VP & Senior Trust Officer

Cetera Trust Company (CTC) is an affiliate of Cetera Financial Group, a premier wealth advisory organization specializing in providing financial services.  A key component of this role is developing strong working relationships with the financial professionals who partner with Cetera Trust to service their mutual clients and stakeholders. The Senior Trust Officer (STO) fulfills the administrative duties and responsibilities for assigned accounts while delivering professional, personalized service.  Additionally, the Senior Trust Officer is responsible for managing relationships with clients, beneficiaries, financial advisors, centers of influence, and other Cetera associates.  

Success is defined primarily through maintaining the highest levels of client service and competent trust administration according to the trust documents, best practices, and applicable laws and regulations. There is also a principal focus on client acquisition, retention, and growing the overall business, where the Senior Trust Officer will spend a portion of their time educating and training Cetera advisors on the advantages of working with Cetera Trust, using a directed trust model. 

What You'll Do:

• Develop and strengthen personalized, professional relationships with CTC clients and financial advisors.
• Administer trust accounts according to trust documents and relevant state and federal law, including the management of distributions, annual reviews and general oversight of the trust broadly. 
• Review and facilitate new business development.  Obtain information necessary to analyze factors to establish accounts, request due diligence of assets, and be familiar with the authorized parties to make a recommendation for account acceptance. Participate in new client or financial advisor meetings during the new business process. 
• Onboard new accounts by establishing personal relationships, performing initial account reviews, and proposals.
• Work closely with the CTC new business development team on individual cases and broader product strategies.
• Deliver excellent client experiences in partnership with the client advisor, trust administration, new business, operations, and compliance teams.
• Oversee activities of tax accounting regarding individual and fiduciary tax planning and tax return preparation.
• Participate in the development and launch of new products and platforms such as a Directed Trust option.

What You Need to Have:

• Bachelor’s degree or CTFA designation

• A minimum of 10 years of applicable and relevant experience in trust administration. 

• Demonstrated proficiency serving in a trust officer capacity and deep familiarity with applicable trust administration rules and regulations.

• Demonstrated working knowledge of applicable trust administrative policies and procedures

• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and analytical abilities. 

• Effective problem-solving and decision-making abilities while working independently and as part of a team. 

• Strong communication skills, to effectively educate others on the role of a trustee, and how a Directed Trust model works with external advisors.

• Good working knowledge on being able to identify the positive and negative attributes of a trust and the resultant responsibilities of the trustee. 

• Experienced in the Microsoft Suite of applications: Excel, Word, Outlook, SharePoint, and Access.  

• Knowledge of trust reporting software such as SEI SWP, SAP Business Objects, other trust accounting systems, and trading platforms. 

• Excellent customer service skills to maintain positive client and inter-department relationships. 

• Ability to recognize and troubleshoot problematic trustee/beneficiary relationships, with the ability to address issues proactively

• Serve as a mentor and educator for other trust officers within CTC

Travel Requirements: Up to (5%)