Central Operations Manager - Financial Planning

Career

You know Financial Planning operations inside out. You're the person others turn to when a process is unclear, a workflow needs fixing, or a team needs bringing together around a consistent way of working.

You love creating structure, building scalable SOPs and helping managers become stronger leaders. You're equally comfortable getting into the detail of Financial Planning operations as you are coaching Team Leaders and driving performance across multiple teams.

This role gives you the opportunity to shape how Financial Planning operations are delivered across a growing offshore function. You'll lead through Team Leaders, influence senior stakeholders, and leave a lasting operational footprint through the processes and standards you create.

If you enjoy bringing order to complexity, improving operational performance and leading managers rather than managing tasks, you'll thrive here.

About the Role

We're looking for a Central Operations Manager to lead our South African Financial Planning operations function from Bristol or remotely within the UK.

You'll manage two Team Leaders and a team of 13 operational colleagues across two teams, ensuring high-quality, efficient delivery of Financial Planning support activities.

This is a leadership role with a strong operational excellence focus. You'll be responsible for developing and embedding robust Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), improving quality frameworks, driving consistency and ensuring teams are equipped to deliver exceptional service.

Accountabilities

• Lead, coach and develop two Team Leaders responsible for 13 team members across two operational teams.

• Drive a high-performance culture through clear objectives, accountability and regular performance management.

• Develop, document and continuously improve SOPs across Financial Planning operations.

• Review and optimise operational workflows to improve efficiency, quality and scalability.

• Create and maintain quality assurance frameworks to ensure consistent standards.

• Use MI and operational data to identify trends, risks and improvement opportunities.

• Partner with UK stakeholders to improve service delivery and operational effectiveness.

• Ensure operational processes support regulatory and risk requirements.

• Lead change initiatives and successfully embed new ways of working.

• Build strong working relationships between UK and South African teams.

Skills & Experience

• Significant experience within Financial Planning operations. Wealth Management-only experience will not be sufficient.

• Proven experience managing managers, Team Leaders or equivalent leadership roles.

• Strong track record of developing, implementing and embedding Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

• Deep understanding of Financial Planning workflows and operational processes.

• Experience leading geographically dispersed or offshore teams.

• Strong operational improvement and process optimisation experience.

• Experience creating quality checking frameworks and service standards.

• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Benefits

• Competitive Pension Scheme - we contribute 6%, you 3%

• 26 days holiday plus bank holidays

• Private Medical Insurance

• Life Assurance (4x)

• Group Income Protection

• Work From Anywhere policy

Our agile working environment means you may engage in various tasks and projects, which keeps work interesting and you get to develop and grow.