POSITION PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
This role sits within the APAC Distribution Business Management function and supports the effective day-to-day running, governance, and execution of key priorities across the APAC Distribution business.
The Business Manager will act as a central coordinator across Sales, Marketing, and partner functions, working with the Regional Head of Distribution and General Manager to manage change initiatives, solve operational challenges, and deliver solutions to improve sales effectiveness, commercial outcomes and sustain business growth.
The role would suit an experienced professional who combines strong business management capabilities and a hands-on mindset, the successful candidate will work closely with regional leadership to drive strategic initiatives, improve operational effectiveness and support the continued growth of the APAC business.
The successful candidate will be a self-starter who can operate independently, have excellent communication skills, strong analytical capabilities, and a deep understanding of the asset management industry. The ability to synthesize complex information into simplified and concise messages will be a differentiator.
Principal Responsibilities
Business Strategy and Management Support
- Partner with the General Manager, APAC Distribution, to define, communicate and execute regional objectives
- Translate strategy into detailed execution plans and measurable outcomes
- Advise senior leaders on solutions to address business challenges and drive execution of agreed initiatives
- Prepare high-quality business analysis, presentations and insights to inform decision making by leadership
- Support planning activities, including budgeting, resource planning and tracking of key performance indicators
Sales Governance, Process & Operational Effectiveness
- Lead assurance reviews and escalation activities ensuring RMs provide timely responses to key clients
- Act as a central escalation and coordination point for front line sales and specialist functions
- Support global and regional governance, business forums and change initiatives
- Represent the distribution business in engagements with or enquiries by Audit, Risk, Legal and Compliance
- Develop, document, and work to improve internal governance processes and policies in partnership with key stakeholders.
Strategic Initiatives & Change Management
- Proactively identify opportunities to streamline existing processes and improve key business capabilities
- Develop business cases and financial models to support strategic decision making
- Lead initiatives through new business approval processes partnering with key stakeholders and control functions
- Drive end to end project delivery, removing barriers and holding stakeholders accountable to timely delivery.
- Represent APAC distribution / client needs in regional and global distribution transformation initiatives
AI & Innovation
- Champion the adoption of Ai-enabled tools and innovative working practices across the business
- Design and deploy AI-driven solutions (e.g. custom GPTs) to automate workflows and enhance productivity
- Assess usefulness of emerging technologies and coordinate technical inquiries with relevant stakeholders
- Identify opportunities to automate workflows, enhance efficiency, and enhance scalability and sales effectiveness
Internal Comms & Associate Training
- Lead on internal communications, including year-end notes, town halls, leader updates and all-hands forums
- Work with associate training to design and deploy high impact training programs to strengthen associate knowledge across products, compliance policies and operational processes
- Partner with sales, strategic partnerships and investments to support the delivery of client education programs
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES / SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS
- University degree or higher in Business, Economics, Finance or similar
- Prior asset management experience (8 years+), including 3-5 years within a sales related function with knowledge of AM products and vehicles
- Strong communication skills – verbal and written, ability to lead and facilitate group discussions and debate.
- Self-starter able to work with minimal supervision, someone results driven with excellent attention to detail and high levels of personal and professional integrity
- Strong analytical and strategic acumen, ability to use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to make assessments, interpret key business drivers and justify a future course of action
- Experience in leading projects through the life cycle, including but not limited to setting the scope, identifying appropriate SMEs, initiating the project, executing, and tracking outcomes.
- Strong relationship management skills, be able to build, maintain and influence relationships across a matrixed organization
- A team player with the ability to pivot between high level strategy planning and daily execution of ad hoc requests
- Proficient in Microsoft products, Salesforce and Tableau; Skilled at Prompt Engineering and creating solutions utilizing ChatGPT, and Copilot agents.
Preferred
- Previous exposure to APAC and US working cultures, including working across multiple time zones.
- Fluency in spoken and written English with a second language such as Mandarin or Japanese.
- Professional qualifications such as CFA, Prince II or PMP.
- Well-developed Emotional Intelligence.
- Proven ability to lead and drive change projects that cross functions, markets, cultures, and time zones.
