Senior Business Analyst, Operations

Cetera Financial Group is currently seeking a Senior Advisory Operations Business Analyst for our Advisory Operations team in our company’s office located in Dallas, TX. This is a unique opportunity to join our team to provide support for Cetera Financial Group under Specialty Operations.

This is a hybrid role that requires 2-3 days per week in office. In order to be considered for this position, you must be located within a commutable distance of our Coppell office location.

What you will do:

• Serve as a senior subject matter resource with advanced knowledge of Advisory and/or Brokerage products, operational processes, platforms, and clearing relationships while providing a high level of service to internal and external partners.
• Lead the collection, organization, validation, and analysis of complex operational data to identify trends, capacity concerns, opportunities, and actionable business insights.
• Utilize advanced data and organizational tools, including Snowflake, Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and applicable Microsoft Office applications, to organize large data sets, develop reporting, and translate complex information into meaningful insights for Leadership and Executive Leadership.
• Own and enhance metrics, capacity reporting, and data analysis across Advisory, Fee For Service, and Specialty Operations functions, ensuring data is accurate, organized, scalable, and presented in a manner that supports business decisions.
• Apply strong project management and organizational skills to manage multiple initiatives, reporting deliverables, competing priorities, dependencies, and deadlines with limited oversight.
• Lead or coordinate cross-functional projects and initiatives, establishing clear objectives, milestones, responsibilities, risks, and communication plans while driving work through completion.
• Provide senior-level analysis and recommendations to Leadership regarding capacity, workflow, productivity, operational risk, service levels, and resource planning.
• Develop executive-ready presentations and reporting that clearly communicate business performance, emerging trends, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Partner with Leadership and operational teams to identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, automate, and improve processes, including opportunities to improve how operational data is collected, maintained, analyzed, and reported.
• Lead and support new product, platform, program, or process rollouts by coordinating across teams, assessing operational impacts, identifying risks and dependencies, and providing recommendations to Leadership.
• Deliver an exceptional partner experience when working with Advisors, Leadership, Operations teams, and other internal and external partners. Independently research complex issues and provide clear, concise, and actionable recommendations.
• Demonstrate advanced understanding of Advisory Operations processes and procedures, including proposal, trading, performance, billing, and workflow tools.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the relationships and operational differences among various clearing firms and platforms, with the ability to assess downstream impacts to teams, processes, and reporting.
• Serve as a resource and mentor to less experienced team members by sharing operational knowledge, analytical techniques, reporting best practices, and project management practices.
• Develop proficiency across key business applications, including Docupace, NetX360, AdviceWorks, MAA, Salesforce, SmartWorks, Snowflake, and other applicable reporting and data platforms.
• Independently identify operational concerns, data inconsistencies, and emerging trends and proactively escalate issues with recommended solutions, rather than relying solely on direction from Leadership.

Recommended Senior-Level Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in financial services, Advisory Operations, Brokerage Operations, Specialty Operations, business analytics, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience working with large and complex data sets, including organizing, validating, analyzing, and presenting operational data.
• Experience with Snowflake or similar enterprise data platforms, with the ability to retrieve, organize, interpret, and translate data into business insights.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, data analysis, and data visualization.
• Strong PowerPoint skills with experience creating executive-level presentations and business reporting.
• Demonstrated project management experience, including managing priorities, deliverables, dependencies, risks, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Ability to independently manage multiple competing priorities and determine appropriate sequencing based on business impact, urgency, risk, and dependencies.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to move beyond reporting data to providing insights, recommendations, and proposed solutions.
• Proven ability to communicate complex operational or analytical information clearly to both operational teams and senior leadership.
• Experience identifying and implementing process improvement, automation, reporting, or workflow enhancements.
• Ability to provide guidance, knowledge-sharing, and informal mentorship to other team members.