SD, Business Priority Lead Large Teams at Northwestern Mutual

Summary:

If you have a passion, the background, and applicable skills for defining future field experiences, this may be the opportunity you’ve been looking for! This role will report to the VP, Large Teams & Private Client Group, focused on expansion of service & capabilities for career advisors and their clients (immediate focus on Large Teams). This role requires strong enterprise and field collaboration, with proven experience in both how sophisticated practices operate and serve complex clients at scale and in delivery of large cross-enterprise initiatives. Responsible for leading day-to-day execution of key workstream(s), including defining and driving priority work in support of NM’s large teams segmented strategy.  Additionally, this role will partner closely with the VP, Large Teams, key stakeholders, and program leadership to operationalize and scale the Large Teams framework in support of go to market, scale the business, community, and servicing initiatives. This role would work with Advisor Practices, Advisor Solutions, and Field function leadership, enterprise partners, industry experts, and the field to position NM as the premier platform for large integrated teams to build, grow, and transition their firms at NM.

The Senior Director will be tightly connected to other Large Teams work leads, accountable to the VP, Large Teams for strategic alignment and business value realization and to the Program Lead for execution quality and delivery rigor. The Senior Director will lead a cross-enterprise (matrixed) team to drive the workstream objectives and serve as a subject matter expert on key accountabilities—including through leadership, field, and industry-facing presentations. Additionally, the role would work to develop cross-functional relationships to create advocates for large teams within the Home Office, the field, and strategic partners in the industry.

Primary Duties & Accountabilities:  

• Provide decision-making and day-to-day leadership of the Large Teams workstream(s) for which the role is accountable, as well as support the Large Teams work overall by driving awareness of and support for incorporating large teams’ considerations in enterprise work.
• Lead a matrixed team to deliver on workstream OKRs, including defining core business objectives and key work required to deliver results, aligning stakeholders and cross-enterprise team members, and managing execution and risks to successfully realize outcomes.
• Bring thought leadership and a creative problem-solving mindset to key opportunities and challenges facing the operationalization of the Large Teams enterprise segmented strategy. This includes building and leveraging stakeholder relationships to advance the Large Teams OKRs and optimize the impact of investments across the enterprise in this priority field segment (will include additional topics as required).
• Cultivate and leverage cross-enterprise partnerships that will provide inputs, support, and/or OKR accountabilities as part of interdependencies between Large Teams, PCG, and other CD and enterprise initiatives.
• Contribute to additional departmental and/or team initiatives as required.
• May include people leadership of a small team as demand requires in the future.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in business, strategy, finance, change management, or related field or an equivalent combination of education and/or progressively responsible work experience.
• Minimum ten years of progressively responsible experience in financial services or other business, field consulting, and distribution functions, with experience in business consulting, and/or portfolio management a preferred skillset.
• Ability to manage and lead a matrixed team, building and maintaining engagement and positivity working on highly visible, ambiguous, and critical multi-year strategic efforts.  Must be excellent at synthesizing, distilling, and translating complex objectives into discrete bodies of work that accountable delivery and business partners can drive, organizing and managing the work and the cross-enterprise matrixed team through to successful execution.
• Has established credibility with the field based on a deep understanding of how large teams operate, go to market and what challenges they're facing. Is able to build productive relationships and influence without direct authority (home office, 3rd parties, and field).  High degree of EQ and demonstrated empathy for large teams’ experiences—yet with an ability to drive critical work without full consensus.
• Must be able to understand how initiatives drive business outcomes – deconstruct SLT- and IS-level OKRs, evaluate ROI, map work to leading/lagging indicators, etc. to identify what is most impactful amongst competing initiatives.  Ability to then drive work through the processes and procedures within NM – for example, understanding how to navigate Investable Structures, prioritization, funding, EPMC reporting, etc. to ensure leadership buy-in and execution quality.
• Strong leadership, critical thinking, problem solving, and communications skills are required, as is an innate sense of urgency. Able to stay organized and on top of myriad competing priorities. Must be willing to roll up the sleeves and get scrappy at times to drive work “below the pay grade”.
• Intellectual curiosity and relational mindset. Unconventional thinker that's unafraid to share an opinion but is able to "disagree and commit" where required. Ability to look beyond the status quo, identify or elicit unconventional solution options, and be tactfully bold in testing hypotheses.

Northwestern Mutual pays on a geographic-specific salary structure and placement in the salary range for this position will be determined by a number of factors including the skills, education, training, credentials and experience of the candidate; the scope, complexity as well as the cost of labor in the market; and other conditions of employment. At Northwestern Mutual, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. Please note that the salary range listed in the posting is the standard pay structure. Positions in certain locations (such as California) may provide an increase on the standard pay structure based on the location. Please click here for additiona l information relating to location-based pay structures.

We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you work or would be working in California, Colorado, New York City, Washington or outside of a Corporate location, please click here for information pertaining to compensation and benefits.

FIND YOUR FUTURE

We’re excited about the potential people bring to Northwestern Mutual. You can grow your career here while enjoying first-class perks, benefits, and commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

• Flexible work schedules
• Concierge service
• Comprehensive benefits
• Employee resource groups