Managing Partner – Operations Advisory — Wealth Franchise

The mandate

A listed advisory firm is known for diagnosing operating problems in wealth management, but too much work ends with a target model and untested benefit case. Clients increasingly expect partners to remain through implementation, share evidence of realised value and accept commercial mechanisms linked to outcomes. The investment committee has paused expansion until the practice demonstrates it can make that transition responsibly.

The new Managing Partner – Operations Advisory will influence approximately US$4,800 million in assets under oversight across clients and lead around 250 employees and material partners. The remit includes practice P&L, origination, proposition, delivery, alliances, talent, quality and risk. It reports to the Global Managing Partner and regional partner council.

Outcome linkage is not a licence to claim savings the client cannot control. Baselines, decision rights, dependencies and exclusions must be agreed before work begins. Benefits should include customer, control and capacity outcomes where cost alone invites harmful shortcuts. Commercial terms need to distinguish adviser contribution from market movement and client execution.

The practice also needs scalable delivery IP. Process mining, journey economics, capacity models and implementation routines should shorten time to evidence while allowing client context. Partners must sponsor delivery, not disappear after sale, and engagement leaders must escalate when the original case no longer holds.

Outcome contracts create data and behaviour questions before commercial ones. The practice must obtain sufficient baseline access without becoming the owner of client management information, and it must define what happens when the client changes scope, leadership or investment. Dispute mechanisms should be agreed while both parties still share the same expectations.

Delivery capacity must match the promise. A practice built around senior diagnostics may lack programme leadership, frontline change or specialist technology depth. The Managing Partner will decide which capabilities belong in-house, which require alliances and where the firm should decline accountability. Partner economics and promotion must recognise realised outcomes, not merely sales credited at signing.

Quality review will follow risk, not hierarchy. Engagements with compressed baselines, dependent savings or vulnerable-customer consequences require independent challenge before commitments reach the client. Lessons from underperformance should update methods and commercial standards rather than be contained within one account.

Why this seat is open

This planned new role forms part of the next operating model. The firm is allowing four to six months for the search, with current leaders retaining accountabilities until activation. Confidentiality protects investment and organisation choices.

What you will own

• Define outcome-linked propositions for wealth service, operations and platform change.
• Establish baselines, benefit ownership, dependencies and independent validation.
• Steward US$4,800 million of client exposure through delivery and risk choices.
• Build reusable diagnostic and implementation assets from governed evidence.
• Set pricing and risk standards for contingent or outcome-linked fees.
• Create senior sponsorship from sale through realised benefit.
• Lead 250 employees and partners with stronger engagement-leader succession.
• Stop assignments when evidence, access or client ownership cannot support claims.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should review active engagements, promised benefits, baselines, quality events and partner involvement. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to the model, including clients, delivery teams, risk leaders and alliance partners. Identify claims that cannot be defended, assess leaders and agree investment gates for propositions, tools and outcome-linked contracts.

Months four to nine should pilot the full model on selected engagements, put benefit governance into steering forums and deploy reusable assets. Fill critical leadership gaps and release capacity from low-value diagnostics. Early value should include a validated client benefit, improved partner leverage or a recurring implementation mandate.

By month twelve, executive sponsorship, realised benefits and scalable delivery IP should become repeatable. The practice case must be within 10% of baseline and forecasts should reconcile pipeline, cash, delivery and people assumptions for three quarters. Priority quality issues need independently evidenced closure; no severe escalation may remain unresolved beyond 30 days.

What the partner council will measure

• Independently validated client benefits against pre-agreed baselines.
• Conversion from diagnostic work to governed implementation and repeat mandates.
• Margin and risk performance of outcome-linked commercial arrangements.
• Reuse of delivery assets without deterioration in client relevance.
• Preservation of nine in ten critical people and ready-now cover for seven in ten direct-report seats.
• Quantified movement from recommendation to outcome, supported by named data ownership.

The person

You are a Managing Partner, Operations Practice Leader or Transformation Partner with 28 or more years in advisory, wealth or a comparable regulated service industry. You have led outcome-linked work and can separate your contribution from client action and external conditions.

Your accountable P&L, portfolio, book or budget has been at least US$2,800 million, and you have led 175 or more people. You can show a practice transition from diagnosis to delivery whose benefits and economics held over two reporting periods.

You are commercially inventive without allowing fee mechanics to distort judgement. You remain visible when delivery becomes difficult and will revise a public benefit case when evidence changes.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is US$600,000–850,000 plus annual incentive and long-term equity. This advisory appointment is onsite in New York, supports international relocation and accommodates up to six months’ notice.

Confidentiality

The firm and client examples remain confidential until mutual relevance is established. Figures and events are blended to prevent identification.