<p>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 role based on a successful training period.</p> <p>Core Responsibilities:</p> <ul> <li>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. </li><li>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. </li><li>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. </li><li>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. </li><li>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. </li><li>Partner with internal stakeholders including Program Managers, the AdviceWorks team, and Compliance to ensure all processed transactions meet regulatory and broker-dealer compliance standards. </li><li>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. </li><li>Proactively identify and resolve potential operational problems before they escalate, demonstrating sound analytical and critical thinking skills across daily work functions. </li><li>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. </li><li>Perform detailed research on customer accounts as requested and deliver accurate, timely responses to advisors, clients, and internal partners. </li><li>Support the development and maintenance of written procedures and workflow documentation, leveraging tools such as Microsoft Visio to help organize and improve team processes. </li><li>Comply with all team processes, procedures, regulatory requirements, and service level agreements while consistently achieving quality metrics. </li><li>Cross-train on additional queues and operational workflows to support team capacity and continuity. </li><li>Complete other duties as assigned. </li></ul> <p>Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:</p> <ul> <li>Ability to multi-task </li><li>Flexible and adaptable to change </li><li>Strong communication and organizational skills </li><li>Positive role model to colleagues </li><li>Highly responsive to coaching and training </li><li>Independent; able to work and resolve complex issues with minimal guidance </li><li>Ability to learn quickly and multi-task effectively in a fast-paced environment </li><li>Team player attitude </li><li>Energetic and results-oriented </li><li>Strong analytical and critical thinking skills with a keen attention to detail </li><li>Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, pivot tables, and data analysis functions </li><li>Proficiency in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint </li><li>Working knowledge of Microsoft Visio and ability to document procedures and workflows </li><li>Basic understanding of API concepts and system data flow </li><li>Familiarity with broker-dealer and advisory compliance rules and practices </li><li>Ability and willingness to place outbound phone calls to advisors and clients to resolve issues proactively </li></ul> <p>Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:</p> <ul> <li>Bachelor's degree </li><li>Series 99, 6, or 7 licensed </li><li>Demonstrated experience delivering excellent problem resolution, organizational and follow-up skills </li><li>Ability to multi-task while staying on track with regulatory deadlines, field inquiries, and internal assignments </li><li>Knowledge of AI tools and prompting techniques as applied to operational workflows </li><li>Experience with financial services platforms such as AdvicePay, AdviceWorks, Salesforce, or similar systems </li></ul> <p>Minimum Required Education & Experience:</p> <ul> <li>High School Diploma or GED </li><li>1 years' experience in the financial industry </li><li>1 years of experience with MS Office tools </li><li>Licensing (if applicable) </li></ul> <p>#LI-Hybrid</p>