated with Professional Practice departments and programs.
• Ensure the CFP® certification examination remains a valid, reliable, and legally defensible assessment, upholding the highest professional standards.
• Oversees the CFP® certification processes consistently meets the annual accreditation standards of NCCA.
• Maintain that Education, Examination, Experience, and Stakeholder Services adhere to high-quality standards, with a strong focus on continuous improvement and excellence.
• Develops and fosters strong relationships with education providers to support the mission of the CFP Board.
• Ensures the experience requirement effectively demonstrates a candidate's capacity to provide unsupervised personal financial planning.
• Ensures stakeholders receive accurate, prompt, and professional service across all professional practice departments, with a strong focus on delivering high-touch, customer-focused support.
• Maintains thorough and up-to-date knowledge of all activities related to examinees requesting accommodations, appeals, and policy exceptions. Collaborates with the Director of Examinations and other organizational leadership to review and communicate decisions on such requests.
• Develops and manages operating budgets, ensuring alignment with financial goals and revenue targets.
• Establishes departmental and individual staff goals consistent with CFP Board’s organizational objectives and strategic priorities.
• Leads the recruitment, training, supervision, and performance evaluation of departmental staff in alignment with CFP Board’s human resource practices.

Education 

• Develops and maintains relationships with CFP® professional volunteers including registered program directors and the Council on Education.
• Manages the registration and oversight of education programs to ensure compliance with CFP Board’s standards.
• Onboards staff and provides guidance and direction in managing and upholding the standards of the Education program.

Examinations

• Ensures the CFP® certification examination is valid, reliable, and legally defensible.
• Maintains the CFP® examination remains relevant as the financial planning profession evolves.
• Oversees the job task analysis and exam development process.
• Develops and nurtures relationships with CFP® professional volunteers including the Council on Exams and Item Writers.
• Onboards and provides direction on the administration and enforcement of the Examination program.
• Negotiates and manages relationship with exam administration partners and vendors.

Continuing Education

• Ensures that CFP Board’s continuing education requirements address the continuing competency needs of CFP® professionals.
• Directs the effective and efficient review of Continuing Education Sponsor program applications.
• Oversee the thorough and timely review of candidate experience submissions for compliance with established standards.
• Continuously seeks improvements to the quality of Continuing Education programs.
• Enforces candidate and sponsor requirements for Examination and Continuing Education programs.
• Onboards and guides staff on the administration and enforcement of the Experience and Continuing Education programs.

Stakeholder Services

• Handles and resolves complex customer service inquiries escalated by the department, ensuring adherence to quality standards and providing exceptional, high-touch service to stakeholders.
• Establishes and monitors key performance criteria for the Stakeholder Services Department as approved by CFP Board.
• Tracks, identifies, and reports critical performance measures for the Department.
• Ensures the Department is adequately staffed to professionally serve stakeholders.
• Troubleshoots and resolves process and quality issues.

Experience & Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree required.
• CFP® certification or advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 10 years’ professional experience in financial planning, professional development, examination, advisor training and/or continuing education, ideally complimented by a strong background in business operations and strategy.
• Demonstrated management and strategic leadership skills with a focus on guiding teams and leading leaders toward achieving quantitative and qualitative strategic goals.
• Experience in association management is preferred.
• Proven experience in managing a department that delivers multiple services and/or programs.
• Financial services industry/professional experience is highly desirable.
• Relevant experience or involvement in certification, licensing or credentialing activities. Familiarity with examination psychometrics desired but not required.
• A strategic planner with strong technical proficiency, analytical abilities, sound judgment, and a focus on operational excellence and implementation.
• A well-organized, self-motivated individual who is politically astute, collaborative, and team-oriented.
• An intelligent, articulate professional who relates effectively to individuals at all organizational levels and possesses excellent communication skills and keen attention to detail.
• Skilled in addressing sensitive inquiries and concerns, delivering persuasive presentations on complex or contentious topics, and providing clear vision and leadership.
• Ability to travel 10% required.

Compensation for this role will reflect a range of factors, including relevant experience, demonstrated expertise, and other considerations. CFP Board is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The applicable starting annual base salary is anticipated to be in the range of $240,000 to $260,000. In addition to base salary, total compensation includes incentive compensation for which employees are eligible based on completion of individual goals. Additionally, CFP Board offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees’ well-being and growth.

Interested candidates should apply directly by emailing a copy of their resume to cfpapplicants@caldwell.com

CFP Board is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board consists of two affiliated organizations focused on advancing the financial planning profession for the public’s benefit. CFP Board of Standards, the 501(c)(6), sets and upholds standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification — widely recognized by the public, advisors and firms as the standard for financial planners — so that the public has access to the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning.

CFP® certification is held by more than 107,000 people in the U.S. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning, the 501(c)(3), addresses diversity and workforce development challenges and conducts and publishes research that adds to the financial planning profession’s body of knowledge.

CFP Board believes that diversity of experience and perspective are strengths and seeks to continue to grow a highly committed, skilled, and collaborative staff.