Senior Director, Supervision Talent & Development

Northwestern Mutual • Milwaukee, WI

5d • $144,000 - $216,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Director, Supervision Talent & Development is a leadership role within Northwestern Mutual’s Enterprise Compliance Department responsible for leading the strategy for supervision onboarding, training, development, and quality across the Home Office and Field. This role evolves existing capabilities into an integrated talent ecosystem that accelerates proficiency, strengthens judgment, improves quality, and prepares supervision professionals for the future of the work, while leading teams and partnering with supervisors, managing partners, senior leaders, and subject matter experts to align development priorities with business needs, regulatory developments, emerging risks, and the changing nature of supervision.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
• Significant leadership experience in financial services, supervision, compliance, risk management, field leadership, advisor support, talent development, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated success leading teams and building, scaling, or materially improving organizational capabilities.
• Experience shaping training systems, onboarding programs, talent development strategies, learning journeys, or related professional development experiences.
• Strong understanding of the financial services industry, including financial planning concepts, products, advisor practices, and supervisory responsibilities.
• Proven ability to build credibility, influence without direct authority, and drive action across organizational boundaries.
• Demonstrated ability to coach and develop leaders, teams, and stakeholders.
• Outstanding communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills, including the ability to translate strategy into engaging and actionable direction.
• Strong strategic thinking, business acumen, judgment, and execution capabilities.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity and evolve established capabilities into a more integrated and scalable operating model.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in supervision, supervisory leadership, compliance, risk, or a related financial services capacity preferred.
• Experience supporting geographically dispersed populations preferred.
• Experience leading learning, talent development, organizational effectiveness, quality programs, onboarding journeys, professional development frameworks, or coaching practices preferred.
• Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Financial Consultant, Chartered Life Underwriter, or a comparable industry designation preferred.
• Current or prior FINRA Series 7, Series 24, and Series 9/10 registrations, comparable supervisory registrations, or willingness and ability to obtain applicable registrations based on the requirements of the role preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an integrated strategy for supervision onboarding, training, development, and quality across the Home Office and Field.
• Design development journeys that strengthen business knowledge, judgment, service orientation, leadership capability, confidence, and long-term career growth.
• Lead Home Office and Field training, development, and onboarding programs, establishing clear priorities, measures of success, and shared learning foundations where appropriate.
• Improve the speed and effectiveness with which new employees complete licensing, build proficiency, and become prepared to perform quality work independently.
• Oversee the Home Office quality review program and establish feedback loops among quality review, training, business trends, regulatory developments, audit findings, and development priorities.
• Build stronger alignment between Home Office and Field programs while addressing the distinct needs, responsibilities, and development priorities of each population.
• Serve as a visible, credible, and relatable thought leader for the supervision community, building trusted relationships with supervisors, managing partners, senior leaders, and other key stakeholders.
• Influence stakeholders to take action, strengthen supervision practices, and invest appropriately in supervision talent and capability.
• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team responsible for training, onboarding, development, quality review, and program enablement.
• Set clear roles, priorities, performance expectations, and accountability for outcomes while building a collaborative, service-oriented culture focused on quality, sound judgment, and continuous learning.
• Lead the evolution of foundational programs into an integrated, scalable supervision talent and development model, using data, technology, and artificial intelligence to improve learning, accelerate feedback, increase capacity, and strengthen quality insights.
• Travel may be required based on business and leadership needs.

Benefits

• Geographic specific pay structures may be applicable.
• Best-in-class company that puts our clients' interests at the center of all we do.
• Equal opportunity employer that welcomes talented individuals of all backgrounds.
• Commitment to creating and maintaining an environment in which each employee can contribute creative ideas, seek challenges, assume leadership and continue to focus on meeting and exceeding business and personal objectives.

What This Job Offers

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