Client Onboarding Strategy & Governance Lead
Schroders · London
Who we’re looking for
The Client Onboarding Strategy & Governance Lead plays a critical role in supporting the effective delivery, governance and control of client onboarding and periodic review activity across Schroders Wealth Management.
The role holder will own and drive a disciplined delivery and governance cadence across Wealth Management client onboarding and periodic review, ensuring consistent, defensible outcomes, strong management information, effective controls and robust remediation across both business-as-usual and change activity.
Acting as a delegate for the Global Head where appropriate, the Client Onboarding Strategy & Governance Lead will establish and run a structured operating rhythm across priorities, governance forums and stakeholder engagement. The role holder will maintain a single, joined-up view of delivery across Run-the-Bank and Change-the-Bank activity, ensuring risks, dependencies, decisions and actions are clearly understood and actively managed.
This role is critical in ensuring that governance forums, documentation, management information and regulatory records relating to client onboarding and periodic review operate efficiently, consistently and in line with FCA expectations, financial crime requirements and internal governance standards.
The role holder will also act as a primary business partner for the financial crime framework review, including third-party engagement, ensuring recommendations are translated into implementable, controlled outcomes with clear ownership and evidence of closure.
This role reports to the Global Head of Client Onboarding and is based in London.
About Cazenove Capital
At Cazenove Capital we look after private individuals, families and charities. We are the wealth management business of the FTSE-listed global investment manager Schroders. We help our clients around the world invest money to meet their goals, fulfil their ambitions, and prepare for the future.
About Schroders, our parent company
Schroders is a global investment manager which provides active asset management, wealth management and investment solutions. We aim to provide excellent investment performance to clients through active management. We serve a diverse client base that includes pension schemes, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, high net worth individuals, family offices, as well as end clients through partnerships with distributors, financial advisers, and online platforms.
Established in 1804, we have around 5,500 people across 36 global locations. Schroders' success can be attributed to its diversified business model, spanning different asset classes, client types and geographies.
The base
We moved into our new HQ in the City of London in 2018. We’re close to our clients, in the heart of the UK’s financial centre and we have everything we need to work flexibly.
The team
We are one of the largest UK-based wealth management firm, headquartered in London but with offices around the country. We help private clients, families, charities and some institutions meet their long term goals by offering our expertise in investment, wealth planning, lending and family office services. We draw on the resources of the Schroders group, as well as having our own in house investment team.
We're open to flexible working, so we can all balance our personal and professional commitments.
What you'll do
Delivery leadership and operating cadence
Establish and maintain a disciplined operating cadence across onboarding and periodic review priorities, including governance calendars, RAID logs, decision logs and action trackers.
Maintain a single consolidated view of delivery across business-as-usual and change activity, highlighting key risks, dependencies, bottlenecks and decisions required.
Support prioritisation and sequencing across initiatives and BAU demands, escalating where needed to maintain momentum and effective control outcomes.
Act as a central coordination point across Front Office, Operations, Technology, Risk, Compliance and Financial Crime to progress decisions and remove blockers.
Provide cover and delegation for the Global Head where appropriate, ensuring continuity of governance and delivery.
Governance forums and stakeholder management
Plan and run relevant governance forums, including onboarding/KYC governance, client approval and escalation forums where applicable.
Own the preparation of agendas, papers, attendee management and quality of governance packs.
Ensure clear and accurate recording of outcomes, including decisions, rationale, approvals, conditions and actions.
Drive follow-up and accountability by tracking actions, challenging slippage and escalating overdue items with clear articulation of impact.
Build effective working relationships across senior stakeholders and functional teams to support timely decision-making and controlled delivery.
Management information, controls and defensible outcomes
Strengthen management information relating to onboarding and periodic review performance, risk themes, exceptions, backlog, throughput and key control indicators.
Ensure agreed definitions, data quality standards and consistent reporting are embedded across MI and governance outputs.
Support control monitoring and operational assurance routines, including exceptions, breaches and thematic findings.
Ensure issues are identified, investigated and progressed to resolution with clear ownership and evidence.
Ensure processes and governance artefacts support defensible outcomes through clear audit trails, evidence standards, consistent decisioning and appropriate documentation.
Remediation management and assurance readiness
Own or coordinate remediation tracking for onboarding, periodic review and related control improvements.
Track owners, dependencies, evidence requirements, milestones and closure criteria for remediation and improvement activity.
Support readiness for audit, assurance and regulatory engagement by coordinating evidence packs, status reporting and structured responses.
Maintain structured logs of issues, findings and actions, including third-party or assurance-driven items.
Ensure clear ownership, transparent progress reporting and timely escalation of risks to closure.
Financial crime framework review
Serve as the primary Wealth Management onboarding business partner for the financial crime framework review.
Coordinate workshops, inputs, documentation and stakeholder responses relating to the review.
Translate review recommendations into implementable actions across BAU and change activity.
Ensure recommendations are aligned to the existing governance framework, operating model and control environment.
Track delivery through to closure, ensuring outcomes are evidenced, embedded and that impacts to BAU are appropriately managed.
Process improvement and change enablement
Identify and drive quick wins to improve consistency, cycle times and control outcomes across onboarding and periodic review.
Coordinate BAU inputs into change initiatives, including readiness, communications, operating impacts and cutover considerations.
Support controlled delivery of change to minimise disruption and ensure effective landing of new processes or requirements.
Support documentation of end-to-end processes with embedded controls and exception reporting.
Enable targeted automation where appropriate while ensuring BAU stability and control standards are maintained.
The knowledge, experience and qualifications you need
Experience in financial services or another regulated environment, ideally in roles involving governance, delivery coordination, controls, management information and stakeholder management.
Proven ability to run a structured delivery cadence, including action tracking, dependency management, RAID logs, governance rhythms and follow-through to closure.
Strong understanding of governance, control standards and defensible decision-making in a regulated environment.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce high-quality governance packs, status reporting and decision materials.
High attention to detail, sound judgement and the ability to handle sensitive and confidential information appropriately.
Comfortable engaging with and influencing multiple teams and senior stakeholders.
Ability to work across BAU and change environments, balancing delivery momentum with appropriate risk and control discipline.
Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines and stakeholder expectations.
The knowledge, experience and qualifications that’ll help
Exposure to client onboarding, KYC, periodic reviews, AML, financial crime, sanctions or client lifecycle risk governance.
Experience supporting remediation, audit, assurance or regulatory activity, including evidence collation, action tracking and closure standards.
Experience partnering with third parties or consultancies and translating recommendations into deliverable plans.
Familiarity with FCA-regulated wealth management environments.
Experience working in a matrix or multi-stakeholder organisation.
Strong analytical and problem-solving capability, with the ability to interpret risk, control and performance data and translate it into practical actions.
Confident challenging constructively and escalating appropriately when risks, decisions or actions require senior attention.
Flexible and resilient, with the ability to operate at pace without compromising control standards.
We recognise potential, whoever you are
Our purpose is to deliver excellent investment performance to clients through active management. We believe diverse perspectives and an inclusive culture help us make better decisions and achieve better outcomes for our clients. That's why inclusion is a strategic priority for us, and we are an equal opportunities employer. You are welcome here, regardless of your age, disability, gender identity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, or any other protected characteristic.
We will consider flexible working arrangements for all roles and provide reasonable accommodations to support applicants and employees, including those with neurodiversity, disability, or physical and mental health needs. For more information, please visit our FAQs.