Senior Operations and Practice Manager

Kaizen Recruitment; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaizen Recruitment is partnering with a growing wealth advisory business to appoint a Senior Operations and Practice Manager in Melbourne. You will lead advice operations, paraplanning, client services and process improvement, translating strategy into high-quality delivery.

You will be a strong people leader with a commercial mindset and deep experience in advice operations, shaping outcomes across the team and with senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 8+ years’ experience in financial advice operations, paraplanning, or client services.
• Strong track record of leading managers or teams.
• Commercial mindset with capacity planning and workflow management.
• Experience engaging advisers and senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead & Develop High-Performing Teams: coach and mentor leaders, foster accountability and client focus.
• Drive Operational Excellence: ensure smooth day-to-day operations and resolve bottlenecks.
• Improve Adviser Productivity: optimise workload and align capability with demand.
• Own Performance Reporting & Insights: deliver data-driven insights on utilization and capacity.
• Governance & Continuous Improvement: ensure regulatory compliance and drive system improvements.

Skills

Leadership

Capacity planning

Workflow management

Data-driven decisions

Stakeholder engagement

People management

Tools

Xplan

Job description

The Opportunity

We’re partnering with a well-established and growing wealth advisory business seeking a Senior Operations and Practice Manager to lead their advice operations function.

This is a high-impact leadership role where you’ll drive operational excellence, improve adviser productivity, and build scalable processes across paraplanning, client services, and operations. You’ll work closely with senior leadership to translate strategy into consistent, high-quality delivery.

If you’re a strong people leader with a commercial mindset and deep experience in advice operations and people management, this is an opportunity to step into a role where you can genuinely shape outcomes.

• Leadership Role in a growing HNW financial advice business


• Work closely with senior stakeholders and shape operational strategy


• Full-time | Melbourne (Inner South East)

What You’ll Be Doing

Lead & Develop High-Performing Teams

• Coach and mentor team Leaders and an operations Manager


• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, and client focus


• Set clear expectations around performance, workflow, and service delivery

Drive Operational Excellence

• Ensure smooth day-to-day operations across advice support teams


• Identify and resolve inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and risks


• Act as the escalation point for complex operational challenges

Improve Adviser Productivity

• Partner with advisers to optimise workload and capacity


• Remove operational friction impacting client outcomes


• Align team capability with adviser demand

Own Performance Reporting & Insights

• Deliver clear insights across workflow, utilisation, and capacity


• Use data to influence decision-making and improve performance

Governance, Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure compliance with regulatory and governance frameworks


• Act as a key owner of advice systems (e.g. Xplan)


• Lead and embed operational improvement initiatives

About You

• 8+ years’ experience in financial advice operations, paraplanning, or client services. High-net-worth client experience highly regarded.


• Proven leadership experience managing managers and/or teams


• Strong track record of driving operational improvement and change


• Commercial mindset with experience in capacity planning and workflow management


• Confident engaging with advisers and senior stakeholders

You are:

• A strong people leader who builds accountability and capability


• Commercially aware and outcomes-driven


• Highly organised with strong execution discipline


• Data-savvy and comfortable making informed decisions


• Calm, pragmatic, and solutions-focused