SVP, Head of Wealth Technology

Spinnaker Search Group has been exclusively retained to lead the search for a Head of Wealth Technology for a private equity-backed national leader in insurance, annuity, retirement, and wealth solutions.

The company supports a large national network of agents, advisors, affiliates, financial firms, and carrier partners. Growth through acquisitions and strategic partnerships has created a complex Wealth technology environment where affiliates may have different systems, roadmaps, vendor relationships, and levels of technology maturity.

This is a high-impact executive role supporting a Wealth business that spans advisory, RIA, broker-dealer, annuity, insurance distribution, institutional, and affiliated partner channels. The opportunity is to create a smarter, more integrated technology model that improves advisor productivity, affiliate onboarding, reporting, controls, and business growth without losing the speed, entrepreneurial energy, and affiliate relationships that helped the company scale.

The company is looking for a leader who understands the wealth technology market, can separate practical solutions from vendor noise, and can help shape the next stage of platform strategy for the Wealth business. This person will report to the enterprise CIO and work closely with Wealth leadership, enterprise technology teams, and affiliate executives.

This is a direct-hire executive role with a flexible U.S. location. Tampa Bay area is ideal, but it can be remote, and East Coast / Central Time Zone alignment would be helpful, but the company is prioritizing the right person over a specific location. Travel should be expected, especially early in the role while building relationships with key affiliates and business leaders, averaging approximately 25%.

The Role You’ll Play

The Head of Technology for the Wealth division will own the technology strategy and execution for the company’s Wealth business. This includes platform direction, delivery priorities, vendor strategy, acquisition integration support, data and reporting outcomes, and technology alignment with enterprise architecture, security, compliance, and governance standards.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own and execute the Wealth technology roadmap in partnership with the CIO and Wealth leadership.

• Translate Wealth business priorities into practical platform, vendor, integration, data, and delivery plans.

• Evaluate the current Wealth technology landscape and determine where to consolidate, extend, replace, buy, build, or partner.

• Lead strategy and execution across core Wealth systems, including CRM, advisory platforms, contracting, commissions, advisor workflow, middle-office systems, reporting, and related business platforms.

• Build trusted relationships with affiliate and business leaders, positioning technology as an enabler of growth, productivity, and better decision-making.

• Support M&A technology diligence, integration planning, and affiliate onboarding across the Wealth business.

• Drive adoption of enterprise and Wealth technology standards while managing legitimate affiliate-specific needs and exceptions.

• Identify practical opportunities for AI, automation, and workflow improvement within advisor and Wealth operations.

• Partner with data leadership to improve Wealth data quality, KPI visibility, dashboards, and reporting.

• Ensure Wealth systems support SEC, FINRA, fiduciary, audit, control, and SOX-grade expectations.

• Provide executive-level visibility into roadmap progress, risks, priorities, tradeoffs, and delivery commitments.

• Lead through a lean technology model that uses enterprise shared services, vendor leverage, and selective development resources where appropriate.

   

Background Profile:

The ideal candidate is a senior technology leader with deep exposure to wealth management, advisor platforms, RIA, broker-dealer, annuity, insurance distribution, or adjacent financial services technology environments.

The strongest candidate will bring a rare combination of wealth technology market fluency, vendor and platform judgment, and experience operating in a fast-moving, private equity-backed, acquisition-oriented business. This person should understand the advisor and affiliate ecosystem well enough to help determine which technologies will improve productivity, integration, reporting, compliance, and growth, while knowing when to standardize, when to preserve flexibility, and when to move quickly with a practical solution.

• 10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience in wealth management, RIA, broker-dealer, insurance / annuity distribution, fintech, or another highly regulated financial services environment.

• Strong understanding of advisor workflows, CRM, reporting, integrations, vendor ecosystems, and middle / back-office business processes.

• Proven ability to translate business strategy into executable technology roadmaps, delivery priorities, and platform decisions.

• Experience evaluating vendor platforms and making practical build, buy, partner, or extend recommendations.

• Track record owning technology outcomes across platforms, vendors, delivery priorities, adoption, reporting, and business impact.

• Experience operating in regulated financial services environments with working knowledge of SEC, FINRA, fiduciary, audit, control, and SOX-grade expectations.

• Ability to work across decentralized or federated business units, affiliates, stakeholders, and acquired entities.

• Experience in fast-growing, acquisition-oriented, or private equity-backed environments where technology must support integration, standardization, and local business needs.

• Strong vendor management, budgeting, program delivery, and roadmap prioritization experience.

• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to influence non-technical business leaders.

• Comfort making complex decisions with incomplete information in a fast-moving environment.

Preferred experience:

• Direct experience with advisor-facing platforms, broker-dealer / RIA technology, or wealth management operating workflows, including advisory platforms, commissions, contracting, reporting, compliance, integrations, or middle / back-office operations.

• Experience embedding AI, automation, workflow tools, or data-driven decision support into business operations.

• Experience working with outsourced delivery partners, systems integrators, offshore teams, or vendor-heavy delivery models.