Program Leader - Professional Designation

ssional Designation is responsible for driving strategies to enable, integrate, encourage, and expand the role of professional designations in increasing the wealth management acumen of our branch teams to attract more ideal clients and provide consistent quality advice and guidance. The Program Leader will partner with business leaders within the Canada Business Unit, as well as in other areas throughout the firm to ensure Professional Designations continue to evolve to meet the needs of our branch teams and clients and ensure clear integration of strategy work with other firm strategic and operational initiatives. The Program Leader leads moderate to large scale initiatives and bodies of work which may include the launch of new designations, support of existing designations, implementation of recognition and incentive efforts, leading to an exceptional experience for branch teams and clients.

Responsibilities Include:

• Leading moderate to large scope bodies of work, within Professional Designation strategy, at times spanning multiple areas, divisions, and outside vendors.
• Partnering and collaborating with business leaders within the Canada Business Unit, with vendors and across the firm to organize the work, manage resources, and develop recommendations.
• Delivering the right outcomes by using sound judgment to ensure the execution of Professional Designations strategy.
• Ensuring scope, timeline and quality objectives are met while assessing trade-offs to ensure appropriate use of department resources.
• Establish and maintain effective communications and relationships across multiple areas, divisions, outside vendors and project leaders/teams who are working on sub-projects within Professional Designations.
• Leading pieces of strategy creation and execution of work. (e.g., professional designations). This may include:
  • Providing thought leadership that helps to define and guide implementation of the strategy, along with other firm-wide priorities.
  • Delivering the right outcomes by using sound judgment to ensure the execution of the strategy.
  • Ensuring scope, timeline and quality objectives are met while assessing trade-offs to ensure appropriate use of department resources.
  • Establish and maintain effective communications and relationships across multiple areas, divisions, outside vendors and project leaders/teams who are working on projects within scope of work.
  • Collaborating with other business areas and the field to diagnose current and future business needs, related to the strategy.
  • Cross-divisional coordination with internal stakeholders/shared services to support delivery of program(s)
  • Directly supporting/liaising with branch teams and field leaders to drive program adoption and integration.
  • Execute and manage program operational efficiency improvements and evolve best practices to improve effectiveness of the strategies.
• Ensure clear integration of strategy work with other firm strategic and operational initiatives. (e.g., Professional Designations with delivery of Advice & Guidance)
• Leading moderate to large scope initiatives or bodies of work, within a specific area or at times spanning multiple areas, divisions, and outside vendors. (e.g., Professional Designations). This may include:

  • Identifying major and detailed project tasks, critical path, contentions, and resources to manage the tasks.

  • Drive operational efficiencies across strategic initiatives to improve performance and resource utilization.

  • Ensuring project schedule, scope and quality objectives are met by monitoring, using metrics and controls to measure progress, taking corrective action and escalating issues when necessary.

  • Assessing trade-offs to scope using cost / benefit analysis and make recommendations to business leaders.

  • Working with other leaders and business leadership to obtain the necessary resources to achieve initiative objectives.

  • Planning, identifying, analyzing, and resolving initiative issues and risks.

  • Determining and executing prevention and mitigation strategies, as appropriate.

  • Scheduling and facilitating meetings, communicate progress and develop solutions to meet initiative goals. This may be related to a large project with multiple sub-projects.

  • Generate key performance metrics and deliver timely, actionable reports to firm leadership

  • Establishing and maintain effective communications and relationships across multiple areas, divisions, and outside vendors who are working on the initiative.

  • Manage and strengthen relationships with external vendors to ensure alignment, accountability and prescribed service levels.

At Edward Jones, we value and respect our associates and their contributions, and we recognize individual efforts through a rewards program that promotes a long-term career, financial security and well-being. Visit our career site to learn more about our total compensation approach, which in addition to base salary, typically includes benefits, bonuses and profit sharing. The salary range for this role is based on national data and actual pay is based on skills, experience, education, and other relevant factors for a potential new associate.

Hiring Minimum: $83900
Hiring Maximum: $142800

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Skills/Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience required.

• Financial services industry experience preferred.

• CSC, CPH, WME and Insurance License preferred.

• Financial Services Professional Designation preferred. (CFP, QAFP, PFP, etc.)

• Adult Learning Certification or equivalent experience preferred

• Brinkerhoff Champion Certification required within the first 6 months

Minimum Years of Experience Required

• 5 years relevant work experience

• 3+ years in a leadership capacity

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong planning and organizing skills to prioritize work and deliverables, juggle priorities, track performance and programs while also monitoring one's own progress.

• Effective coordination, delegation, and management of multiple projects and/or workstreams.

• Ability to champion innovation and change.

• Effective communication skills to set clear and measurable expectations to reach business objectives.

• Ability to lead and manage people.

• Knowledge of change leadership, systems thinking, Agile project management.

• Ability to collaborate and influence others.

• Understanding of the field-facing training and development programs and/or learning agility to onboard quickly.

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Awards & Accolades

At Edward Jones, we are building a place where everyone feels like they belong. We're proud of our associates' contributions to the firm and the recognitions we have received.

Check out our U.S. awards and accolades: Insights & Information Blog Postings about Edward Jones

Check out our Canadian awards and accolades: Insights & Information Blog Postings about Edward Jones

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About Us

Join a financial services firm where your contributions are valued. Edward Jones is a Fortune 500¹ company where people come first. With over 9 million clients and 20,000 financial advisors across the U.S. and Canada, we're proud to be privately-owned, placing the focus on our clients rather than shareholder returns.

Behind everything we do is our purpose: We partner for positive impact to improve the lives of our clients and colleagues, and together, better our communities and society. We are an innovative, flexible, and inclusive organization that attracts, develops, and inspires performance excellence and a sense of belonging.

People are at the center of our partnership. Edward Jones associates are seen, heard, respected, and supported. This is what we believe makes us the best place to start or build your career.

View our Purpose, Inclusion and Citizenship Report.

¹Fortune 500, published June 2024, data as of December 2023. Compensation provided for using, not obtaining, the rating.

Edward Jones does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, veteran status, genetic information or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

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