Senior Associate Financial Planner
Kirkland, WA - USA
Job Summary
Some planners produce an answer. Others keep working until they know it is the right one.
This role is for the second kind of person.
You treat the softwares answer as the beginning of the work. You test the assumptions underneath it look for what the analysis may have missed and consider how a recommendation will affect the rest of a clients financial life.
You enjoy complexity but you do not make things unnecessarily complicated. You can turn tax returns estate documents equity compensation investment portfolios and competing priorities into advice a client can understand and act on.
If you have developed a strong technical foundation and want to become an exceptional financial planner our firm offers an unusual opportunity to do consequential work alongside experienced owner-advisors.
About our firm
We are an independent owner-led wealth management firm serving more than 100 client families and advising on more than $400 million. We work primarily with technology executives founders and business owners and families managing multigenerational wealth.
Our clients often face decisions involving concentrated stock executive compensation a business or career transition significant tax exposure and the coordination of a complex financial life. These decisions rarely fit neatly inside one planning discipline. Good advice requires us to understand how the pieces affect one another and what the client is ultimately trying to make possible.
We have deliberately built a small practice. Our target is for each senior advisor to serve no more than 50 client families so our advice can remain personal responsive and deeply considered. We use technology to improve our judgment and follow-through while preserving a distinctly human client experience.
What we stand for
Our values describe how we treat clients how we work together and what we expect from ourselves.
Positive. Inspired by Jon Gordons The Energy Bus we take responsibility for the energy we bring. We contribute constructive energy and make room for candor without allowing cynicism to shape the work or the team.
Accountable. We own the outcome. We keep our commitments acknowledge mistakes quickly repair them thoughtfully and forgive one another freely.
United. We work as one firm. Clients experience our team not a collection of individual inboxes or departments. We share information and help the team succeed.
Margin. We build success that can last. We protect the capacity required for excellent work and meaningful lives outside of work. Margin supports judgment creativity and consistent service.
Unreasonable Hospitality. Inspired by Will Guidaras Unreasonable Hospitality we make people feel known and exceptionally cared for. We notice details anticipate needs and look beyond the immediate request for ways to make a clients experience easier more personal or more reassuring.
Continuous Improvement. We leave the work better than we found it. We examine how we work invite useful feedback and improve the systems that support our clients and one another.
The purpose of the role
The Senior Associate Financial Planner exists to strengthen the quality of our advice and make sure good recommendations become completed actions.
You will research and model complex planning decisions prepare advice for client meetings and coordinate the follow-through that turns a recommendation into a result. You will work across tax investments estate planning insurance retirement and executive compensation. This role carries no business-development requirement. Your contribution comes through the quality of your thinking the reliability of your execution and the confidence clients and teammates place in your work.
Your areas of ownership
Financial planning analysis. Build and maintain net worth statements cash-flow projections retirement scenarios tax estimates and other decision models. Test the assumptions behind the analysis and explain the consequences of different choices.
Tax and executive compensation. Research planning questions involving RSUs stock options concentrated positions charitable giving liquidity events and multiyear tax strategy. Review tax returns and equity-compensation materials to identify questions risks and opportunities for the advisory team.
Investment planning and trading. Review portfolios and help develop recommendations aligned with each clients financial plan target allocation tax circumstances liquidity needs and tolerance for concentration. Prepare investment proposals that make both the recommendation and its rationale clear.
Client meetings and communication. Help shape agendas around the decisions that matter. Prepare accurate decision-ready analyses and presentations. Contribute a well-supported point of view and help translate complexity into language the client can use.
Implementation and follow-through. Document decisions assign and track next steps and coordinate with advisors teammates and outside professionals. Acknowledge client requests the same day and help provide a substantive response within one business day. Close the loop so clients never have to wonder what happens next.
Planning systems and improvement. Maintain complete client information and workflows in the firms systems. Identify recurring friction propose a better approach and help improve the tools templates and processes we use to deliver advice consistently.
What success looks like
Your north star is trusted judgment. Clients and advisors should know that your work is accurate thoughtful and complete.
- Your analysis supports a decision rather than merely presenting information.
- You identify missing information questionable assumptions and second-order effects before they create problems.
- Meeting materials arrive complete accurate and ready when promised.
- Clients receive prompt communication and dependable follow-through.
- You contribute ideas and a point of view while recognizing when a decision requires additional expertise.
- You steadily take ownership of more complex planning work from the initial question through implementation.
What this role offers
Consequential work. You will work on decisions that materially affect clients lives families businesses and futures. The complexity is real and so is the effect of getting the advice right.
Close professional development. You will work directly with two experienced owner-advisors and a capable service team. Client advice and recommendations are reviewed by an owner-advisor before they are presented or implemented. You will see how complex decisions are framed challenged communicated and carried through.
Experienced client service support. You will be supported by an experienced Senior Client Service Associate who helps manage account administration client service requests and follow-through. That support allows you to spend more of your time on planning analysis and client advice.
Depth without a sales quota. This is a financial planning and client advice role. You will not be expected to prospect or develop new business.
Visible contribution. We are a small team. Strong work does not disappear inside a large organization. Your thinking will improve client outcomes and influence how the firm operates.
Room to grow toward your strengths. We want each team member to spend more time doing work they perform exceptionally well and find energizing. As you demonstrate judgment and ownership the scope of the role can grow with you.
How you work
Our operating philosophy is influenced by Strategic Coach. We value clear outcomes self-managing team members entrepreneurial thinking and work that increasingly draws on each persons strengths.
Self-managing. You organize your work manage competing commitments and communicate early when priorities conflict. You do not need someone else to chase you for an update.
Entrepreneurial. You notice opportunities and take initiative. When you find a problem you bring useful context and a proposed next step rather than simply passing the problem along.
Outcome oriented. You begin by clarifying what a good result should look like. You use process to produce the result not as a substitute for it.
Intellectually curious. You keep going when an answer feels incomplete. You enjoy learning asking better questions and understanding how one decision changes another.
Clear and candid. You communicate directly and respectfully. You make complex issues understandable surface concerns early and know when to ask for help.
Exacting and warm. You care about accuracy and about the person receiving the advice. You can maintain a high standard without making clients or teammates feel diminished.
Collaborative. You work as part of one firm. You share context involve the right people and willingly help beyond the narrow boundaries of a job description when the situation calls for it.
The person who will thrive here
You have already become a capable planner and want an environment that will deepen your judgment. You enjoy the detailed work required to understand a clients financial life but you do not confuse analysis with progress. Recommendations must become decisions and decisions must become completed actions. You want responsibility candid feedback and the opportunity to do some of the best work of your career.
Qualifications
- At least seven years of experience serving wealth management clients with substantial responsibility for financial planning analysis and client advice.
- A bachelors degree preferably in finance accounting economics business or a related discipline.
- A strong working command of retirement planning investments asset allocation insurance estate planning income taxation and executive compensation.
- Experience presenting financial planning material and responding to client questions with clarity and sound judgment.
- Exceptional written communication analytical reasoning and attention to detail.
- The ability to manage multiple priorities while keeping commitments and maintaining open communication with the team.
- Discretion in handling confidential client information.
- Series 65 preferred. Otherwise you must be able to obtain it within 90 days of joining the firm.
- CFP certification strongly preferred. Candidates who have made substantial progress toward certification will also be considered.
Technology experience
Experience with our specific systems is helpful but the ability to learn and use technology thoughtfully matters more. Our core tools include eMoney Wealthbox Addepar Pershing Missive and Microsoft 365. Experience with comparable planning reporting CRM workflow investment analytics and custodial platforms is relevant as is experience using agentic AI tools thoughtfully and effectively.
Position specifics
Experience. Seven or more years.
Role focus. Financial planning analysis and client advice.
Business development. Not required.
Hybrid schedule. One remote day per week initially with the opportunity for additional hybrid flexibility over time.
Required Experience:
Senior IC