Intermediary Support Analyst

Salary Range:

Specific compensation will be based on candidate’s experience, skills, qualifications, commercial considerations, and other job-related factors permitted by law. At Russell Investments, salary is just one part of our compensation package. Our total rewards approach includes an annual performance bonus (subject to eligibility criteria) in addition to participation in our competitive benefits programs including healthcare, retirement, vacation, and wellbeing programs.

Job Description:

Every day, we seek to improve financial security for people. Within the Transfer Agent (“TA”), most functions are either completely outsourced or primarily outsourced with Russell Investments team members providing service provider management and process oversight as fundamental requirements for the business. This role will have a split responsibility between two of the teams that provide Intermediary Support for the TA. The Intermediary Support Team ("IS") operates in a business model where service to Russell Investments’ clients is highly dependent on services provided by service providers and partners.  The team coordinates with senior team members to help create, facilitate and maintain effective relationships with the operational back offices of Russell Investments’ platform and distribution partners.  The intermediary governance team has primary responsibility for administering governance processes related to relationship review, contracting, payments and ongoing oversight of financial intermediaries engaged in selling or supporting firms that sell our US mutual funds. This candidate will be responsible for helping provide process management oversight, working with various intermediaries on contracts and fees and providing a variety of analysis and reporting related to these activities to senior internal management as well as to the Funds’ Board.

Your Core Responsibilities:

• Manage and facilitate the drafting, review, approval, and execution of new agreements with internal Russell Investments teams and intermediaries.
• Complete the initial review of all new intermediary contracts and direct review to internal teams (e.g., legal, compliance, operations) as needed.
• Complete onboarding process for new intermediaries once contracts are completed.
• Receive and process intermediary invoices and related payments, ensuring that invoices and payments adhere to contractual terms and that payments are made within established timelines.
• Provide intermediary operational oversight and complete reviews related to intermediary operational processes and intermediary compliance with related contract terms, the Funds’ offering documents, and related regulations.  These responsibilities include ongoing administration of the intermediary oversight program, interaction with intermediary partners related to operational compliance.
• Keep appropriate systems and records complete and accurate - reflecting current relationship and contract status with each intermediary and complete the termination process for intermediary contracts at the end of the relationship lifecycle.

• Support day-to-day operational activities associated with Russell Investments’ existing platforms and distribution partners.  In addition, partner with new platforms and distribution partners to ensure successful integration into the Russell Investments’ trading environment. Maintain complete and accurate records of such interactions and maintain and keep current the team’s information about each partner’s operational environment and contacts.
• Act as liaison between key intermediary partners and Russell Investments internal teams, this often will require leading calls as well as nuanced escalation responsibilities.
• Working with our sub-Transfer Agent SS&C GIDS to problem solve Intermediary transaction issues, as well as monitoring and providing support for the daily work of our service providers and in the best interest of Russell Investments and our Intermediaries.

The successful candidate will have extensive demonstrable skills and experiences including the following:

• 2 + years of experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Business or Finance or related field or equivalent experience
• Experience within the asset management or financial services industry.
• Demonstrated experience with contract management and can understand and appropriately apply principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to contract management, oversight, and payment processes.
• Demonstrated experience, skills, and aptitude for the use of data analysis and query tools with the ability to perform data extracts and detailed and comprehensive analysis on complex data sets.
• Understanding of the intermediary financial operations environment (broker dealer, bank and/or insurance company) supporting sales to retail customers.
• Understanding of process management and related process improvement techniques (e.g., lean, Six Sigma, process mapping).
• Evaluates problems via systems thinking, sees downstream effects, identifies future implications across a process to help prioritize solutions.
• Proven ability to create and follow procedures, document issues, provide a clear audit trail, and reconstruct issues from documentation at a later time.

• Ability to communicate clearly, build trusted relationships with others and ensure both internal and clients’ perspectives are a driving force behind decisions and actions.
• Demonstrated ability to take on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency and enthusiasm.
• Demonstrated ability to be a collaborative team player with the ability to interact well with all levels of internal and external personnel, adapt to rapidly changing requirements and work to achieve desired business outcomes while maintaining compliance with applicable rules, regulations and adherence to a high standard of ethics.
• Preference for FINRA Series 6, 7, and 24 licenses.

This role is not eligible for employment-based immigration sponsorship. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship, now or in the future.

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Russell Investments is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all associates and employment applicants regardless of race, religion, ancestry, creed, color, gender (including gender identity which refers to a person's actual or perceived sex, and includes self-image, appearance, behavior or expression, whether or not different from that traditionally associated with a person's biological sex), age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, military status, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation,  past or present unemployment status , or any other characteristic protected by law.