Senior Manager, Practice Operations & Performance

Position Summary 

The Senior Manager – Practice Management & Performance is accountable for the day‑to‑day operational performance, capacity management, and leadership of advice operations teams, ensuring the practice operates efficiently, consistently, and at scale. This role leads Team Leaders across Paraplanning and Client Services and an Operations Manager. The role translates business strategy, standards, and regulatory obligations into effective practice‑level delivery, enabling advisers to focus on client outcomes and growth. The role balances people leadership, commercial insight, and operational discipline to ensure the business is achieving its goals.

This role is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Primary Responsibilities

People Leadership & Team Performance

• Lead, coach and develop Operations Manager and Team Leads to drive accountability and consistent delivery of outcomes
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration and client-centricity
• Set clear expectations for workflow discipline, service quality, and capacity management
• Support Ops Mgr and Team Leads to:
  • Allocate work effectively
  • Build capability and role clarity within their teams
  • Address performance, quality, or capacity issues early
  • Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and commercial awareness

Practice Operations & BAU Excellence

• Ensure advice operations run smoothly and consistently across the business
• Monitor BAU execution, identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and operational risk
• Act as the escalation point for complex operational or resourcing issues
• Stabilise operations during periods of growth, adviser change, or increased demand

Adviser Productivity & Capacity Management

• Partner with advisers and leaders to improve utilisation and sustainable workloads
• Remove operational friction that impacts advisor productivity or client experience
• Oversee capacity planning across Paraplanning and Client Services teams
• Balance adviser demand with team capability and capacity

Operational Reporting & Commercial Insights

• Own operational and performance reporting, including:
  • Workflow health and WIP
  • Capacity and utilisation metrics
  • Client, FUM, and revenue‑related operational indicators
• Translate reporting into clear insights and actionable recommendations for leaders

Operational Risk, Quality & Governance

• Ensure operational teams work within agreed compliance, AFSL, and governance frameworks

Technology & Systems Enablement

• Act as a senior operational owner of advice systems (e.g. Xplan and related platforms)
• Ensure tools are used consistently and effectively by operational teams
• Partner with Technology and Service Design to embed agreed changes into BAU
• Identify system or process issues impacting productivity or quality

Continuous Improvement & Change Execution

• Lead or support operational improvement initiatives impacting BAU performance
• Own implementation and adoption of agreed changes across teams
• Ensure improvements are practical, embedded, and sustained

Qualifications

• 8+ years leadership experience in financial advice operations, paraplanning, or client services
• Proven experience in implementing and embedding change initiatives
• Experience leading process alignment across the wider business in a way that supports teams and enhances the client experience
• Proven ability to lead others and indirectly manage larger operational teams
• Strong commercial and capacity‑planning mindset
• High confidence engaging with advisers and senior stakeholders
• Ability to balance people leadership with operational execution
• Strong people leadership capability, with the ability to coach, influence, and hold leaders accountable for outcomes
• Sound operational judgment, balancing efficiency, quality, and client experience in day‑to‑day decisions
• Commercial mindset, with a clear understanding of how operational performance supports adviser productivity and business results
• Confident capacity and workload management across competing priorities and adviser demand
• High level of data literacy, able to interpret information, identify trends or risks, and support sound decision‑making
• Disciplined and structured approach to BAU execution, with strong follow‑through
• Comfortable operating within governance and risk frameworks, reinforcing consistent and compliant ways of working
• Calm, resilient, and pragmatic leader, able to cut through complexity and drive practical outcomes

About Focus Partners Australia 

Focus Partners Australia is part of Focus Financial Partners, a leading financial services firm based in the United States, comprised of wealth management, family office, and business management services. Focus Partners Australia offers integrated capabilities in investment and portfolio management, accounting, lending, insurance and related services from its offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Guided by a client-first ethos, we leverage the global expertise, platforms and capital strength of Focus Financial Partners to deliver holistic, fiduciary guidance across strategic planning, portfolio management, insurance, credit and tax. By fusing local insight with world-class resources, Focus Partners Australia helps its clients protect, grow, and transition their wealth at every life stage. Discover more about Focus Partners Australia at focuspa.com.au/ or LinkedIn.