Senior Manager, Practice Operations & Performance
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Position Summary
The Senior Manager – Practice Management & Performance is accountable for the day‐to‐day operational performance, capacity management, and leadership of advice operations teams, ensuring the practice operates efficiently, consistently, and at scale.
This role leads Team Leaders across Paraplanning and Client Services and an Operations Manager.
The role translates business strategy, standards, and regulatory obligations into effective practice‐level delivery, enabling advisers to focus on client outcomes and growth.
The role balances people leadership, commercial insight, and operational discipline to ensure the business is achieving its goals.
Primary Responsibilities
Lead, coach and develop Operations Manager and Team Leads to drive accountability and consistent delivery of outcomes
Build a culture of accountability, collaboration and client‐centricity
Set clear expectations for workflow discipline, service quality, and capacity management
Support Ops Mgr and Team Leads to:Allocate work effectively
Build capability and role clarity within their teams
Address performance, quality, or capacity issues early
Foster a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and commercial awareness
Practice Operations & BAU Excellence
Ensure advice operations run smoothly and consistently across the business
Monitor BAU execution, identifying inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and operational risk
Act as the escalation point for complex operational or resourcing issues
Stabilise operations during periods of growth, adviser change, or increased demand
Adviser Productivity & Capacity Management
Partner with advisers and leaders to improve utilisation and sustainable workloads
Remove operational friction that impacts advisor productivity or client experience




Oversee capacity planning across Paraplanning and Client Services teams
Balance adviser demand with team capability and capacity
Operational Reporting & Commercial Insights
Own operational and performance reporting, including:Workflow health and WIP
Capacity and utilisation metrics
Client, FUM, and revenue‐related operational indicators
Translate reporting into explicit insights and actionable recommendations for leaders
Operational Risk, Quality & Governance
Ensure operational teams work within agreed compliance, AFSL, and governance frameworks
Act as a senior operational owner of advice systems (e.g. Xplan and related platforms)
Ensure tools are used consistently and effectively by operational teams
Partner with Technology and Service Design to embed agreed changes into BAU
Identify system or process issues impacting productivity or quality
Lead or support operational improvement initiatives impacting BAU performance
Own implementation and adoption of agreed changes across teams
Ensure improvements are practical, embedded, and sustained
Qualifications
8+ years leadership experience in financial advice operations, paraplanning, or client services
Proven experience in implementing and embedding change initiatives
Experience leading process alignment across the wider business in a way that supports teams and enhances the client experience
Proven ability to lead others and indirectly manage larger operational teams
Strong commercial and capacity‐planning mindset




High confidence engaging with advisers and senior stakeholders
Ability to balance people leadership with operational execution
Strong people leadership capability, with the ability to coach, influence, and hold leaders accountable for outcomes
Sound operational judgment, balancing efficiency, quality, and client experience in day‐to‐day decisions
Commercial mindset, with a clear understanding of how operational performance supports adviser productivity and business results
Confident capacity and workload management across competing priorities and adviser demand
High level of data literacy, able to interpret information, identify trends or risks, and support sound decision‐making
Disciplined and structured approach to BAU execution, with robust follow‐through
Comfortable operating within governance and risk frameworks, reinforcing consistent and compliant ways of working
Calm, resilient, and pragmatic leader, able to cut through complexity and drive practical outcomes
Equal Opportunity Statement
Focus is an equal chance employer and bases its employment decisions on the employee or candidate's skillset, and without regard to an employee or candidate's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state and/or federal law.
Accommodations for Disabilities
Focus complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities.
If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact ******.
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📌 Senior Manager, Practice Operations & Performance (Melbourne)
🏢 Focus Partners
📍 Melbourne