Regional Chief Human Resources Officer — Wealth Franchise

The mandate

A listed wealth franchise is moving routine client activity from branch and adviser-assisted channels towards central and digital service. The economic case is compelling, but its people consequences were underestimated. Some locations retain capacity built for historic traffic, digital service teams lack experienced judgement, and advisers fear losing client ownership. The board needs a Regional Chief Human Resources Officer to turn channel strategy into a credible workforce settlement.

The role influences a US$3,400 million asset and investment perimeter and leads approximately 110 HR employees and material partners. It covers organisation design, executive talent, workforce planning, reward, employee relations, labour risk, learning and people analytics. The CHRO will work with business, risk and operations leaders but must own the people choices rather than administer decisions already taken.

The task begins with work, not headcount. The executive must identify which customer activities disappear, which move and which require higher judgement in a different channel. Adviser capacity, service roles, location strategy and spans should then follow. Savings that depend on unresolved vacancies, persistent overtime or degraded customer service will not count as affordability.

Trust is equally important. Selection and redeployment must use consistent evidence; critical advisers and service leaders need a reason to remain; and managers require clear authority. The CHRO should challenge a design that transfers cost or conduct risk rather than genuinely improving the model.

Reward architecture also needs examination. Targets created for branch-led acquisition may discourage advisers from directing routine activity to lower-cost channels, while central teams may be rewarded for speed without recognising complexity or relationship value. New measures must make collaboration economically rational and remain intelligible to employees whose roles are changing.

Why this seat is open

This is an urgent replacement after an accelerated leadership transition. Interim responsibility cannot sustain the channel migration or associated employee relations. The board seeks an appointment within six to eight weeks, keeping the process confidential until the preferred candidate and transition plan are ready.

What you will own

• Translate channel demand into roles, skills, locations, spans and workforce cost.
• Redesign regional and wealth leadership with explicit accountability for migrated journeys.
• Protect critical adviser and service talent through evidence-led retention choices.
• Govern consultation, selection, redeployment and exits consistently across the region.
• Align reward with client outcomes, collaboration and responsible channel adoption.
• Build digital-service, remote-advice and frontline-manager capability at required scale.
• Lead 110 HR employees and partners and strengthen succession for critical seats.
• Give the board an integrated workforce, customer, affordability and employee-relations view.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, validate workforce, skill, cost and employee-relations data. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to the operating-model shift, including advisers, service colleagues, managers, legal counsel and client leaders. Map work migration against customer volumes and identify where the proposed structure lacks capability. Assess the people team, stabilise urgent cases and agree board decision gates for consultation and implementation.

Months four to nine should settle executive structure, location and role choices. Launch fair selection and redeployment, fill scarce capability gaps and equip managers to explain decisions. Deliver the first measurable release of cost or capacity without allowing service deterioration, vacancy assumptions or contractor substitution to disguise the outcome.

By year end, workforce affordability, leadership supply and employee-relations consistency should form a repeatable trend. The approved value case must land within 10% and the forecast should reconcile workforce, cash, customer and delivery assumptions over three quarters. Priority issues must close on time with sustained evidence, and no high-severity escalation should remain unresolved beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Workforce cost and capacity against actual channel demand.
• Keep critical-talent retention at or above 90% while sustaining service through the migration.
• Ready-now successors for at least 70% of direct reports.
• Redeployment, regretted loss, employee-relations consistency and manager effectiveness.
• Customer and conduct outcomes in teams whose work or incentives change.
• Quantified improvement in the migration constraint, with a clean baseline and named data owner.

The person

You are a current Regional CHRO, People Director or Business HR Vice President with 18–22 years in financial services or a similarly regulated service environment. You have changed executive structure and workforce economics while sustaining critical talent, service and employee relations.

Your directly accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio exposure has been at least US$1,950 million, and you have led 110 or more people. You can evidence a completed regional operating-model shift whose results held for at least two reporting periods. Experience must extend beyond programme sponsorship to the hard choices on roles, selection, reward and leadership.

You bring commercial numeracy, employment judgement and credibility with successful advisers. You can oppose an unsupported savings case and still help leaders find a workable alternative.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is US$320,000–420,000 plus annual incentive. This permanent appointment is onsite in New York, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice up to six months. Assessment balances affordability, talent, employee relations, customers and control.

Confidentiality

The organisation remains unnamed until a confidential conversation confirms mutual relevance. Operating facts are rounded and blended to remove identifying signals.