Director, Custodian Operations and Strategy

Kestra • Austin, TX

121d

About The Position

Kestra Financial is seeking a Director, Custodian Operations and Strategy to oversee the strategy, administration, and delivery of integrated multi-custodian account and investment data throughout the Kestra ecosystem. The role supports data governance, clearing operations, portfolio management platforms, CRM integrations, revenue management, business intelligence, and other downstream users of custodian data. It combines wealth management expertise, hands-on technical experience with custodian aggregation, and a product management mindset.

The Director will lead custodian interfaces and integrations across the organization, develop a strategy for maximizing the value of custodian data, and turn business needs into prioritized platform improvements. The role also oversees feed and API operations, establishes procedures for enabling and transmitting data, and partners with compliance, risk, data, technology, and product teams to support secure, reliable, compliant integrations and scalable growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or Software Engineering.
• At least 2 years of experience in technical product management in an Agile environment.
• At least 5 years of experience in wealth management, investment operations, or trading.
• Deep understanding of RIA and wealth advisory operations, portfolio management, performance reporting, fee billing, compliance (such as ADV and SEC/FINRA), tax-aware strategies (versus purchase), and client/advisor workflows in multi-custodial environments.
• Hands-on knowledge of custodian data feeds, including transaction, position, label, security, price, and open/closed lot data; APIs; file formats such as CSV and PDF parsing; aggregation platforms; data normalization and reconciliation; MDM/medallion architectures; and cross-custodian integration challenges.
• Strong experience in Agile product management, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder management, user story writing, A/B testing, and driving adoption and revenue outcomes.
• Ability to balance business value with technical feasibility.
• Familiarity with modern technology stacks, such as cloud platforms, SQL/Databricks, APIs, and Python for data workflows, and with tools for portfolio accounting or wealth technology.

Nice To Haves

• Series 7, 63, 65, or 66 license or certification; optional.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the central leader and subject matter expert for custodian interfaces and integrations across the organization.
• Build relationships with business leaders and teams, understand their requirements, translate them into roadmap priorities, and deliver practical solutions.
• Develop and continuously refine a strategy to maximize the value of custodian data across business lines.
• Identify opportunities to improve connectivity, develop data capabilities, and align integration work with organizational goals.
• Use knowledge of custodian data sources, formats, and capabilities to identify and validate business problems and opportunities.
• Propose and prioritize solutions that improve efficiency, client outcomes, advisor productivity, and revenue generation.
• Oversee custodian feed file deliveries, monitor delays, errors, and performance issues, and drive timely remediation.
• Monitor API integrations and connectivity to maintain data quality, reliability, and uptime.
• Design, implement, and govern a centralized framework for enabling, transmitting, and offboarding custodian data for internal and external downstream consumers.
• Improve third-party vendor review and audit processes to support secure, compliant, and efficient use of custodian data.
• Partner with compliance and risk teams to incorporate data requirements, maintain authoritative data sources, support regulatory compliance, and mitigate risks.
• Collaborate with data governance, data engineering, technology, and product management leaders to prioritize and deliver initiatives.
• Facilitate alignment, remove barriers, and drive execution across teams.
• Maintain expert knowledge of wealth technology vendors and platforms, including their data requirements and integration needs.
• Facilitate high-quality custodian data support for integrations and maximize platform value.

Benefits

• Competitive pay and benefits.
• 401(k).
• Health insurance.
• Supportive, collaborative work environment committed to professional excellence.
• Training, development, and long-term growth opportunities.
• Tuition reimbursement for qualified expenses.

What This Job Offers

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