Director, Content Development/Thought Leadership Writer

Your Opportunity

Business Consulting Services_Director, Content Development / Thought Leadership Writer

Schwab Advisor Services, a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is the leading provider of custody, trading, technology and practice management to registered independent advisory firms (RIAs). It provides access to sophisticated wealth-management services that help advisors attract and retain affluent clients, as well as profitably grow, compete and succeed in their business efforts. Schwab Advisor Services serves over 7,000 independent advisory firms who custody approximately $1 trillion of assets with Schwab.

The Business Consulting and Education (BCE) team creates and delivers high-quality, industry-leading consulting and education programs that help advisors better manage their businesses in addition to helping them plan and prepare for the future. The key to the team’s success lies in its ability to create highly relevant and scalable programs that turn practice management insights into actionable plans that advisors can implement in their firms. These programs are delivered by a nationwide team of experienced consultants who work closely with advisors and their Schwab relationship managers to understand the firm’s challenges and areas of opportunity and then map a path forward.

Programs developed and managed by BCE include the annual Charles Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study, immersive multi-week ‘Insight to Action’ consulting programs, the Schwab Executive Leadership Program, Schwab Advisor University, The RIA Manager Advancement Program, and the RIA Intern Program. The BCE team also produces white papers on a range of practice management issues in addition to creating resources to help advisors navigate compliance requirements.

As a key contributor to the Schwab Advisor Services BCS organization, this Director will be responsible for driving and overseeing the strategic direction of our robust thought leadership programs and conceptualizing and creating thought leadership pieces and education programs including authoring and producing white papers, byline articles, infographics, contributions to executive messaging and speaking opportunities, and digital/social media, etc. The ideal candidate will be a prolific and talented content creator (both long and short form) who will help establish and maintain a leadership voice in the industry about practice management issues relevant to an advisory firm’s success. This director will research topics, develop a deep understanding of RIAs and the issues they face, develop a point of view, collaborate with colleagues and senior leaders to refine the point of view, and will thrive in a highly iterative environment.

They will develop robust programs bringing structure to complex topics that drive impactful change within RIA firms. This Director will also lead a high-performing team that creates and manages BCE’s thought leadership assets (webcasts, compliance reviews, event presentations, etc.).

Successful BCE team members are energized by the opportunity to work on varied projects and programs from year to year, are intellectually curious and passionate about learning, and able to perform research and develop content in a highly collaborative environment. The ideal candidate is comfortable with the iterative process that truly innovative programs and impactful thought leadership content requires. Flexibility, creativity, efficiency, resourcefulness, and a positive attitude are highly valued on the team, as well as the ability to work with and influence individuals at all levels within the organization.

This role often partners with other functions within Advisor Services to successfully execute programs, and so the ability to work collaboratively with others is a must. Key business partners include the Business and Technology Consultants, Schwab Sales Team, Marketing, Public Relations, Compliance, Field Enablement, and Events.

Collaboration with external influencers, industry experts, agencies and key clients may also be required.

What you have

• A seasoned, mature leader with strong experience leading geographically diverse teams and supporting complex and varied projects.
• Excellent leadership skills and a track record of building strong, effective, and engaged teams delivering high quality results. Brings an authentic leadership approach in which they communicate with care, kindness, and clarity to create a space where everyone can do their best work.
• A track record of developing strong relationships with business leaders through relevance, trust, influence, and delivery. Builds very strong relationships through collaboration across all levels of the organization, motivating colleagues to accomplish work effectively and urgently.
• Experience guiding and overseeing the strategic direction of robust thought leadership programs.
• Highly skilled writer capable of authoring original reports, papers and articles that effectively communicate our ideas and point of view in a compelling manner.
• Proven track record building content assets from scratch — establishing frameworks, curriculums, and is prolific in creating structure out of chaos in a way that drives meaningful results for advisors.
• Demonstrated ability to gather, synthesize, and translate diverse information sources (client perspectives, executive insights, industry trends, subject matter experts, analytics) to develop actionable insights and thought leadership content.
• Ability to conduct research and interviews to help develop a point of view that can be refined and solidified by working with the BCE team and senior leaders.
• A high level of creativity, attention to detail, and project management
• Energized by collaboration and able to thrive in an iterative
• A ‘can-do’, results-oriented approach to business, ability to deliver high-quality work, develop and manage a project plan.
• The ability to understand dependencies and anticipate downstream
• Proven ability to work in a fast paced, matrixed
• Experience serving the financial services industry (preferred); an understanding of practice management and consulting is desirable but not required.
• Experience working at/with a creative agency is a plus
• 7-10 years of relevant experience
• MBA preferred but not required.