Senior Manager, Practice Operations & Performance
Focus Financial PartnersMelbourne, Victoria, Australia · Posted 4 months agoDescription
Position Summary
The Senior Manager – Practice Management & Performance is accountable for the day‑to‑day operational performance, capacity management, and leadership of advice operations teams, ensuring the practice operates efficiently, consistently, and at scale. This role leads Team Leaders across Paraplanning and Client Services and an Operations Manager. The role translates business strategy, standards, and regulatory obligations into effective practice‑level delivery, enabling advisers to focus on client outcomes and growth. The role balances people leadership, commercial insight, and operational discipline to ensure the business is achieving its goals.
This role is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Primary Responsibilities
People Leadership & Team Performance
- Lead, coach and develop Operations Manager and Team Leads to drive accountability and consistent delivery of outcomes
- Build a culture of accountability, collaboration and client-centricity
- Set clear expectations for workflow discipline, service quality, and capacity management
- Support Ops Mgr and Team Leads to:
- Allocate work effectively
- Build capability and role clarity within their teams
- Address performance, quality, or capacity issues early
- Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and commercial awareness
Practice Operations & BAU Excellence
- Ensure advice operations run smoothly and consistently across the business
- Monitor BAU execution, identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and operational risk
- Act as the escalation point for complex operational or resourcing issues
- Stabilise operations during periods of growth, adviser change, or increased demand
Adviser Productivity & Capacity Management
- Partner with advisers and leaders to improve utilisation and sustainable workloads
- Remove operational friction that impacts advisor productivity or client experience
- Oversee capacity planning across Paraplanning and Client Services teams
- Balance adviser demand with team capability and capacity
Operational Reporting & Commercial Insights
- Own operational and performance reporting, including:
- Workflow health and WIP
- Capacity and utilisation metrics
- Client, FUM, and revenue‑related operational indicators
- Translate reporting into clear insights and actionable recommendations for leaders
Operational Risk, Quality & Governance
- Ensure operational teams work within agreed compliance, AFSL, and governance frameworks
Technology & Systems Enablement
- Act as a senior operational owner of advice systems (e.g. Xplan and related platforms)
- Ensure tools are used consistently and effectively by operational teams
- Partner with Technology and Service Design to embed agreed changes into BAU
- Identify system or process issues impacting productivity or quality
Continuous Improvement & Change Execution
- Lead or support operational improvement initiatives impacting BAU performance
- Own implementation and adoption of agreed changes across teams
- Ensure improvements are practical, embedded, and sustained
Qualifications
- 8+ years leadership experience in financial advice operations, paraplanning, or client services
- Proven experience in implementing and embedding change initiatives
- Experience leading process alignment across the wider business in a way that supports teams and enhances the client experience
- Proven ability to lead others and indirectly manage larger operational teams
- Strong commercial and capacity‑planning mindset
- High confidence engaging with advisers and senior stakeholders
- Ability to balance people leadership with operational execution
- Strong people leadership capability, with the ability to coach, influence, and hold leaders accountable for outcomes
- Sound operational judgment, balancing efficiency, quality, and client experience in day‑to‑day decisions
- Commercial mindset, with a clear understanding of how operational performance supports adviser productivity and business results
- Confident capacity and workload management across competing priorities and adviser demand
- High level of data literacy, able to interpret information, identify trends or risks, and support sound decision‑making
- Disciplined and structured approach to BAU execution, with strong follow‑through
- Comfortable operating within governance and risk frameworks, reinforcing consistent and compliant ways of working
- Calm, resilient, and pragmatic leader, able to cut through complexity and drive practical outcomes
About Focus Partners Australia
Focus Partners Australia is part of Focus Financial Partners, a leading financial services firm based in the United States, comprised of wealth management, family office, and business management services. Focus Partners Australia offers integrated capabilities in investment and portfolio management, accounting, lending, insurance and related services from its offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Guided by a client-first ethos, we leverage the global expertise, platforms and capital strength of Focus Financial Partners to deliver holistic, fiduciary guidance across strategic planning, portfolio management, insurance, credit and tax. By fusing local insight with world-class resources, Focus Partners Australia helps its clients protect, grow, and transition their wealth at every life stage. Discover more about Focus Partners Australia at focuspa.com.au/ or LinkedIn.
About Focus Financial Partners
Focus is a leading financial services firm comprised of integrated wealth management, family office, and business management services. Blending deep expertise and expansive resources with a boutique, client-first fiduciary philosophy, Focus helps individuals, families, and institutions navigate complex financial situations with highly personalized solutions tailored to their unique needs. To learn more about Focus, visit www.focusfinancialpartners.com or follow the company on LinkedIn.
Focus is an equal opportunity employer and bases its employment decisions on the employee or candidate’s skillset, and without regard to an employee or candidate’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state and/or federal law.
Focus complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact careers@focuspartners.com.
The following language is for US based roles only
For California Applicants: Information on your California privacy rights can be found here
For Indiana Applicants: It is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of status as a veteran by refusing to employ an applicant on the basis that they are a veteran of the armed forces of the United States, a member of the Indiana National Guard or a member of a reserve component.
For Maryland Applicants: I UNDERSTAND THAT UNDER MARYLAND LAW, AN EMPLOYER MAY NOT REQUIRE OR DEMAND, AS A CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT, PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYMENT OR CONTINUED EMPLOYMENT, THAT ANY INDIVIDUAL SUBMIT TO OR TAKE A POLYGRAP OR SIMILAR TEST. AN EMPLOYER WHO VIOLATES THIS LAW IS GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR AND SUBJECT TO A FINE NOT EXCEEDING $100.
For Massachusetts Applicants: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
For Montana Applicants: If hired, the employment relationship is governed by the Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act. Mont. Code Ann. Section 39-2-901.
For Rhode Island Applicants: Focus is subject to Chapters 29-38 of Title 28 of the General Laws of Rhode Island and is therefore covered by the state’s workers’ compensation law. If you willfully provide false information about your ability to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodations, you may be barred from filing a claim under the provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act of the State of Rhode Island if the false information is directly related to the personal injury that is the basis for the new claim for compensation. The Company complies fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Similar jobs
Position Summary The Supervisor is a senior technical and delivery-focused role with high client interaction. The role is responsible for reviewing work, providing technical guidance, supporting workflow management, and…
Position Summary The Supervisor is a senior technical and delivery-focused role with high client interaction. The role is responsible for reviewing work, providing technical guidance, supporting workflow management, and…
Position Summary The Middle Office Operations Analyst will take ownership of ongoing administrative and operational processes to support our client experience. This role supports front-line investment teams by improving…
Position Summary The Bookkeeper is responsible for delivering accurate, timely, and compliant bookkeeping services to a portfolio of clients of the accounting practice. The role supports clients by maintaining high-quali…
Est. 137,500 USD
Position Summary The Manager, Client & Advisor Experience role is a people leader on the Focus Client & Advisor Experience team responsible for leading a team and overseeing the deployment, adoption, success, and…
Est. 112,500 USD
Position Summary The Lead Client & Advisor Experience Manager is an individual contributor on the Focus Client & Advisor Experience team responsible for the deployment, adoption, success, and ongoing improvement…
Est. 110,000 USD
Position Summary As a member of the Service & Operations (S&O) department, the Business Analyst partners with S&O leadership to transform operational priorities and data into actionable insights, scalable sol…
Est. 117,500 USD
Position Summary The Senior Business Analyst, Wealth Technology is responsible for leading the definition, documentation, and execution of business processes and technology initiatives across the organization, with a pri…
Est. 112,500 USD
Position Summary The Senior Advisor Development Manager is a key member of the Advisor Development team, responsible for designing, facilitating, and continuously enhancing learning experiences that help advisors build t…
Est. 65,000 USD
At Prairie Capital, we are committed to helping clients navigate the complexities of significant financial resources while achieving their long-term goals. Our culture is rooted in respect, collaboration, and accountabil…
Est. 100,000 USD
Position Summary The Analytics Engineer is responsible for owning the design, build, and ongoing maintenance of data products in the MART layer of the firm’s data platform. This role creates and evolves foundational and…
Est. 135,000 USD
Position SummaryWe are seeking an experienced Senior Manager of Infrastructure Protection Operations to strengthen the security and resilience of our enterprise infrastructure. Reporting to the Vice President of Network…
Est. 100,000 USD
The Portfolio Strategy Group (PSG) is a premier independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with more than 35 years of experience serving high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. The firm oversees mor…
Est. 125,000 USD
Alley Company is a registered investment advisory firm located in Lake Forest, Illinois. The firm was founded in 1998 by Steven J. Alley with a clear purpose: to provide clients with understandable, long-term financial p…
Est. 67,500 USD
Sapient Private Wealth Management is an independent, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) dedicated to helping high-net-worth individuals and families develop personalized strategies to accumulate, preserve, and…
Est. 55,000 GBP
Position SummaryFocus Financial partner firm, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, is seeking a Tax Assistant Manager. The Tax Assistant Manager must be an organized, technically capable and client-focused tax professional wh…
Est. 120,000 USD
Position Summary The Data & Integration Ops Engineer is an experienced data engineering professional responsible for the stable, secure, and efficient operation of Focus's data platforms and integration pipelines. Th…
Est. 82,500 USD
Since joining Focus Financial Partners in 2016, XML Financial Group has been growing our client assets we service from $500M to nearly $4B today with offices in multiple states and over 50+ team members. We have been abl…
Est. 92,500 USD
Provident Financial Management is a premier business management firm based in Los Angeles, specializing in providing comprehensive tax, accounting, and financial management services to entertainers, musicians, and other…
Est. 70,000 USD
Position Summary Eton Advisors is a Multi-Family Office dedicated to providing discerning, ultra-high net-worth clients with sophisticated wealth management and family office services. Our commitment is a customized appr…
Est. 120,000 USD
Position Summary The BI & Data Applications Engineer is an experienced BI and data engineering professional responsible for building and maintaining Focus's data consumption layer — the reports, dashboards, and inter…
Est. 85,000 USD
Azimuth Capital Management (ACM) is an investment management and advisory firm headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Our team is comprised of individuals with a unique set of talents, all with an intense orientation tow…
Est. 200,000 USD
Position Summary Badgley Phelps Wealth Managers, a trusted name in wealth management for over 50 years, distinguishes itself with its distinctive approach to wealth management. Since 1966, we've been more than just fiduc…
Est. 145,000 USD
The Portfolio Strategy Group (PSG) is a premier independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) with more than 35 years of experience serving high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families. The firm oversees mor…
Est. 125,000 USD
Based in New York, NY, Joel Isaacson & Co. serves successful executives, business owners, professionals and high net worth families. The firm’s services include: investment and cash flow management, estate and tax pl…
Est. 200,000 USD
Position Summary Williams Jones, founded in 1988, is a SEC-registered investment advisory firm specializing in customized wealth management services for private individuals, retirement plans, and non-profit organizations…
Est. 165,000 USD
LVW Advisors is an independent investment advisory firm serving ultra-high-net-worth families, business owners, endowments, foundations, nonprofits, and other sophisticated investors. The firm combines institutional-qual…
Est. 120,000 USD
Origin Investments is a dynamic and entrepreneurial real estate investment firm focused on transforming the way individuals invest in real estate. With more than $5 billion in assets under management, Origin manages a gr…
Est. 120,000 USD
Position Summary Hill Investment Group and Longview Research Partners are redefining how advisors and investors implement evidence-based investing through a differentiated ETF platform built for long-term success. Headqu…
Est. 115,000 USD
Position Summary Founded in 2003, Ancora Holdings Group is a private wealth advisor and institutional asset manager focused on building distinctive investment strategies and robust wealth & risk management solutions…