SMA Personal Account Management Specialist

Lord Abbett; Jersey City (NJ); On-site; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Lord Abbett is seeking a Personal Account Management (PAM) Specialist to support the Separately Managed Accounts business across a defined territory. You will serve as the SMA account manager, partner with Regional Managers, Portfolio Managers, and Financial Advisors to deliver an exceptional advisor experience and drive organic asset growth.

This role emphasizes relationship management, client service, and cross-functional collaboration to implement SMA products and process improvements across

Qualifications

• Series 7, Series 66, and SIE licenses.
• Minimum 5 years in financial services or asset management.
• Strong understanding of investment markets and managed account solutions.
• Exceptional relationship management and client service skills.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Advanced proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and CRM platforms.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the dedicated SMA account manager for an assigned territory.
• Build and deepen relationships with financial advisors.
• Provide portfolio updates, investment commentary, and guidance to advisors.
• Coordinate meetings among advisors, regional managers, and investment specialists.
• Maintain advisor outreach focused on retention and growth.
• Identify risks and resolve complex SMA client issues.
• Support cross-functional collaboration to enable strategic SMA initiatives.

Skills

Relationship management

Client service

Communication skills

Multitasking

Tools

CRM platforms

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

About Lord Abbett

Founded in 1929, Lord Abbett is an independent firm with a singular focus on the management of money. Over the course of our history, we’ve earned a sterling reputation for our leadership, influence, and innovation in the asset management industry. Today, our independent perspective, our commitment to active management, and our intelligent product design continue to make us relevant to individual and institutional investors.

The Role

Founded in 1929, Lord Abbett is an independent firm with a singular focus on the management of money. Over the course of our history, we’ve earned a sterling reputation for our leadership, influence, and innovation in the asset management industry. Today, our independent perspective, our commitment to active management, and our intelligent product design continue to make us relevant to individual and institutional investors.

From the very beginning, we’ve recognized that our people are our greatest asset. As an investment-led, investor-focused firm, we value intellectual curiosity, teamwork, and collaboration across the organization.

We’re looking for people with a keen interest in working for a trusted leader in the asset management industry, a desire to expand our knowledge, and a passion for delivering a client experience that exceeds expectations.

Now that you know our history, are you ready to be part of our future?

Job Overview

Lord Abbett's Separately Managed Account (SMA) business is one of the firm's fastest-growing strategic initiatives, serving financial advisors and clients across Municipal Fixed Income, Taxable Fixed Income, and Equity investment strategies. The Personal Account Management (PAM) Specialist plays a critical role in supporting this growth by serving as the dedicated SMA account manager for an assigned territory.

Partnering closely with Regional Managers, Portfolio Managers, Financial Advisors, Product Management, Operations, and other internal business partners, this position combines relationship management, investment knowledge, business development, and operational expertise to deliver an exceptional advisor experience while helping drive organic asset growth.

This is a highly visible role that offers significant exposure across the organization and provides opportunities to influence strategic initiatives, improve operational processes, and help shape the future of Lord Abbett's SMA business.

We’ll Trust You To

Advisor Relationship Management

• Serve as the dedicated SMA account manager and primary point of contact for all SMA-related activity within an assigned territory.
• Build and deepen trusted relationships with financial advisors through proactive engagement and consultative support.
• Deliver timely portfolio updates, investment commentary, and account-specific guidance to advisors.
• Coordinate meetings between Financial Advisors, Regional Managers, Portfolio Managers, and Investment Specialists.
• Maintain consistent advisor outreach focused on retention, satisfaction, and expanding existing relationships.

Client Experience & Operational Excellence

• Coordinate account maintenance activities including deposits, withdrawals, tax-loss harvesting, restrictions, account transitions, and contract delivery.
• Partner with across internal and external partner teams to ensure timely and accurate execution of advisor requests.
• Maintain exceptional responsiveness while ensuring operational accuracy and compliance.
• Proactively identify implementation risks, resolve issues, and elevate complex matters appropriately.
• Maintain accurate documentation and provide clear communication to stakeholders throughout the client lifecycle.
• Contribute to process redesign, workflow standardization, and automation initiatives that improve scalability and reduce operational risk.
• Share knowledge and best practices that strengthen consistency across the SMA Services function.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Collaborate across Investments, Operations, Product Management, Marketing, Technology, Relationship Management, and Legal & Compliance to deliver strategic initiatives.
• Resolve complex account issues through effective cross-functional collaboration.
• Support implementation of new SMA products, platform enhancements, and process improvements.
• Assist with development of advisor-facing materials, educational content, and sales support resources.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for SMA products, platform capabilities, and advisor support.

Success in this Role

Successful PAM Specialists Consistently

• Develop and maintain trusted relationships with Financial Advisors and Regional Managers.
• Deliver an exceptional advisor and client experience through proactive communication and responsiveness.
• Support meaningful organic asset growth within their assigned territory.
• Drive proposal, transition analysis, and new account opportunities from pipeline through funding.
• Demonstrate deep knowledge of Lord Abbett's SMA investment capabilities.
• Identify process improvements that enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Serve as a collaborative business partner across Investments, Client Services, and Operations.

Required

You’ll need to have:

• Series 7, Series 66, and SIE licenses.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience within the financial services or asset management industry.
• Strong understanding of investment markets, portfolio construction, and managed account solutions.
• Exceptional relationship management and client service skills.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• High level of professionalism, accountability, and attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across multiple business functions.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and CRM platforms.

Preferred

• CFA, MBA, or other advanced investment designation.
• Previous experience supporting Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs), Financial Advisors, or Investment Professionals.
• Experience presenting investment concepts and portfolio solutions to advisors or clients.

Why Lord Abbett?

Lord Abbett is a leading global independent, privately held investment management company. We are active managers and invest where we believe we have a repeatable edge and can deliver alpha for our clients. Our vision is to be the most respected asset manager in the world, admired for our people, our performance, our relationships, and our organizational agility. This inspires the three pillars of our culture.

• Principles-Based - We empower our leaders to create an environment of trust.
• Performance-Oriented - We inspire our people to embody our values, excellence, responsibility, transparency & collaboration.
• Purpose-Driven - We instill a passion for always putting our clients' interests first.

We were honored to be ranked #1 in Barron’s Best Fund Families for 2024 and to have earned recognition as one of the Best Places to Work in Money Management by Pensions & Investments for five consecutive years.

Compensation Information: Annual base salary for this role is $100,000 - $115,000. Salary is estimated for this role. Actual pay may be different.

Discretionary Bonus: Role may be eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus. Discretionary bonuses are determined by several factors including, but not limited to, firm, team, and individual performance.

Benefits: Lord Abbett is committed to offering a competitive total rewards package to all eligible employees. Offerings include competitive total compensation, retirement plans, competitive health and well-being plans.

Lord Abbett is an equal employment opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals without regard to the following legally protected characteristics: race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual identity, caregiver status, military/veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal law. All employment decisions at Lord Abbett are based solely on the applicant’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.

Important notice to Search Firms - Please Read Carefully

Without prior written agreement, Lord Abbett does not accept unsolicited submissions from employment agencies, search firms, placement services, or any similar provider (“Search Firms”) for employment opportunities. All candidates submitted by Search Firms to any employee or partner at our company without a written Search Firm agreement in place will be deemed the sole property of our company. In such circumstances, no fee, commission, or other compensation will be paid to such Search Firm in the event a candidate is hired by our company. To the extent a Search Firm has a written agreement in place, all introductions are position specific and should be directed to HR or the hiring manager, so we kindly request no unsolicited phone calls or emails.