Lead planning & client service for a $750M firm. $100K+ base, no sales quota, no prospecting.

Most associate roles bury you in grunt work and keep you in the shadows.

This one makes you the engine behind financial planning and client service for a firm overseeing $750M+ in assets.

We’re Denton Financial Group, a fast-growing wealth planning firm in Knoxville serving mass-affluent retirees. We're tired of plans that stop at Monte Carlo probabilities and 4% rule advice instead of giving clients clear actions, and we need a Wealth Planning Associate who loves the planning craft as much as we do.

This role is the AUM & planning counterpart to our existing annuity operations lead. If you want to lead real financial planning work and client service relationships without being responsible for a sales pipeline, keep reading.

The Opportunity

Your mission: own our financial planning and wealth management operations.

You'll split your time between producing best-in-class financial plans and running day-to-day wealth management operations. As you master the role, planning will likely become the larger share.

You'll report directly to our lead advisor and train alongside our annuity operations lead, who's built the playbook you'll mirror on the AUM side. This is an in-person role for at least the first 3-6 months due to training intensity and compliance oversight; hybrid flexibility is earned after you're independently productive.

In the first 12-18 months, success looks like:

Cutting our lead advisor's plan build time by 50%+
Producing complete, accurate plans with minimal revision needed
Running day-to-day wealth management operations independently
Becoming the first point of contact for client service questions

What You'll Own Day-to-Day

1. Wealth Management Operations & Client Service

Handle account opening, transfers, and pending applications
Field client service calls: distributions, statements, account questions, etc.
Handle day-to-day account maintenance, including money movement, rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting, etc.
Maintain clean records in CRM and compliance systems

2. Financial Plan Production

Build complete financial plans from discovery data using RightCapital and other tools, which you’ll combine into a proprietary Retirement Blueprint deliverable
Document and refine workflows as you master them so the process can be scaled and delegated over time
Prep lead advisors on plan details and specific recommendations
Join plan delivery meetings as the technical expert to explain recommendations

About You

Licensing: Series 7 and 66, or ability to obtain within 90 days
Credentials: CFP® preferred; CFP/ChFC in-progress with <18 months to completion considered
Experience: 3-5 years in paraplanning, associate advisor, or wealth management ops
Technical: Experience with financial planning software (we use RightCapital – easy to learn if you've worked with similar tools)
Knowledge: Retirement income planning, tax-aware withdrawals, Social Security, portfolio construction

You'll thrive here if you:

Like being the expert behind the scenes more than chasing a sales quota
Are comfortable talking to clients – answering questions and explaining strategies, even if you're not closing deals
Document processes, improve them, and don't need to be chased for follow-through
Want zero cold-calling, seminar travel, or sales quotas, and prefer to win by doing exceptional planning and service

Red Flags: You ultimately want a sales-dominant role, dislike software, or resist compliance and documentation.

Compensation & Path

Base salary: $100,000 - $115,000 depending on experience
Production bonus: 50% of first year revenue on clients you source yourself. This is not a prospecting role, but if you naturally attract a few households per year through your own relationships, that can add ~$30-$50K+ on top of base. Over time, a small personal referral stream plus excellent performance can put total comp in the $175K - $200K range.
Full Benefits Package
Growth: You'll own this function and build it out as we scale, potentially adding support staff under you as volume increases

How to Apply

Send to dcates@financialguide.com

1. Resume

2. Brief note: a time you built or improved a planning or servicing process

3. (Optional) A de-identified sample plan or deliverable you're proud of

We're looking for someone who wants to own this function, not just "do a job." If that's you, we'd like to talk.

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