Director, Custodian Operations and Strategy

Kestra Holdings; Tempe (AZ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Health insurance

Professional development

Growth opportunities

Job summary

Kestra Financial is seeking a Director of Custodian Operations and Strategy to lead multi-custodian data integration and governance, supporting integration with wealth management platforms and reporting tools. The role emphasizes building scalable solutions, aligning with regulatory requirements, and delivering value across business lines.

You will partner with data governance, engineering, and product management to prioritize initiatives, improve advisor/client experiences, and drive revenue

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Finance, Economics, Business or Software Engineering.

Responsibilities

• Serve as central leader for custodian interfaces and integrations; translate requirements into roadmap priorities.
• Develop and refine a comprehensive custodian data strategy across business lines to drive growth.
• Oversee day-to-day custodian data feed deliveries, monitor for delays and errors, and ensure uptime.
• Design and govern a centralized framework for transmitting custodian data to downstream consumers.
• Collaborate with compliance and risk to incorporate data requirements and ensure regulatory alignment.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Strategy development

Agile product management

Stakeholder management

Custodian data systems

Data governance

APIs & integrations

Cloud platforms

Python

SQL / Databricks

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or Software Engineering

Tools

APIs

CSV parsing

Databricks

SQL

Python

Job description

Director, Custodian Operations and Strategy

Encino Building #2, 5707 Southwest Parkway, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Rio 2100, 63 S Rockford Drive, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America

Job Description

Posted Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 8:00 AM

Kestra Financial is a wealth management platform dedicated to empowering independent financial professionals—including traditional and hybrid RIAs—to grow their businesses and deliver exceptional client service. We combine advanced business management technology with personalized consulting to provide unmatched scale, efficiency, and support. Our advisor-focused culture is built on innovation and advocacy, enabling advisors to offer comprehensive securities and investment advisory solutions to their clients.

Lead with Purpose. Partner with Impact

This role will oversee the strategy, administration, and delivery of integrated multi-custodian account and investment data through the Kestra echo system. This role will support Kestra’s data governance program, clearing operations, wealth portfolio management platforms, CRM integrations, revenue management solutions, business intelligence tools, and other downstream consumers of custodian data. This candidate will bring deep wealth management business expertise with hands‑on technical experience in custodian aggregation with a strong product management mindset.

The ideal candidate understands the complexities of multi-custodian and clearing environments (e.g., Schwab, Fidelity NFS, Fidelity IWS, DTCC, DST, DAZL, Plaid, Yodlee, and others), understands the investment products and securities represented in the custodian data, translates business needs into clear requirements, and leads cross‑functional initiatives to enhance platform capabilities, improve advisor/client experiences, and support scalable growth in a competitive fintech/wealthtech landscape.

What You’ll Do:

• Cross‑functional Leadership ‑ Serve as the central leader and subject matter expert for all custodian interfaces and integrations across the organization. Build and maintain strategic relationships with Kestra business leaders and key teams to deeply understand their requirements, translate them into actionable roadmap priorities, and deliver practical, high‑impact solutions.
• Strategy formation ‑ Develop and continuously refine a comprehensive strategy to maximize the value of custodian data across all business lines. Identify opportunities to enhance connectivity, unlock new data capabilities, and align custodian integration efforts with broader organizational goals for growth and innovation.
• Commercial validation ‑ Leverage in‑depth knowledge of custodian data sources, formats, and capabilities to identify and validate business problems and opportunities. Propose and prioritize practical, value‑driven solutions that deliver measurable improvements in efficiency, client outcomes, advisor productivity, and revenue generation.
• Operational Oversight ‑ Provide day‑to‑day operational oversight of custodian feed file deliveries, monitoring for delays, errors, and performance issues, while driving timely remediation. Continuously monitor API integrations and connectivity points to ensure high quality, reliability, and uptime standards are met.
• Process & Procedures ‑ Design, implement, and govern a centralized administrative framework for enabling, transmitting, and offboarding custodian data to internal and external downstream consumers across all business lines. Enhance third‑party vendor review and audit processes to ensure secure, compliant, and efficient consumption of custodian data.
• Compliance & Risk Management ‑ Partner closely with compliance and risk management functions to fully understand and incorporate their data requirements, ensuring the use of consistent, authoritative sources of custodian data. Proactively coordinate connectivity initiatives to maintain regulatory compliance, mitigate risks, and uphold the highest standards of data security and governance.
• Stakeholder Collaboration ‑ Collaborate closely with leaders in data governance, data engineering, technology, and product management to prioritize initiatives and successfully deliver solutions within the Kestra technology ecosystem. Facilitate alignment, remove barriers, and drive effective execution across teams.
• Technology Integration ‑ Maintain expert knowledge of wealth technology vendors and platforms serving wealth management firms, with a focus on their data requirements and integration needs. Proactively facilitate the provision of high‑quality custodian data support to enable seamless integrations and maximize platform value.

What You Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or Software Engineering.
• 2+ years experience in technical product management in an Agile environment.
• 5+ years of experience in wealth management, investment operations, or trading.
• Deep understanding of RIA/wealth advisory operations, portfolio management, performance reporting, fee billing, compliance (e.g., ADV, SEC/FINRA), tax‑aware strategies (versus purchase), and client/advisor workflows in multi‑custodial environments.
• Proven hands‑on knowledge of custodian data feeds (Transaction, Position, Label, Security, Price, and Open/Closed Lot), APIs, file formats (e.g., CSV, PDF parsing), aggregation platforms, data normalization/reconciliation, MDM/medallion architectures, and integration challenges across custodians.
• Strong experience in agile product management, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder management, user story writing, A/B testing, and driving adoption/revenue outcomes. Ability to balance business value with technical feasibility.
• Familiarity with modern tech stacks (e.g., cloud platforms, SQL/Databricks, APIs, Python for data workflows) and tools for portfolio accounting or wealth tech.

Certifications and Licenses:

• Series 7, 63, 65, or 66 optional.

Internal applicants must be in good standing and have a minimum of 1 year of service with Kestra. Internal applicants must also have a minimum of 1 year service in current role unless approved by EVP.

Benefits to support you:

• Competitive pay and benefits with a large employer (over 1600 employees nationwide)
• 401(k), health insurance, and a competitive benefits package
• Work in a supportive, collaborative environment committed to professional excellence
• Help clients navigate meaningful financial decisions with confidence
• Opportunities for training, development, and long‑term growth within the firm

Kestra Values:

Our Mission is Powering Financial Independence, enabling the growth and success of investing clients and the advisors who serve them. We do that by living our values: Serve, Make it Happen, and One team.

Lead with purpose. Apply now and help shape the future of Kestra.

Disclosure

• You acknowledge that if hired, Kestra Financial, Inc. may, obtain and use background information concerning your credit, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, work habits, performance and experience for evaluation for your potential employment.
• It is the policy of Kestra Financial to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Kestra Financial prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.