Director, Retirement Plan Solutions

Cetera • Dubuque, IA

19h • $158,000 - $215,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Turn key Plan Solutions is responsible for strategic leadership
and operational execution of Cetera’s turn key retirement plan solutions. This
role serves as the business lead for the Cetera Retire program and owns major
strategic initiatives that impact scale, client experience, and growth. The
Director drives cross functional execution across Product, Technology, Sales,
Marketing, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and PMO to ensure a simple advisor
experience, operational readiness at scale, and disciplined delivery of complex
change initiatives. This is a hybrid role.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in finance or a related field or equivalent.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in retirement plan operations
• FINRA Series 24 required, or ability to obtain within 6 months of hire date.
• Extensive knowledge of retirement plan solutions, including turn-key and bundled offerings, advisor workflows, and recordkeeping partner models.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives across Product, Technology, Operations, Legal, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and PMO.
• Strong financial acumen, including experience owning program budgets, forecasts, and resource tradeoffs.
• Proven ability to drive operational execution at scale and improve processes to support growth and client experience.
• Ability to analyze complex issues and present clear, well-structured recommendations to senior leadership.
• Experience leading managers and subject matter experts and maintaining team performance through periods of change.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence and align stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

• Experience leading complex operational programs or multi-workstream initiatives within financial services.
• Knowledge of ERISA and retirement plan regulatory requirements in a broker-dealer or RIA environment.
• Experience supporting advisor growth through sales enablement, platform adoption, and operational readiness.
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRM systems supporting sales and plan administration processes.
• Experience managing third-party vendors and coordinating contract execution with Legal and Procurement.
• Experience applying change management practices to deliver initiatives in a controlled and disciplined manner.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Align turn key plan solutions with Cetera’s retirement strategy and growth goals. Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and gaps and bring forward informed, actionable recommendations. Support executive decision making through clear optioning, analysis, and recommendations.
• Operational Execution and Performance Management: Ensure operational excellence at scale and continuously improve workflows and service delivery. Define, track, and report KPIs aligned to advisor adoption, plan growth, platform performance, and operational health. Own program budgets with a deep understanding of financial drivers and resource tradeoffs. Partner with Finance to model scenarios, refine assumptions, and quantify business impacts.
• People Leadership: Build and lead accountable managers and subject matter experts who take ownership of their domains. Promote resilience and self sufficiency while maintaining stability through periods of change. Develop staffing and contingency plans that protect client experience and mitigate attrition risk.
• Cross Functional Partnership and Governance: Coordinate execution across departments while maintaining clear ownership and accountability. Engage Legal, Risk, and Compliance proactively and secure explicit alignment at key decision points. Lead structured communication planning and stakeholder updates for complex initiatives.
• Executive Partnership: Act as a solutions oriented partner to senior leaders by bringing recommendations, not just issues. Maintain proactive communication and a no surprises operating culture.
• Program Ownership/Cetera Retire Program Leadership: The Director serves as the business lead for Cetera Retire and is accountable for aligning the program to enterprise strategy and advisor needs. This includes driving platform enhancements, advisor enablement, and operational readiness in close partnership with Product, Technology, Sales, and Marketing. The role prioritizes a simple, intuitive advisor experience supported by clear, consistent communication that drives confidence and adoption.
• RPS Migration Ownership: The Director owns the reassessment, reforecasting, and execution of the RPS migration strategy. This includes developing and evaluating viable scenarios, delivering executive ready recommendations with clear tradeoffs, and defining high level implementation roadmaps. Once direction is set, the Director leads end to end migration execution including planning, governance, communications, risk management, and post migration stabilization while ensuring continuity of client experience throughout the transition.
• Vendor, Contract, and Partner Management: Manage external partner relationships and vendor performance. Coordinate contract reviews and execution in partnership with Procurement and Legal.
• Sales Enablement and Systems: Partner with Sales leadership to support growth objectives and ensure alignment between sales motions and operational capacity. Define and improve Salesforce workflows to support opportunities and plan records.Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Inclusive health, dental, vision and life insurance plans built to support diverse lifestyles, offer preventative care, and protect against hardship.
• Easy access to mental health benefits to meet our team members and their families where they are.
• 20 plus days of paid time off (PTO), paid holidays, and 2 paid wellness days to give our employees the time they need to stay close with their loved ones, recharge, and give back to their communities.
• 401(k) Savings plan with a generous company contribution (up to 5%), and access to a financial professional to offer our employees the opportunity to plan-ahead for a strong financial future well beyond their working years.
• Paid parental leave to support all team members with birth, adoption, and foster.
• Health Savings and Flexible Spending Account options to help you save money on healthcare, daycare, commuting, and more.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP), LifeLock, Pet Insurance and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees