Director and Head, Advisor Training and Practice Management

Manulife • Boston, MA

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

This Director and Head, Advisor Training and Practice Management will serve as the enterprise owner for advisor capability-building, practice management standards, and field enablement programs. The role will define priorities, establish governance, manage execution through cross-functional partners, and influence sales leadership, product, compliance, marketing, operations, technology, and learning teams to ensure advisors have the knowledge, tools, routines, and coaching needed to serve clients effectively and grow their practices. The position requires strong people leadership, senior stakeholder management, program governance, and execution discipline, along with a practical understanding of wealth management, financial advice delivery, advisor practice operations, adult learning, change management, and performance coaching.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in wealth management, financial advice, advisor development, sales enablement, practice management, learning and development, or related financial services leadership roles, including experience leading enterprise or channel-level programs with broad business impact.
• Demonstrated experience leading advisor training, coaching, practice management, or field enablement functions in a regulated financial services environment.
• Strong understanding of financial planning, investment solutions, retirement income, client segmentation, relationship management, and advisor practice operations.
• Proven ability to build scalable programs, translate strategy into execution, manage governance, and influence senior cross-functional partners without relying solely on direct authority.
• Proven ability to lead teams, manage complex stakeholder relationships, and drive adoption of new programs, tools, and operating routines across geographically distributed advisor populations.
• Experience using data, KPIs, and performance insights to diagnose capability gaps and measure program effectiveness.
• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or relevant professional designation preferred.
• Relevant securities, insurance, or advisory licenses/designations preferred, depending on jurisdiction and business requirements.
• Bilingualism (English and French) is a strong asset. If the successful candidate is in Québec, proficiency in both languages will be required to support clients from various provinces outside of Quebec.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting affiliated, employee, independent, or hybrid advisor channels.
• Experience developing advisor playbooks, sales enablement tools, onboarding curricula, coaching models, or certification pathways.
• Familiarity with CRM platforms, financial planning software, portfolio tools, workflow automation, and AI-enabled advisor productivity solutions.
• Knowledge of advisor compensation, productivity metrics, sales funnels, client retention drivers, and practice profitability levers.
• Experience leading change management initiatives across geographically distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Own and execute a multi-year advisor training roadmap for new and experienced advisors, aligned to business priorities, client needs, regulatory expectations, and advisor productivity goals.
• Design a structured onboarding curriculum that accelerates advisor readiness, reinforces advice standards, and builds proficiency in planning, investment solutions, client conversations, systems, compliance requirements, and practice routines.
• Establish consistent practice management standards, tools, playbooks, and coaching models that help advisors improve segmentation, pipeline management, client engagement, referral development, retention, and growth.
• Build scalable coaching programs for advisors and field leaders, including meeting preparation, observation, feedback loops, performance diagnostics, and targeted development plans.
• Partner with compliance, supervision, product, and client experience teams to ensure training programs reinforce fiduciary-minded advice, appropriate recommendations, documentation quality, and consistent client outcomes.
• Drive advisor adoption of CRM, planning tools, digital workflows, AI-enabled capabilities, and reporting platforms to improve efficiency, consistency, and client engagement.
• Define and monitor KPIs to measure training effectiveness, advisor productivity, client outcomes, adoption rates, business growth, and return on enablement investments.
• Lead alignment with stakeholders across wealth, retirement, operations, marketing, technology, risk, legal, compliance, and HR to set priorities, manage dependencies, resolve barriers, and drive adoption of advisor development initiatives.
• Use advisor feedback, performance data, client insights, and industry best practices to continually refine training content, delivery methods, and practice management support.

Benefits

• health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage, adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, and employee/family assistance plans.
• various retirement savings plans (including pension/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources.
• up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year
• full range of statutory leaves of absence.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director