We are seeking a Nashville based Chief Administration Officer to join our Global Technology & Operations department.

Who You’ll Work With:

The Office of the CAO exists to support the Global Head of GTO and his leadership team in executing on the GTO Goals and Strategy. It has 4 direct reports that manage many of the key job responsibilities listed here. But it is also responsible for a wide ranging set of administrative functions, oversight and approvals. Making it a pivotal to the smooth running of the GTO department.

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) will serve as the operational backbone to the Head of Global Technology and Operations (GTO). This high-impact individual will manage the day-to-day administration, financial governance, risk management, and talent strategies for the global GTO organization. The ideal candidate will orchestrate cross-functional alignment, drive operational efficiencies across key hubs (including AB India), and oversee an ~$80M Market Data Services portfolio.

What You’ll Do:

1. Talent, Culture & Organizational Development

• Talent Strategy & Programs: Design and execute recruitment strategies, comprehensive training initiatives, and talent/succession planning offsites.
• Performance & Promotions: Define promotion criteria, manage the end-to-end performance management cycle, and orchestrate promotion committees and status reporting.
• Culture & Engagement: Monitor organizational health through the continuous execution and analysis of Pulse Surveys.
• Internal Communications: Direct the GTO communication strategy, including Town Hall agendas, messaging, and presentations.

2. Operational Risk, Compliance & Audit

• Controls & Oversight: Lead GTO controls oversight, operational risk frameworks, and compliance tracking.
• Audit & Risk Liaison: Act as the primary Enterprise Audit liaison; manage both Ops and IT audit lifecycles.
• Governance Meetings: Drive preparation and represent GTO in critical risk forums, including:
  • Enterprise Risk Emerging Risk Review
  • Operational Risk Oversight Committee
  • Regulatory Reporting Readiness (e.g. UK FCA Incident Reporting)
  • Change Management Status & RAG Review

3. Financial Planning, Analysis & Workforce Management

• Data & Analytics: Deliver forecasting, actuals, and variance analysis to empower executive decision-making.
• Self-Service Finance: Oversee the development and maintenance of automated Finance Dashboards for department budget owners.
• Headcount Governance: Provide rigorous challenge and scrutiny for the review and approval of all Workday roles.
• Workspace Tools: Optimize the deployment of ActivTrak for activity/billing analysis to ensure workforce productivity.

4. Vendor, Contract & Market Data Services Management

• Market Data Services Portfolio: Manage the end-to-end provision of global Market Data to all Strategic Business Units (SBUs), optimization of an ~$80M spend, and invoice approvals.
• Vendor & Lifecycle Systems: Act as the business owner for the OnIT Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tool and manage market data administration via TRG FITS.
• Contract & Rate Negotiation: Scrutinize, approve, and sign all GTO and T&M contracts; negotiate rate cards with strategic vendors.
• Global Footprint Optimization: Drive vendor optimization strategies, focusing on expanding and scaling AB India operations.

5. Strategy, Governance & Executive Operations

• Strategic Project Oversight: Track, report, and directly manage complex, cross-GTO initiatives using Smartsheet and Power BI Dashboards.
• GTO Strategy: Collaboratively define, track, and execute the overarching GTO strategy and progress via the GTO Scorecard.
• Executive Forum Management: Own the agenda, data preparation, and execution for:
  • GTO Executive Weekly Meetings
  • GTO Leadership (Head of GTO and direct reports) Bi-Weekly Meetings
  • COO & GTO Leadership Update Meetings (Preparing OneNote portfolios for COO)
  • Equitable (Largest Client & Parent company) Subadvisory Quarterly Council Meeting
  • Attend AB COO meeting of all SBU level COOs & CAOs to discuss and disseminate top-of-firm policies and messaging
  • Attend New Product Initiative Committee Meetings (acting as a GTO Voting Member)
  • Attend GTO & People Monthly Connect (with Head of GTO and People Business Partner)

6. India COE Engagement

• Collaboration: Directly interface with India leadership to drive center-of-excellence (COE) capabilities and capacity improvements

What We’re Looking For:

• Experience: 10+ years of progressive leadership within a global financial services or asset management technology/operations ecosystem.
• Financial Acumen: Proven experience managing massive, complex vendor and platform budgets (knowledge of Market Data procurement and TRG FITS is highly preferred).
• Leadership Style: Exceptional diplomatic, communication, and stakes-handling skills; comfortable acting as an extension of the Head of GTO with internal executives (COO, AB Leadership team, Operating Committee members) and external strategic vendors.
• Systems Familiarity: Hands-on experience or executive familiarity with Workday, Smartsheet, Power BI, OnIT CLM and ActivTrak