Head of Wealth Management Automation Strategy & Execution

Northern Trust•Chicago, IL

2d•$137,400 - $240,400

About The Position

The Head of Wealth Management Automation Strategy & Execution leads a business-aligned team focused on improving Wealth Management work through process redesign, automation, agents, and disciplined execution. The role translates business priorities and operational pain points into scalable, well-controlled solutions that simplify workflows, reduce manual effort, enhance management information, improve consistency, and create measurable capacity and business value. The leader owns the team operating model, talent, portfolio processes, and delivery discipline. The role aligns Wealth Management priorities with enterprise AI, automation, technology, data, risk, and governance frameworks, ensuring agents and automations are designed, approved, implemented, supported, measured, and retired responsibly throughout their lifecycle. The position leads the Wealth Management ACE Team and its productivity, automation, and agent portfolio; serves as a trusted advisor to Wealth Management leaders; and partners across business, technology, data, risk, compliance, legal, security, privacy, and enterprise governance functions. It is responsible for portfolio oversight, risk and governance, stakeholder alignment, delivery outcomes, adoption, and ongoing support.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
10+ years of progressive experience in financial services, Wealth Management, operations, business transformation, process improvement, automation, AI, technology enablement, or program leadership.
Demonstrated experience leading people and complex cross-functional portfolios or programs in a large, regulated organization.
Experience delivering automation, AI, digital workflow, or low-code solutions from intake through production and ongoing support.
Experience partnering with Technology, Data, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Information Security, Privacy, and enterprise governance teams.
Proven ability to build, lead, and develop high-performing teams.
Strong Wealth Management or financial-services business acumen, including understanding client, partner, operational, regulatory, and control needs.
Ability to influence senior leaders and drive outcomes through informal authority in highly matrixed organizations.
Working knowledge of artificial intelligence, agents, low-code automation, workflow tools, data integration, and responsible AI practices.
Process-improvement expertise, including structured problem solving, root-cause analysis, workflow redesign, standardization, and benefit measurement.
Strong portfolio, program, and project management capabilities, including intake, prioritization, resource planning, governance, dependency management, and execution.
Sound risk judgment and experience operating in a regulated environment with technology, data, privacy, security, compliance, and operational-risk requirements.
Ability to connect strategy to execution, manage ambiguity, and make balanced decisions across value, feasibility, risk, cost, and speed.
Exceptional executive communication, facilitation, influence, and stakeholder-management skills.
Ability to translate between business and technical teams and constructively challenge proposed solutions.
Analytical mindset focused on measurable outcomes, adoption, value realization, and continuous improvement.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or relevant professional certification.

Responsibilities

Lead, develop, and manage the Wealth Management Automation Strategy & Execution team, establishing clear roles, decision rights, performance expectations, and development plans.
Develop an understanding of Wealth Management client servicing, banking, trust, investment, and operational workflows to identify opportunities to improve productivity, partner experience, scalability, and client outcomes.
Establish and continuously improve the team operating model, capacity plan, delivery standards, governance routines, and engagement model with Wealth Management practices and COO, Data, and Technology partners.
Build a culture of business ownership, disciplined problem solving, experimentation, accountability, reuse, documentation, risk management, and continuous improvement.
Recruit, coach, and retain professionals across process improvement, automation, agent development, product ownership, business analysis, change, and program execution.
Serve as the senior escalation point for portfolio, delivery, risk, adoption, support, and resource issues.
Lead the Wealth Management productivity, automation, and agent strategy, identifying and prioritizing opportunities to simplify processes, improve client and partner experiences, reduce risk, and create measurable business value.
Lead the Wealth Management ACE Team and act as the primary liaison to enterprise, Byron, Power Platform, Copilot Studio, and related enablement teams to support responsible, scalable adoption of automation, analytics, and agent-based solutions.
Partner with business leaders to assess operational challenges, conduct root-cause analysis, redesign workflows, and implement sustainable solutions using automation, agents, and process-improvement methods.
Drive standardization, reuse, and adoption of enterprise-approved capabilities; track productivity gains, cycle-time reduction, quality improvements, risk reduction, workflow consistency, and organizational capacity creation.
Promote project discipline across the portfolio, including charters, business cases, plans, dependencies, budgets, risks, issues, decisions, and executive reporting.
Partner with change and communications teams to incorporate readiness, training, adoption, feedback, and reinforcement into delivery plans.
Partner with business and technical support teams to ensure seamless support for partners.
Own portfolio management, including intake, triage, prioritization, roadmap development, backlog management, resource planning, and investment decisions for process improvement, automation, and agent opportunities.
Provide transparent portfolio leadership through executive reporting, value-realization measurement, risk escalation, stakeholder alignment, and prioritization decisions balancing strategic value, business impact, cost, capacity, readiness, and risk.
Lead the governance, risk, and operating framework for Wealth Management productivity, automation, and agent initiatives, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy, architecture, security, data governance, lifecycle controls, and regulatory requirements.
Serve as the primary liaison across Technology, Data, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Information Security, Privacy, and enterprise governance teams to manage approvals, dependencies, controls, audit readiness, and issue resolution.
Advise Wealth Management leaders on productivity, process design, automation, AI, and execution choices.
Translate business needs into clear requirements and connect technical possibilities to practical Wealth Management outcomes.
Build partnerships across front office, middle office, operations, technology, data, risk, compliance, and enterprise functions.
Champion solutions that improve partner experience and client outcomes without weakening controls or creating unsustainable operating models.

Benefits

Retirement benefits, including 401(k) and pension.
Health and welfare benefits, including medical, dental, vision, spending accounts, and disability coverage.
Paid time off.
Parental and caregiver leave.
Life and accident insurance.
Other voluntary and well-being benefits.
Discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Flexible and collaborative work culture.
Movement within the organization is encouraged and senior leaders are accessible.
Inclusive workplace and community-assistance commitment.