Senior Manager - Front Office Solutions

Northern Trust provides innovative financial services and guidance to corporations, institutions and affluent families and individuals globally. With over 130 years of financial experience and nearly 20,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Working with us: As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company that is committed to strengthening the communities we serve!

We recognize the value of inclusion and diversity in culture, in thought, and in experience, which is why we are honored to receive the following awards in 2021:

• Gender Equality Index Member, Bloomberg
• Top Financial & Banking Company, Black EOE Journal, Hispanic Network Magazine, Professional WOMAN'S Magazine

We’d love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of America’s best banks and most sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today.

Position Description

This Front Office Solutions is a new strategic business for Northern Trust, which provides a holistic digital+ service offering for some of the most sophisticated institutional investors across the globe, including foundations, endowments, pension funds, corporations, insurance companies, central banks and sovereign wealth funds. As asset owners engage in more complex, data-driven investment approaches to asset allocation, their operational needs and demands for high quality data have skyrocketed. Front Office Solutions provides a holistic, full-service, multi-asset solution that aims to empower in-house investment teams and support their important mission by providing a more comprehensive set of operational services and analytics including portfolio management, investment decision support, operational risk management, CRM/document management and workflow tools.

The Sr. Manager, Client Solutions, reporting to the Head of Client Solutions, will focus on three distinct facets: Client Servicing and Consultation; Managing Client Deliverables – current and prospective; and Team Management. As the most senior role on the Client Solutions team, the Sr. Manager is expected to support and solution complex client deliverables within the platform. Clients and their respective portfolios delegated to the Sr. Manager will consist of highly complex portfolio structures and assets requiring complicated investment treatment. Unlike some other managerial roles, this role is designed to be more hands-on to better support clients and their direct utilization of the Parilux toolset. The Parilux toolset is at the center of the products and services delivered by FOS. The Sr. Manager needs to have a thorough understanding of the Parilux toolset and a deep and current knowledge of fund accounting, operations, performance measurement and analytics, and alternatives (private equity and hedge funds) to properly use the toolset and to interpret and report on all toolset output. While the Sr. Manager will rely on the client-focused leadership of the Manager or Team Lead roles, the Sr. Manager can only fully and successfully support the team’s client deliverables and manage the team’s tactical and strategic direction based on the required, comprehensive knowledge and skills described herein.

Areas of Focus

• The Sr. Manager is expected to play a key role on each client relationship as part of the consultant and client service model. The Sr. Manager will generally oversee the daily activities which are coordinated and managed by the senior partners of the teams. Additionally, the Sr. Manager will likely launch and lead special projects and initiatives as an outgrowth of the dynamic, consultative client service model.
• The Sr. Manager will establish the tactical and strategic priorities for the entire team and lead the team’s project management efforts. The Sr. Manager will coordinate all ongoing work with the rest of the FOS organization including requested Parilux development projects (client-requested or otherwise). It is expected that there will be numerous special projects to build out the operational infrastructure and continuously introduce efficiencies as FOS builds scale and integrates technology-based solutions to support the evolving and complex investment data management needs of its clients.
• With respect to Team Management, the Sr. Manager will manage others and apply operational or strategic management skills. Management responsibilities and decisions include hiring, performance reviews, pay decisions, and development.
• Problem solving is guided by policies and procedures; these are either existing or will be developed with input of the Sr. Manager as circumstances and needs arise. Guidance and oversight are provided by the Head of Client Solutions.

Primary Responsibilities

• Responsible for the overall client satisfaction, providing clients with the holistic data sets they need to fulfill the various stakeholder requirements.
• Responsible for satisfying client reporting requirements; implementation of reporting tool enhancements requested or necessitated by the client; client training; and identifying solutions for data challenges presented by the client.
• Coordinates new Client onboarding for the assigned team. Responsible for translating Client requirements and guiding enhanced processes through FOS’s technology and services. Responsible for identifying the appropriate structural configuration to support content, transparency and reporting objectives.
• Responsible, with project management support, to establish a comprehensive project management framework for all facets of the onboarding process and into business-as-usual (“BAU”) operations. This framework will serve as the basis for the relationship’s ongoing operating rhythm.
• Responsible for defining all BAU processes to support all facets of each client’s specific reporting framework(s) – IBOR, TrueNAV, ABOR, CBOR, etc. Responsible for identifying supporting tools and technology to manage BAU and optimize efficiency and the control environment.
• Responsible for review and oversight of the entire Client control environment.
• Responsible for the development and ongoing maintenance of all supporting Client operating documentation and for ensuring all Client documentation is current, applicable, fully reviewed with the Client and signed off on by the Client (and internally) on a periodic basis.
• Responsible for Client training – web-based and onsite. Responsible for any training materials and reference materials required by the Client. This may require development of customized training materials depending on the client’s use of and configuration in the Parilux tool; client investment data; and/or client reporting.
• Responsible for managing all Client reporting – whether facilitated through FOS or otherwise.
• Responsible for understanding and managing to Client’s regulatory requirements and communicating those needs to the larger FOS team to support FOS research and analysis.
• Responsible for educating direct reports and providing specific, analytic guidance and support to team members when interpreting complex system calculations.
• Uses judgment to identify, troubleshoot and resolve day-to-day technical and operational problems.
• Guided by policies and procedures, impacts the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of own team and its contribution to the department.
• Responsible for special projects as assigned.

Required Knowledge & Skills

• Strong understanding of institutional investment industry, including markets, instruments, funds and fund structures, trading, etc.
• Deep knowledge of alternative assets and related operational processes (hedge funds, private equity). Demonstrated understanding of private equity transactional impacts on unfunded commitments, market value, cost, and other metrics typically associated with private equity (TVPI, DPI, PIC, etc.).
• Strong understanding of investment operational processes, transactional impacts, cash movement, accruals, and valuation methodologies.
• Strong understanding of accounting/reporting methods, including IBOR, ABOR, and TrueNAV to support complete and accurate data capture.
• Knowledge of performance measurement concepts (such as attribution analysis) and standards (such as GIPS Standards).
• Understanding of benchmarks and benchmark calculation methodologies across multiple asset classes, including blended and custom benchmarks.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio), with particular emphasis on Excel.
• Applies operational business practices and coordinates with other closely related areas to improve efficiency.
• Explains information, conveys performance expectations and handles sensitive issues.

Professional Experience/Qualifications

• Has formal supervisory experience managing an investment operations (or the equivalent) team; has experience coordinating resources and setting daily priorities to meet operational objectives.
• 10+ years of institutional investment industry experience, specifically in Performance Measurement & Investment Data Analytics (attribution, liquidity, and exposures), Alternative asset operations, Investment Operations (analytics, reporting, fund or investment accounting), Fund accounting, Financial reporting, Accounting and Investment account data reconciliation – accounting and performance.
• Experience working with complex asset owners including Endowments, Foundations, Family Offices, OCIOs, Pension Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and institutional asset managers.
• Experience managing relationships with complex asset owners and the full complement of issues which will arise.
• Prior direct client servicing and relationship management experience.
• Prior work experience requiring considerable organizational, planning, and prioritization skills; project management experience.
• Solid experience with the full range of communication skills – written and oral.
• Prior experience with multi-asset class portfolio management software.
• Experience using VBA, Python or other programming language to format large data sets preferred.
• B.A. or B.S. degree.
• Advanced credentials – CFA, CAIA, MBA, or CPA highly preferred.