Investments Sales & Suitability Manager

Join us as an Investments Sales & Suitability Manager within our Private Bank and Wealth Management team in London.

The Investments Sales & Suitability Manager will play a key role in the design, implementation and ongoing governance of the UK & Crown Dependencies Sales & Suitability framework across PBWM. The role will drive PBWM’s advisory services to deliver an effective, commercially driven, sales process, underpinned by a consistent, evidenced suitability framework which provides good client outcomes in line with Consumer Duty, MiFID II, Barclays’ control standards and agreed risk appetite.

What you will be doing

• Sales & Suitability Framework management, change delivery and control oversight
  • Lead the development, embedment and ongoing governance of the UK & Crown Dependencies Sales & Suitability framework, ensuring procedures, advisory processes, product launches, proposition changes and transformation programmes are aligned to target markets, supported by effective controls, and subject to clear oversight, escalation, decision making and accountability.
• Investment product suitability oversight
  • Support the business in maintaining robust product-to-client suitability alignment across asset allocation, portfolio construction, risk profiling, complex and illiquid product appropriateness, and alignment to client objectives, Attitude to Risk, Capacity for Loss and liquidity needs.
• Development and Business readiness of Product and Proposition launches in UK & CD
  • Support the ongoing management, enhancement and governance of the UK & Crown Dependencies Investment Services proposition, with a primary focus on business-as-usual product activity, product-related issue resolution and review support, while partnering with the Investments Transformation Programme to contribute to the delivery of tactical and strategic proposition solutions.
• Review, assurance and remediation oversight
  • Oversee Sales & Suitability inputs into risk events, actions, audit, compliance assurance and other internal or external reviews, ensuring issues are appropriately assessed, remediated and embedded into the framework, controls and governance model.
• Consumer Duty, client outcomes and management information
  • Embed a Consumer Duty lens across investment services, ensuring delivery of good client outcomes and appropriate consideration of vulnerable clients, supported by clear evidence, KPIs, dashboards, complaints insight, suitability exceptions and risk indicators reported through senior forums and governance committees.

Essential Skills/Basic Qualifications:

• Significant experience in Private Banking, Wealth Management, Investment Management or relevant Financial Services sectors.
• Strong understanding of investment advisory processes, suitability frameworks, control environments and related governance expectations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and explain complex regulatory, product and control matters clearly.
• Strong analytical capability, including experience using management information, risk indicators and control outcomes to assess client outcomes and support remediation.

Desirable skills/Preferred Qualifications:

• Good investment product knowledge underpinned by an FCA Level 4 qualification.
• Experience working with Consumer Duty, MiFID II, COBS suitability and PROD/product governance requirements in a Wealth Management or Investment Services environment.
• Experience operating in a matrix environment, coordinating cross-functional delivery across Product, Distribution, Front Office, COO, Risk, Compliance and Legal teams.
• Experience supporting product or proposition change, business readiness and governance forums across investment services.

 You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

Purpose of the role

Product Managers are responsible for the leading the strategic focus of the product(s), defining the product vision, market strategy, and competitive analysis. They think about the product's future and how it will evolve over time. They work with various teams, including marketing, engineering, operations, and sales, to ensure everyone is aligned on the product strategy.  They use data and market research to inform their decisions and prioritize product features.

Accountabilities

• Define Product Strategy: Accountable for defining a product strategy that aligns with business vision, managing capabilities, balancing short-term with long-term goals, ensuring that products meet market demands and drive growth.
• Cross functional alignment: Leadership of cross functional relationships, working with various cross-functional teams to ensure alignment of product strategy and goals.
• Risk and Control:  Accountable for overseeing product risk management, including identification of potential risks, development of strategies to mitigate those risks, and maintenance of alignment between the product management and control functions.
• Product Development Lifecycle: Own product development lifecycle, from concept to launch, ensuring efficient processes, on-time delivery, and alignment with E2E customer expectations and experience. – working with product owners to drive change objectives.
• Deliver Product Goals and Performance: Deliver clear objectives and key outcomes to steer the product vision and ensure alignment with company’s business goals, financial targets, and strategic vision, driving long-term business success. 
• Data driven decisions: Monitor product performance through data-driven analysis and insights,  regularly assessing progress against objectives and adjusting the strategies as needed to optimise outcomes and maximise value for both business and customer.
• Customer-Centric Focus: Drive a customer -first approach across the product vision, ensuring customer insights, feedback, behaviours, and pain points are at the core of the product strategy and decision-making process. 
• Business and financial acumen: Understanding pricing models, costs structures, and ROI to make financially grounded decisions regarding product development.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.