Wealth Management Operations & Controls Manager

Wiss•Florham Park, NJ

About The Position

Wiss Family Office is seeking a hands-on operations and controls manager to support the continued growth of its wealth management business, which has roughly $2 billion in assets under advisement. This working-manager role is responsible for ensuring daily operations are complete, accurate, timely, well documented, and appropriately controlled. The manager will lead and develop the operations team while reviewing high-risk work, investigating exceptions, identifying incomplete execution, and applying experienced judgment when issues arise. The role serves as the final operational line of defense and partners with advisors, investment professionals, compliance, and firm leadership. The manager will own the operating discipline needed to grow the business safely. This includes confirming procedures are followed, exceptions are resolved, approvals are documented, deadlines are met, and recurring problems are corrected at their source. The role encompasses daily wealth management operations, controls and quality assurance, risk management, team leadership, process improvement, technology and automation, and operating leadership. The successful manager will establish visibility into material work, deadlines, exceptions, and capacity; document ownership and coverage for critical workflows; strengthen controls; reduce repeat errors and incomplete work; develop team members; and deliver tested, adopted, documented, and monitored process improvements.

Requirements

Approximately five to eight years of relevant experience in wealth management operations, custody, banking, broker-dealer operations, public accounting, internal audit, financial controls, risk, controllership, or a similarly controlled environment.
Demonstrated experience reviewing work for completeness and accuracy, investigating exceptions, documenting conclusions, and ensuring remediation is completed.
Experience managing employees, workflows, deadlines, or cross-functional projects with clear accountability for results.
Strong understanding of internal controls, segregation of duties, approval evidence, reconciliation, root-cause analysis, and operational risk.
Strong project-management, organizational, analytical, and written communication skills.
Comfort using data, Excel, reporting tools, workflow platforms, and technology to improve operations and management visibility.
Ability to learn wealth management products, client structures, custodial processes, investment operations, and relevant regulatory requirements.
Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Information Systems, or a related discipline.

Nice To Haves

CPA, public accounting audit experience, internal audit or controls credentials, CFP, Series licenses, or other relevant qualifications are preferred but not required.
Experience with Fidelity, Orion, CRM platforms, document-management systems, workflow automation, or AI-enabled process improvement is a plus.

Responsibilities

Own the day-to-day execution and oversight of wealth management operations, including client onboarding, account opening, trade operations, account maintenance, transfers, distributions, beneficiary changes, trust and entity accounts, and other custodial workflows.
Monitor work queues, aging items, deadlines, service standards, and operational capacity, intervening before client commitments or control requirements are missed.
Escalate and resolve incomplete, unusual, high-risk, or time-sensitive operational matters, documenting their resolution.
Maintain working relationships with Fidelity and other custodial or technology partners; track, escalate, and close open issues.
Coordinate operational responsibilities and handoffs across client service, advisors, investments, compliance, finance, and technology.
Ensure critical processes have documented primary and backup coverage.
Establish and operate controls for high-risk activities, including money movement, account opening and maintenance, trading operations, client instructions, and other transactions requiring independent review.
Confirm appropriate segregation of duties among initiation, review, approval, and reconciliation, and promptly escalate conflicts or control gaps.
Review transactions, paperwork, approvals, and exception reports for completeness, accuracy, authorization, and evidence of supervisory review.
Maintain exception and incident logs, investigate discrepancies, perform root-cause analysis, and ensure corrective actions are completed.
Partner with compliance and firm leadership on supervisory procedures, examinations, audits, fraud prevention, business continuity, and remediation.
Develop management reporting on operational risk, error trends, aging work, control failures, repeat exceptions, and corrective-action progress.
Lead, coach, and develop operations and client service professionals; set expectations for quality, timeliness, ownership, documentation, and escalation.
Assign and rebalance work according to capacity, complexity, deadlines, and risk.
Conduct workflow and exception reviews, provide timely feedback, and address performance concerns directly.
Build the team's understanding of controls and sound judgment; create development and cross-training plans and reduce dependence on individual employees.
Promote a culture of early risk escalation, questions, and accountability for resolution.
Map workflows, validate sources of truth, remove unnecessary steps, and establish ownership before introducing automation.
Identify opportunities to use workflow technology, data, and AI to improve completeness, reduce manual effort, detect exceptions, and increase capacity.
Define business rules, required approvals, exception handling, testing standards, and audit evidence for automated workflows with subject-matter experts.
Lead user acceptance testing and post-implementation monitoring to ensure technology improves execution without weakening controls or accountability.
Optimize use of Fidelity, Orion, CRM, document-management, reporting, and workflow tools, coordinating with internal and external technology resources.
Maintain current procedures and change documentation.
Report operational performance, staffing needs, capacity, risks, and required decisions to senior leadership.
Translate growth plans into staffing, workflow, technology, documentation, and control requirements; set priorities and sequencing in line with execution capacity.
Own cross-functional operating initiatives through implementation, adoption, and measurable results.