Senior Specialty Operations Professional

Cetera is currently seeking a Senior Specialty Operations Professional for our Fee for Service Operations team located in Des Moines, IA or St. Cloud, MN. This is a unique opportunity to join our team in providing operational support and world-class customer service to our clients and financial advisors across our Individual Consulting Programs, including Financial Planning and Participant Advice. There is potential for this to be a hybrid based on a successful training period.

Core Responsibilities:

• Provide operational support to financial advisors and their clients across our Individual Consulting Programs, including Financial Planning Fee for Service and Participant Advice, ensuring high-quality service delivery at every touchpoint.
• Receive, review, and process client agreements submitted via mail, fax, document imaging upload, or the AdvicePay platform, ensuring all fields are accurately entered and validated against source documents in our internal database.
• Perform thorough good-order reviews of incoming paperwork, cross-referencing form data against database records to confirm accuracy and completeness prior to releasing commission payments.
• Process and reconcile multiple payment types including physical check deposits, commission file batches, ACH debits and credits, and wire transactions, ensuring all billing activity is properly documented and reported.
• Run and maintain operational reports to support billing facilitation, payment processing, and workflow tracking, with proficiency in Excel functions including VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, pivot tables, and related analytical tools.
• Partner with internal stakeholders including Program Managers, the AdviceWorks team, and Compliance to ensure all processed transactions meet regulatory and broker-dealer compliance standards.
• Responsible for low to mid-level escalations, partnering with the Operations Team Lead and leadership to research, communicate, and resolve issues in a timely manner.
• Proactively identify and resolve potential operational problems before they escalate, demonstrating sound analytical and critical thinking skills across daily work functions.
• Respond to inquiries from internal and external customers via email, Support Center tickets, and outbound phone calls, providing first-level contact resolution in a timely and professional manner.
• Perform detailed research on customer accounts as requested and deliver accurate, timely responses to advisors, clients, and internal partners.
• Support the development and maintenance of written procedures and workflow documentation, leveraging tools such as Microsoft Visio to help organize and improve team processes.
• Comply with all team processes, procedures, regulatory requirements, and service level agreements while consistently achieving quality metrics.
• Cross-train on additional queues and operational workflows to support team capacity and continuity.
• Complete other duties as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Ability to multi-task
• Flexible and adaptable to change
• Strong communication and organizational skills
• Positive role model to colleagues
• Highly responsive to coaching and training
• Independent; able to work and resolve complex issues with minimal guidance
• Ability to learn quickly and multi-task effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Team player attitude
• Energetic and results-oriented
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with a keen attention to detail
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, pivot tables, and data analysis functions
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Visio and ability to document procedures and workflows
• Basic understanding of API concepts and system data flow
• Familiarity with broker-dealer and advisory compliance rules and practices
• Ability and willingness to place outbound phone calls to advisors and clients to resolve issues proactively

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Bachelor's degree
• Series 99, 6, or 7 licensed
• Demonstrated experience delivering excellent problem resolution, organizational and follow-up skills
• Ability to multi-task while staying on track with regulatory deadlines, field inquiries, and internal assignments
• Knowledge of AI tools and prompting techniques as applied to operational workflows
• Experience with financial services platforms such as AdvicePay, AdviceWorks, Salesforce, or similar systems

Minimum Required Education & Experience:

• High School Diploma or GED
• 1 years' experience in the financial industry
• 1 years of experience with MS Office tools
• Licensing (if applicable)

About Us

What we give you in return:

Not many teams can say that they support people's dreams coming to life. We happen to do that every day. And as important as we know your career is, we recognize that there's a whole lot more to life. To ensure that our employees can make the most of their time outside of working hours, we offer a competitive salary and for full-time roles, a benefits package including:

• Inclusive health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans built to support diverse lifestyles, offer preventative care, and protect against hardship.
• Easy access to mental health benefits to meet our team members and their families where they are.
• 20+ days of paid time off (PTO), paid holidays, and 2 paid wellness days to give our employees the time they need to stay close with their loved ones, recharge, and give back to their communities.
• 401(k) savings plan with a generous company contribution (up to 5%), and access to a financial professional to offer our employees the opportunity to plan-ahead for a strong financial future well beyond their working years.
• Paid parental leave to support all team members with birth, adoption, and fostering.
• Health Savings and Flexible Spending Account options to help you save money on healthcare, daycare, commuting, and more.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP), LifeLock, Pet Insurance and more.
• Paid caregiver leave to provide time away from work when caring for an ill or recovering family member.
• Additional benefits such as an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), identity theft protection (LifeLock), pet insurance, and other voluntary benefits to provide extra peace of mind

About Cetera

Cetera Financial Group (Cetera) is a leading network of independent retail broker-dealers and registered investment advisers empowering the delivery of objective financial advice to individuals, families, and company retirement plans across the country through trusted financial advisors and financial institutions. Cetera is one of the largest independent financial advisor networks in the nation and a leading provider of retail services to the investment programs of banks and credit unions.

Advisor support resources offered through Cetera include award-winning wealth management and advisory platforms, comprehensive broker-dealer and registered investment adviser services, practice management support, and innovative technology.

Cetera Financial Group (Cetera) is a network of independent retail firms, including those that are members of FINRA/SIPC: Cetera Advisors LLC; Cetera Wealth Services, LLC (formerly known as Cetera Advisor Networks); Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors); and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC. Entities registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission include Cetera Investment Management LLC and Cetera Investment Advisers LLC. Cetera''s principal office is located at 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101. Avantax Planning Partners, Inc. is an SEC registered investment adviser within the Aretec Group, Inc. (dba Cetera Holdings, an affiliate of Cetera). All the referenced entities are under common ownership.

Cetera Financial Group is committed to providing an equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. For us, this is the only acceptable way to do business. Accordingly, all employment decisions at Cetera Financial Group, including those relating to hiring, promotion, transfers, benefits, compensation, and placement, will be made without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, age, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic characteristics, religion, religious dress and/or grooming, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, U.S. military status, political affiliation, or any other class protected by state and/or federal law.

Agencies please note: this recruitment assignment is being managed directly by Cetera's Talent Acquisition team. We will reach out to our preferred agency partners in the rare instance we require additional talent options. Your respect for this process is appreciated.

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