Financial Planning Manager at Destination Wealth Management – Walnut Creek, California

Financial Planning Manager (High-Net-Worth Clients)

Department: Financial Planning

Reports To: Executive Leadership

Mandate: Lead, elevate, and standardize the financial planning function for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients.

Position Overview:

The Financial Planning Manager is a senior leadership role responsible for owning the quality, consistency, and strategic sophistication of all financial planning deliverables for high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients.

This is not a maintenance role.

This position exists to:

• Take control of the planning function
• Eliminate inconsistency
• Build a high-performance team
• Ensure all planning work is accurate, timely, and strategically valuable

The ideal candidate combines:

• Deep technical expertise (tax, estate, advanced planning)
• Leadership and team-building capability
• Strong judgment under complexity
• A process-driven mindset
• The authority and confidence to enforce standards

Core Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of financial planners
• Establish clear expectations, accountability standards, and performance metrics
• Conduct regular reviews of team output for quality, accuracy, and completeness
• Mentor planners on complex planning strategies and client communication
• Recruit, hire, and onboard new planning team members

Own the Output (No Exceptions)

The Financial Planning Manager holds final accountability for all planning deliverables. Responsibilities include:

Implementing a mandatory review structure: Planner Peer Review ? Senior Review ? Final Approval

Ensuring all work is:

• Technically correct
• Strategically sound
• Advisor-ready and client-ready
• Rejecting substandard work and requiring revisions when necessary

No work goes out the door unless it meets standard.

High-Net-Worth Planning Oversight

Oversee creation and delivery of comprehensive financial plans, including:

• Retirement planning
• Tax planning strategies
• Estate and trust planning coordination
• Cash flow and liquidity planning
• Concentrated stock and equity compensation strategies

Additional duties:

• Review and approve complex planning cases
• Serve as escalation point for advanced planning scenarios

Advanced Planning & Strategy

Design and implement sophisticated strategies for HNW/UHNW clients:

• Multi-year tax minimization
• Entity structuring
• Trust and wealth-transfer strategies
• Charitable planning (DAFs, CRTs, foundations)
• Asset location and tax-efficient portfolio structuring

Collaborate closely with:

• CPAs
• Attorneys
• Investment team

Establish and Enforce Standards

• Define what “good” looks like across all planning outputs
• Standardize templates, structure, and language
• Eliminate variability across planners
• Ensure clarity, consistency, and technical excellence

Workflow Redesign & Process Optimization

• Build and refine scalable planning processes and workflows
• Identify bottlenecks and eliminate inefficiencies
• Ensure the right people are doing the right work
• Improve turnaround times and reduce rework
• Ensure efficient use of CRM and planning tools

Cross-Department Collaboration Work closely with:

• Advisors — align planning with client goals
• Investment team — integrate planning with portfolio strategy
• Operations — ensure seamless execution

Client Engagement (Selective)

• Participate in high-value or complex client meetings
• Present advanced planning strategies
• Serve as subject matter expert in client-facing situations

Authority of the Role

This role has the authority to:

• Reject or require revisions to planning work
• Redesign workflows and processes
• Reassign responsibilities
• Implement new standards
• Address performance issues directly

Qualifications (Required)

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or related field
• CFP® designation
• 8–12+ years of financial planning experience with HNW clients
• 3–5+ years of leadership or team management experience

Deep expertise in:

• Tax planning
• Estate planning
• Retirement and cash flow modeling

Preferred

• CPA, CFA, or JD
• Experience with UHNW clients (10M+)
• Experience in an RIA or complex advisory environment
• Experience with advanced planning tools and CRM systems

Core Competencies

• Technical Mastery – deep understanding of complex planning strategies
• Leadership – ability to manage, mentor, and elevate a team
• Strategic Thinking – see the “big picture” across a client’s financial life
• Execution & Accountability – dives results with clear ownership
• Communication – translates complexity into clear insights
• Process Orientation – builds scalable, repeatable system

Success Metrics

Within 6-12 months, success looks like:

• Consistent, accurate, high-quality planning output
• Predictable and reduces turnaround times
• Advisors trust the planning team’s work without rechecking
• Clear workflow with minimal breakdowns
• Transparent and improving team performance
• Significant reduction in rework and errors

What This Role is (and is Not)

This role IS:

• A senior leadership position
• Focused on complex, high-value client work
• Responsible for both strategy and execution quality
• A builder and enforcer of standards

This role is NOT:

• A passive manager
• A coordinator of chaos
• A junior planning or paraplanner role
• A siloed technical role with leadership responsibilities