EVP – Customer Operations — Wealth Franchise

The mandate

An institutionally backed wealth franchise is preparing to serve more families whose assets, advisers and legal structures span several countries. Its current operations were built market by market. The same change of address can trigger different evidence requests; relationship managers use local workarounds to coordinate onboarding; and service failures cross time zones before anyone owns the complete resolution. A new growth thesis will magnify that fragmentation unless the operating model changes first.

The EVP – Customer Operations will steward approximately US$5,300 million in assets under oversight and lead about 800 employees and material partners. The perimeter covers onboarding, client maintenance, money movement, documentation, service centres, complaints, operational controls and partner delivery across channels and markets. Product, risk and compliance remain accountable peers; the EVP owns how customer promises become reliable, controlled work.

Cross-border standardisation cannot mean ignoring jurisdiction. The executive must distinguish activities that can share workflow, data, service levels and capacity from decisions requiring local licences, tax evidence or regulatory judgement. They will establish one case owner for complex households, make hand-offs visible and stop relationship teams from becoming unofficial operations departments.

Growth should proceed only where the service model can sustain it. The board expects explicit entry gates covering language, time zone, documentation, payments, complaints and local escalation. Failure demand—repeat contacts, rejected submissions, reopened cases and manual chasing—must become part of market economics, not remain hidden inside central capacity.

Client data is a further constraint. A complete household view may combine records held under different consent, residency and retention rules. The EVP must design lawful hand-offs and ensure advisers understand what can be shared, not assume that a new case tool removes jurisdictional boundaries. Service colleagues need a clear route when legal ownership, beneficial ownership and practical family authority diverge.

Capacity planning should reflect the calendar of wealth, not a flat monthly average. Tax deadlines, market volatility, corporate actions and family events can create concentrated demand across several centres. The operating plan will identify skills and partner capacity that can flex safely, plus the client promises that must change when demand exceeds that envelope.

Why this seat is open

This is a planned replacement. The incumbent will continue through a structured handover, and the board has allowed four to six months for assessment and diligence. Confidential sequencing is intended to protect client continuity, employees and partners while the next operating model is agreed.

What you will own

• Design the common and local components of cross-border wealth servicing.
• Give complex households a traceable owner across onboarding, maintenance and money movement.
• Reconcile service demand, failure demand, capacity, complaints and cost by market and channel.
• Set operational readiness gates for every proposed cross-border launch.
• Standardise partner obligations, evidence, escalation and exit readiness.
• Steward US$5,300 million of assets, risk acceptance and board forecasts.
• Lead 800 employees and partners with clear market, journey and functional decision rights.
• Build succession and mobility across service centres, markets and specialist teams.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, trace representative cross-border cases from promise to completion. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to fragmented operations, including clients represented through evidence, advisers, market leaders, control functions and partners. Establish a comparable baseline for service, repeats, rework and complaints, assess leadership and stabilise any immediate risk. Agree board gates before new markets or client segments scale.

Months four to nine should assign end-to-end ownership, introduce common case visibility and remove contradictory evidence requirements where law does not compel them. Balance capacity across time zones, fill critical leadership gaps and test the model with a bounded client cohort. The first release of value should appear in faster completion, fewer repeats, lower cost or improved retention.

By year end, the franchise should show repeatable service consistency, lower failure demand and better retention. The first-year value case must remain within 10% of its approved baseline, while forecasts reconcile customer, cash, operating and people assumptions for three consecutive quarters. Priority issues should close by approved dates with independent sustainability evidence; no severe escalation should age beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Completion time, repeat contacts and reopened cases for cross-border journeys.
• Client retention and complaint outcomes by market, channel and household complexity.
• Operational readiness and service economics for each growth market.
• Partner performance and resolution ownership when several jurisdictions are involved.
• Retention of 90% or more critical talent and immediate successor cover for 70% of direct reports.
• A quantified improvement in fragmentation, supported by clean data and a named owner.

The person

You are an EVP Customer Operations, Service COO or Customer Experience Head with 22–28 years in financial services or a comparably regulated service business. You have exercised enterprise authority across functions and markets, with outcomes visible in cash, customers or controlled risk.

Your directly accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least US$3,050 million, and you have led no fewer than 800 people. You can show how you unified fragmented channels without erasing necessary local controls and how results held for at least two reporting periods.

The role requires respect for high-value client relationships without accepting adviser workarounds as a permanent model. You should be able to challenge a growth case whose operating readiness is weak and still offer a practical route to launch.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is US$320,000–420,000 plus annual incentive. This permanent New York appointment follows a hybrid pattern, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice of up to six months. Final terms reflect confirmed scope and current mix.

Confidentiality

The organisation will be disclosed only after reciprocal interest and a confidentiality undertaking. Composite facts should not be used to infer or approach a possible client.