SVP, Investment Business Management

The Senior Vice President, Investment Business Management is responsible for designing and delivering the process and control improvements required to produce investment data and reporting the enterprise trusts. The role evaluates investment operations and accounting processes end to end, identifies the root causes of recurring data and reporting issues, and leads the design of the process, control, and system changes that prevent them from recurring. The role also oversees project management for those improvements, allocates resources across teams to deliver them, and facilitates and drafts the cross functional operating model between Investment Accounting and Investment Operations, for ratification by the Chief Investment Officer and the Chief Financial Officer. The role also defines the cross functional performance measures for investment data and reporting and owns the system used to produce them.

This role owns cross functional process and control design; operational execution and accounting accountability remain with Investment Operations and Investment Accounting respectively. This is a hands-on leadership role. The successful candidate will work directly in the detail with the operations and accounting teams to solve problems and implement improvements, reducing the workload on those teams rather than adding to it, and will communicate progress and risks to executive management.

What You Will Do:

·       Evaluate investment operations and accounting processes end to end, identify enhancements, and lead the design of the improvements needed to raise data quality and eliminate misreported net investment income and unclosed OPR and suspense items.

·       Own root cause analysis of recurring breaks, working hands on in the data and the process with the teams that run it, and translate findings into process, control, and system changes that prevent recurrence, working through the function that owns execution rather than performing it.

·       Lead the design and implementation of the control environment over investment data and reporting, including control definition, evidence standards, and testing approach.

·       Define the cross functional key performance indicators that measure success across the functions supporting investment data and reporting, covering accuracy, timeliness, break volumes and aging, manual effort, and control effectiveness. Each function continues to define and track its own internal operational metrics.

·       Own the measurement and reporting system behind those indicators, and produce the cross functional reporting on investment data and reporting quality to executive management. Operational status reporting on each function remains with that function's leader.

·       Oversee project management for related improvements, sequencing and prioritizing the work so that each effort delivers usable value to business users incrementally.

·       Allocate resources across teams to ensure that key projects and programs are completed successfully.

·       Facilitate and draft the cross functional operating model between Investment Accounting and Investment Operations, including activity ownership, handoff acceptance criteria, and escalation paths. Investment Operations and Investment Accounting contribute as subject matter authorities for their functions, and the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Financial Officer ratify the model.

·       Lead onboarding of new investment operations and accounting software platforms, the system and process change, and partner with the data and technology teams to translate process requirements into platform capability that retires manual work.

·       Define and maintain process documentation and standard operating procedure standards across both functions, to a single standard.

·       Establish the continuous improvement discipline, including daily exception detection, aging and recurring issue metrics, and the cadence that turns them into process redesign or automation.

·       Report progress, risks, and issues to executive management, and work directly with internal and external auditors on control design and evidence.

What You Will Have:

·       Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, business, or a related field; advanced degree or professional certification such as CPA, CFA, or PMP preferred.

·       At least 12 years of experience in investment operations, investment accounting, or financial process and controls transformation, preferably at an insurer, asset manager, or financial services firm.

·       Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and testing internal controls over financial reporting.

·       Strong working knowledge of the investment lifecycle across complex asset classes, including private credit, mortgage loans, derivatives, and alternatives, and of the reference data, reconciliation, and valuation processes that support them.

·       Experience leading cross functional process design and operating model work between operations and accounting functions, with the credibility to drive change without direct operational ownership.

·       A hands on approach to problem solving. This role requires a leader who is willing to work in the detail alongside the teams, analyze data and processes directly, and take ownership of solving problems rather than delegating them to other teams.

·       Track record of delivering process improvement and system implementation in increments that produce usable value for business users, rather than long cycle programs.

·       Experience with investment accounting and operations platforms and data environments, such as Clearwater, SAP, Palantir Foundry, or comparable systems.

·       Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to explain complex process and control topics to executive management, auditors, and regulators.

·       Experience working with internal audit, external auditors, and regulators, and knowledge of the control and reporting requirements of the insurance industry.

·       Strong analytical, problem solving, and influencing skills, with attention to detail, accuracy, and quality.

·       Demonstrated experience owning a process end to end across functions that do not report to them, and driving change through standards, measurement, and influence rather than authority.

·       Experience defining and implementing key performance indicators and operational metrics, including the data and reporting needed to measure them.

 

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