Senior Paraplanner

Job Title: Senior Paraplanner – Client Facing Role

Location: Chelmsford

Hours: 9am – 5pm | 37.5 hours per week | Initially office-based, with scope for hybrid working

About Our Client:

Portcullis Group brings together financial planning and estate planning, helping clients build, manage and pass on their wealth. Based in central Chelmsford, the team supports approximately 128 active clients with around £85m under management.

Portcullis Wealth Planning Ltd provides independent financial planning and investment advice as an Appointed Representative of ValidPath Ltd. Its sibling company, Portcullis Wealth Retention Ltd, provides wills, trusts, lasting powers of attorney, probate and personal tax services.

Principal James Caviel has been a regulated financial adviser since 1990. Working alongside James and an established administration team, you will join a small business with plans to grow through new client relationships and acquisitions.

Package Details:

The successful candidate will receive a basic salary of £50,000 - £60,000 depending on experience & qualifications.

Other benefits include:

• 20 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays and additional paid Christmas closure, without using your holiday allowance.

Long service holiday increases at: - 1 year: 22 days - 5 years: 23 days - 10 years: 25 days

• Discretionary bonus

• Employer pension contribution.

• Death-in-service cover of four times salary.

• Group Income Protection (Permanent Health Insurance).

• Five days of paid study leave per year and refunded examination fees for continuing professional development.

• Support towards further qualifications, including progression from Level 4.

• Hybrid working of up to two days a week from home following the initial office-based period, subject to suitable homeworking arrangements.

• Free on-site parking in central Chelmsford

Purpose of the role:

Working closely with principal, you will combine technical paraplanning with direct client contact, becoming a trusted point of contact for clients and helping their financial planning progress. You will handle technical queries, explain information clearly and participate in client meetings, alongside researching recommendations and preparing suitability reports. Working with James, the administration team and the firm’s outsourced paraplanning provider, you will help keep client work moving and give James more capacity to focus on complex advice and new client relationships.

This role suits an experienced paraplanner who enjoys building client relationships and can contribute confidently from the outset. The role offers scope to develop towards advice over time, depending on your ambitions and the needs of the business. Experienced career paraplanners are equally welcome.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Build relationships with clients, responding to calls and emails and providing clear explanations of technical matters within the scope of your role.

• Recognise when a query requires a recommendation or more complex advice, referring it to James with the relevant information.

• Participate in remote and face-to-face client meetings, providing technical support and helping progress the resulting actions. Some travel will be required.

• Work closely with James and the administration team to coordinate cases, share updates and keep clients informed.

• Research pensions, investments, trusts and inheritance-tax planning, supporting recommendations for complex client circumstances.

• Prepare bespoke suitability reports, particularly for new business, and review and finalise reports prepared by the outsourced paraplanning provider.

• Build cash-flow models and lifetime forecasts using FE CashCalc.

• Support trust and multigenerational planning cases, including research into periodic charges and associated tax considerations.

• Obtain illustrations and complete new-business keying, coordinating with the administration team.

• Use research tools and AI, including Claude and Planner Pal, with careful checking and human sign-off, and keep your technical knowledge current.

The Ideal Employee:

• Organised and proactive, with a careful approach to accuracy and follow-through.

• A collaborative communicator who shares information and works closely with colleagues.

• Comfortable in a small, quiet office with a light-hearted atmosphere.

• Interested in building lasting client relationships and continuing to develop your technical knowledge.

• Enjoys direct client contact and takes ownership of following queries and agreed actions through to completion.

• Confident working independently within their technical competence, while recognising when to seek guidance.

Experience required:

• A strong paraplanning background within an IFA or wealth management firm.

• At least Level 4 qualified, with established paraplanning experience and the technical capability to contribute from the outset.

• A good understanding of trusts, periodic charges and associated tax considerations, alongside pensions and investment knowledge.

• Strong research and report-writing skills.

• Experience communicating directly with clients, with the confidence to explain technical information clearly and recognise when to involve the adviser.

• Confidence using FE Analytics, FE CashCalc and research software, with a willingness to embrace AI and integrated systems.

Desirable

• Level 6 qualifications, Chartered status or progress towards further professional qualifications.

• Experience attending client meetings and working on complex estate-planning cases.

• Familiarity with Xplan, Defaqto Engage, Planner Pal or Claude.