Retirement Plan Onboarding Associate

Cetera Financial Group Inc; Dallas (TX); Hybrid; USD 42,000 - 65,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work schedule

Job summary

Cetera Financial Group Inc is seeking a Retirement Plan Onboarding Associate to coordinate the onboarding of new retirement plans, ensuring timely and accurate completion of required information and documentation across advisors, clients, and internal teams. The role requires hybrid attendance in accordance with the company policy.

Responsibilities include reviewing plan documents for completeness, escalating issues when needed, and maintaining accurate onboarding records.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required.
• 1+ year of experience in financial services, retirement plan administration, onboarding, operations, document review, or related administrative support.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate onboarding activities through established workflow tools and procedures.
• Review onboarding forms, plan documents, and related materials for completeness and accuracy.
• Follow up with advisors, clients, recordkeepers, TPA partners, and internal teams to obtain missing information.
• Maintain accurate plan onboarding records and task statuses in designated systems.
• Respond to routine onboarding inquiries with clear, timely communication.

Skills

Communication

Documentation

Organizational skills

Education

High school diploma or GED

Tools

DocuSign

Salesforce

Job description

The Retirement Plan Onboarding Associate supports the onboarding of new retirement plans by coordinating required information, documentation, and workflow activities across advisors, clients, TPA partners, and internal teams. This role helps ensure onboarding tasks are completed accurately, timely, and in alignment with established procedures and retirement plan requirements. The associate reviews plan-related documents and data for completeness, follows up on missing items, and helps resolve routine onboarding questions or discrepancies. Success in this role is measured by accurate work, timely completion of assigned onboarding milestones, responsive communication, and a consistent service experience for advisors and clients.

This role is hybrid and requires regular, in-person attendance during scheduled workdays in accordance with the Company’s Hybrid Workplace Policy.

What You’ll Do:

• Scope of Influence:
  • This role primarily influences the retirement plan onboarding experience for advisors, clients, recordkeepers, TPA partners, and internal operations teams by ensuring required information and documentation are complete, accurate, and moving through the appropriate workflow.
  • The role supports day-to-day coordination and service quality within defined onboarding processes and escalates issues that require additional review.
• Decision Authority & Impact:
  • The role makes routine decisions within established onboarding procedures, including identifying missing or inconsistent information, determining appropriate follow-up, updating task status, and escalating items that fall outside standard guidelines.
  • The role impacts onboarding cycle time, documentation quality, advisor/client experience, and the accuracy of retirement plan setup and maintenance records.
• Strategic Accountability:
  • The role is accountable for accurate documentation review, timely communication, proper task tracking, and effective escalation of issues that require guidance from more experienced team members or subject matter experts.
• Complexity & Problem-Solving:
  • Problems are typically routine to moderately varied and are resolved by applying established procedures, checklists, and workflow guidance.
  • Common issues include missing documentation, inconsistent plan or agreement information, data entry discrepancies, and questions about onboarding status or next steps.
  • The associate is expected to recognize patterns, resolve known issues independently when procedures are clear, and **escalate** non-routine or compliance-sensitive matters for additional review.
• Coordinate assigned retirement plan onboarding activities by tracking required documents, data, and approvals through established workflow tools and procedures.
• Review onboarding forms, plan documents, agreements, and related materials for completeness, accuracy, and consistency with internal requirements.
• Follow up with advisors, clients, recordkeepers, TPA partners, and internal teams to obtain missing information and keep onboarding milestones moving forward.
• Maintain accurate plan onboarding records, task status, and supporting documentation in designated systems and repositories.
• Support new account setup and plan maintenance activities by entering, validating, and updating plan information in applicable systems.
• Respond to routine onboarding inquiries from internal and external stakeholders with clear, timely, and professional communication.
• Identify discrepancies, incomplete submissions, or process issues and **escalate** items that require additional review or subject matter expertise.
• Contribute to onboarding process improvements by sharing recurring issues, documentation gaps, and opportunities to improve efficiency or the advisor/client experience.

What You Need to Have:

• High school diploma or GED.
• 1+ year of experience in financial services, retirement plan administration, onboarding, operations, document review, or related administrative support.

What's Nice to Have:

• Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in business, finance, accounting, or a related field
• Experience with qualified retirement plans, 401(k) plans, third-party administration, PensionPro, DocuSign, Salesforce, or other workflow/document management systems.

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