Vice President, Recruiting
lincoln investmentNew York (NY)
About the role
Lincoln Investment is a leading independent broker dealer and registered investment advisor serving over 310,000 clients and managing more than $60 billion in assets. Basic Function
The Vice President, Advisor Growth Strategy is responsible for designing, leading, and executing the firm’s advisor growth strategy. This executive leader oversees all aspects of advisor acquisition, including third‑party recruiter relationships, internal recruiting resources, advisor referral programs, regional vice president recruiting partnerships, and recruiting analytics. In addition, the leader partners across the organization to ensure Lincoln delivers an exceptional advisor onboarding and transition experience that supports recruiting success, advisor satisfaction, and long‑term growth. Candidate must create scalable processes and strategies that enhance advisor acquisition, improve conversion rates, accelerate advisor productivity, and strengthen Lincoln’s position as a destination firm for both wealth management and retirement‑focused advisors.
Key Responsibilities
Advisor Growth & Recruiting Strategy:
Develop and execute a comprehensive advisor growth strategy aligned with enterprise objectives.
Establish annual recruiting goals for advisor headcount, transferable revenue, advisory assets, and strategic market opportunities.
Create and manage a disciplined advisor acquisition process from prospect identification through appointment and successful integration.
Develop recruiting initiatives targeting experienced independent advisors, breakaway advisors, employee advisors, and strategic branch opportunities.
Build advisor acquisition strategies across both wealth management and public education markets.
Identify new channels and opportunities to drive sustainable advisor growth.
Third‑Party Recruiter Management:
Lead all relationships with external recruiting firms and strategic recruiting partners.
Establish recruiter segmentation, performance expectations, and accountability measures.
Evaluate recruiter productivity, conversion rates, and quality of candidates.
Negotiate recruiting agreements and compensation structures.
Ensure recruiting partners are aligned with Lincoln’s growth objectives and candidate standards.
Internal Recruiting Leadership:
Lead and develop internal recruiting personnel.
Establish activity expectations, pipeline management standards, and performance metrics.
Implement best practices for sourcing, qualification, candidate engagement, and conversion.
Develop scalable recruiting processes that improve efficiency and effectiveness.
Regional Vice President Recruiting Partnership:
Create a recruiting operating model that defines the partnership between RVPs and recruiting resources.
Establish accountability and collaboration standards across the field leadership organization.
Provide recruiting coaching, tools, and support to Regional Vice Presidents.
Facilitate pipeline reviews and recruiting strategy discussions with field leadership.
Ensure recruiting efforts remain aligned with territory growth objectives.
Advisor Referral Program Development:
Design and manage advisor referral initiatives.
Increase advisor participation in recruiting efforts.
Develop recognition and incentive programs that encourage advisor introductions and referrals.
Measure referral effectiveness and advisor engagement.
Establish advisor referrals as a meaningful source of future growth.
Advisor Onboarding & Growth Experience:
Partner with internal stakeholders to evaluate and enhance the advisor onboarding and transition experience.
Help create a differentiated advisor journey that supports recruiting success and advisor satisfaction.
Identify opportunities to improve communication, coordination, and transparency throughout the transition process.
Collaborate with the Onboarding & Transitions team to streamline advisor engagement from signed agreement through successful integration into the firm.
Support initiatives that improve advisor readiness, early productivity, and long‑term success.
Assist in establishing meaningful service standards and advisor feedback mechanisms.
Leverage advisor feedback and industry best practices to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
Work across business units to ensure a consistent and high‑quality experience for newly affiliated advisors.
Recruiting Analytics & Business Intelligence:
Develop executive recruiting dashboards and scorecards.
Track recruiting activity, conversion ratios, appointment rates, asset transfer rates, and advisor retention.
Analyze recruiting trends and provide recommendations to improve growth outcomes.
Utilize data to improve recruiting efficiency, resource allocation, and decision‑making.
Provide regular reporting and strategic insights to executive leadership.
Cross‑Functional Leadership:
- Partner closely with leaders across the organization to ensure advisor growth initiatives align with enterprise objectives and strategic priorities.
- Business Development
- OperationsComplianceLegalMarketingAdvisor Experience
- Retirement DivisionIM&RFinanceExecutive Leadership
- Success Metrics
- Performance Metrics
- Advisor GrowthNet advisor growth
- Experienced advisor appointments
- Verified trailing‑12 revenue recruited
- Verified advisory assets recruited
- Recruiting Effectiveness
- Prospect‑to‑meeting conversion
- Meeting‑to‑offer conversion
- Offer‑to‑appointment conversion
- Appointment‑to‑funded advisor conversion
- Advisor Experience
- Advisor onboarding satisfaction
Time‑to‑appointment
Time‑to‑first asset transfer
Time‑to‑productivity
Advisor engagement and retention outcomes
Leadership & Partnership
Third‑party recruiter productivity
Internal recruiter productivityRVP recruiting engagement
Advisor referral participation
Cross‑functional collaboration and execution
Qualifications:
Required 10+ years of experience in financial services recruiting, advisor acquisition, business development, field leadership, or related growth‑oriented roles.
Proven success recruiting experienced financial advisors, advisory practices, or branches.
Experience within an independent broker‑dealer, RIA, wealth management, retirement services, or related financial services organization.
Demonstrated ability to build and scale growth initiatives and recruiting programs.
Experience leading teams and managing external recruiting partners.
Strong analytical, operational, and strategic planning capabilities.
Exceptional communication, relationship management, and leadership skills.
Preferred:
- Experience supporting advisor transitions and onboarding initiatives.
- Experience within an independent broker‑dealer environment.
- Familiarity with advisory platforms, retirement services, public education markets, and advisor practice management.
- Experience implementing recruiting technology, CRM systems, and pipeline management tools.
- Leadership Characteristics
- Growth‑oriented and results‑driven
- Strategic while remaining highly execution focused
- Skilled at building scalable processes and systems
- Collaborative and effective in cross‑functional environments
- Able to influence without direct authority
- Passionate about advisor experience and advisor success
- Data‑driven in decision making
- Comfortable operating in an entrepreneurial and growth‑focused organization
- Why This Role Matters
Lincoln’s future growth depends on its ability to consistently attract, onboard, and retain high‑quality advisors. The Vice President, Advisor Growth Strategy will help shape the firm’s growth engine by strengthening advisor acquisition capabilities, enhancing advisor experiences, and creating scalable processes that support long‑term success. Primary Mandate
Build a sustainable and repeatable advisor growth strategy that enables Lincoln to attract exceptional advisors, deliver an outstanding affiliation experience, and drive consistent organic growth across the enterprise. Lincoln Investment is an equal‑opportunity employer. Lincoln Investment prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. Lincoln Investment conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations.
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