Onboarding & Client Implementation Lead, Vice President (Wealth Custody and Clearing)
State Street · Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Who we are looking for
Wealth Custody & Clearing is seeking a senior leader for Client Onboarding & Implementation to establish, lead, and scale the onboarding and client acclimation function for Registered Investment Advisor firms, their advisors, investment consultants, and operational teams. This leader will own the vision for building a best-in-class, modern onboarding team that delivers white-glove service at scale by building digital workflows, automation, and AI-enabled tools into every stage of the client onboarding journey.
This individual will define the onboarding strategy, operating model, governance framework, digital and AI-enabled delivery model and client experience for firms transitioning onto our introducing broker-dealer and custody platform. The role will provide ownership across complex, multi-workstream implementations, from initial planning and readiness assessment through activation, early adoption, and transition into steady-state service.
Beyond leading individual implementations, this role will build the infrastructure required to support growth at scale, including implementation standards, client segmentation, governance routines, readiness criteria, training programs, performance metrics, escalation frameworks, and repeatable playbooks, and the digital and AI capabilities that let a lean, highly skilled team deliver a personalized, high-touch experience to a growing number of firms. The role will initially operate as a hands-on builder and senior client leader while establishing the organizational model and team capabilities required to support future growth.
The role will engage directly with senior client leadership and coordinate across Operations, Client Service, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Sales, and Relationship Management. This individual must be capable of balancing client experience, operational readiness, commercial priorities, regulatory obligations, and platform scalability.
The role serves as the senior point of accountability for a client’s earliest and most consequential interactions with the platform. The successful candidate will bring strong judgment, executive presence, operational depth, a clear vision for what modern onboarding should be, and the ability to translate complex requirements into an organized, transparent, and confidence-building implementation experience.
This role reports to the Head of Service & Advisor experience and works in close partnership with Client Service & Advisor Experience leadership to ensure an intentional transition from implementation into ongoing relationship management and service delivery.
Why this role is important to us
Successful onboarding is a strategic growth capability for Wealth Custody & Clearing. As the business scales, our ability to onboard complex firms consistently, manage implementation risk, and accelerate client adoption will directly influence client confidence, platform utilization, operational stability, and long-term retention.
Clients expect onboarding to be both personal and efficient. We believe the leading platforms will combine white-glove, high-touch service with modern digital and AI capabilities that remove friction, increase transparency, and allow onboarding capacity to grow without sacrificing quality. This leader will set and drive that vision for Wealth Custody & Clearing.
The Client Onboarding & Implementation leader will establish the vision, strategy, standards, governance, and organizational capabilities required to deliver that experience at scale. This leader will ensure that firms are not only technically activated, but operationally prepared to use the platform effectively, adopt critical workflows, understand service expectations, and return their focus to growth.
By connecting Sales, Relationship Management, Operations, Service, Product, Technology, Compliance, and Risk, this role will create a disciplined implementation model that supports near-term client launches while building a repeatable foundation for future growth.
What you will be responsible for
- Establish and lead the Client Onboarding & Implementation function for Wealth Custody & Clearing, including its strategy, operating model, governance, standards, and long-term roadmap.
- Serve as the senior accountable leader for complex RIA implementations, providing leadership from pre-implementation planning through activation, acclimation, and transition into steady-state service.
- Build a scalable onboarding methodology that includes client segmentation, implementation planning, readiness assessments, decision governance, milestone management, risk escalation, go-live criteria, and post-launch stabilization.
- Develop and own the client acclimation and adoption strategy, ensuring firms move beyond technical activation to operational confidence, effective platform utilization, and early realization of value.
- Define and continuously raise the white-glove client experience standard, ensuring every firm receives a personalized, proactive, and high-touch onboarding experience regardless of volume or complexity.
- Engage directly with client executives, firm leadership, investment consultants, advisors, and operational leaders to establish expectations, resolve strategic issues, and maintain confidence throughout the transition.
- Lead product parity, operating model, and readiness assessments for prospective and committed clients, identifying material gaps and ensuring appropriate decisions, ownership, and remediation plans are established before launch.
- Establish executive governance and reporting for major implementations, including implementation health, readiness, dependencies, risks, decisions, client sentiment, and escalation items.
- Partner with Sales and Relationship Management during the prospect and contracting lifecycle to assess implementation complexity, clarify client requirements, and establish realistic onboarding expectations.
- Provide cross-functional leadership across Operations, Client Service, Trading, Cashiering, Asset Servicing, Product, Technology, Compliance, Risk, Legal, and third-party providers to drive coordinated implementation outcomes.
- Define measurable onboarding and adoption outcomes, including implementation predictability, time to activation, readiness, client effort, early-life service demand, platform adoption, and transition quality.
- Establish clear handoff standards and shared accountability between Implementation, Client Service, Advisor Experience, Relationship Management, and Operations following activation.
- Own the development of implementation playbooks, role-based client training, operating procedures, communication standards, escalation protocols, and reusable tools that support consistent execution.
- Build, develop, and lead a scalable onboarding and implementation team, including defining roles, responsibilities, capacity requirements, performance expectations, and professional development priorities.
- Create feedback mechanisms that translate implementation experience, client needs, and recurring operational gaps into improvements across Product, Technology, Operations, Service, and the broader client experience.
- Own the digital and AI roadmap for onboarding, including digitization, workflow automation, data-driven reporting, and responsible AI-enabled solutions (such as intelligent document intake, automated status updates, client self-service, and AI-assisted readiness and risk monitoring) that improve implementation transparency, reduce client effort, and increase operational scalability.
- Track emerging onboarding technology, AI capabilities, and industry practices, and benchmark the function against leading custodians and fintech platforms to keep it best-in-class.
- Represent the onboarding and implementation function in senior leadership, client governance, risk, and business readiness forums.
What we value
- Demonstrated leadership of complex client onboard