Senior Associate - Planning, Strategy & Research

ASPIRIANT LLC•Mountain View, CA

6d•Hybrid

About The Position

Aspiriant is recruiting a Senior Associate for our Planning Strategy & Research (PS&R) group. PS&R serves as the central hub for Aspiriant’s wealth planning innovation and client experience. This is a nationwide search, with the opportunity to be located in our San Diego office or our other office locations (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mountain View, Irvine, Austin, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, or New York). The Senior Associate will report to the Chief Client Officer. The Senior Associate role is a distinctive opportunity for someone who loves wealth planning and wants to apply that expertise in a broad, scalable way. Rather than working directly with clients, the Senior Associate will help design and evolve our wealth planning platform, developing tools and insights that advisors rely on every day to ensure we deliver a consistent, high-quality, intimate client experience. This is a non-client-facing role without any direct business development duties by design. It is well suited for an individual with prior client-facing experience who seeks to extend that impact across the firm. The Senior Associate partners closely with the Practice (e.g., the firm’s client-facing professionals) and participates with Client Service Operations, Technology, Compliance and other departments to solve complex challenges, improve how the firm operates and bring new ideas into practice. PS&R’s mission is to help advisors foster intimate and durable client relationships that enable clients to achieve their goals, experience peace of mind and live life well. The team builds and maintains the wealth planning platform that helping advisors with the tools, training and processes that make exceptional client service impression intuitive, coordinated and deeply personal.

Requirements

Strong technical knowledge of wealth management and a passion for financial planning, including areas such as retirement, charitable giving, education funding, and insurance
Intellectual curiosity and accountability, with a desire to deepen expertise and contribute meaningfully within a team environment
Excellent listening and relationship management skills
Strong attention to detail and follow-through
Effective project management, with the ability to prioritize across multiple responsibilities
Commitment to continuous growth and development of leadership capabilities
Clear and effective communication skills, both written and verbal, including presentations
Ability to collaborate across functions and build strong working relationships
Proactive and adaptable, with a willingness to take ownership of a wide range of responsibilities
Capability to identify and improve processes to enhance client service and firm efficiency
Innovative, goal-oriented mindset aligned with Aspiriant’s core values and culture
Bachelor’s degree, preferably in business, finance, economics, tax, or financial planning
CFP® designation required
Three or more years of experience in a wealth management firm serving high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients
Proficiency with financial planning tools such as eMoney
Demonstrated experience across the full financial planning process, including discovery, data gathering, analysis, plan development, implementation, and monitoring
Strong analytical capabilities and sound professional judgment
Excellent personal and professional references

Nice To Haves

Experience contributing to a wealth management committee within an RIA is strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Help monitor emerging trends, strategies and regulatory developments in wealth management and translate them into actionable guidance for the Practice
Contribute subject matter expertise to develop scalable planning approaches across areas such as retirement, education funding, insurance, charitable giving and complex balance sheet strategies
Design and refine the frameworks, templates and other materials that advisors use to guide client conversations
Strengthen the firm’s planning wealth planning services by improving processes, enhancing usability and increasing consistency across the Practice
Balance standardization with flexibility to ensure advisors can deliver both high-quality and highly personalized advice
Develop a deep consideration of advisor workflows, challenges and opportunities to identify areas for meaningful improvement
Serve as a trusted internal partner, offering guidance, feedback and hands-on support to elevate planning quality across the firm
Partner with Learning & Development to design and deliver training that strengthens both technical knowledge and relationship management capabilities
Work closely with Compliance, Client Service Operations, Investment Strategy & Research, Technology and other departments to evolve our platform and processes
Contribute to firm-wide initiatives that improve how we help clients through both everyday planning and complex life events
Develop client-facing and internal content, including presentations, articles, and webinars, that make planning concepts accessible and actionable
Partner with Marketing to ensure alignment with the firm’s brand and strategic priorities
Represent the firm externally where appropriate, contributing to our reputation as a thoughtful leader in wealth planning