Program Associate jobs in United States, Oregon, Portland

Job Description:

The Wealth Management Client Associate – Advisor Development Program (WMCA - ADP) role is an entry role into our Advisor Development Program where the destination role is becoming a full-scale Financial Advisor at Merrill. This progression role is responsible for providing client service support to Financial Advisors (FAs).

As a WMCA - ADP your journey begins by obtaining your Securities Industry licenses, where you will receive dedicated study time for your Securities Industry Essentials [SIE], Series 7, and Series 66 Exams. Your SIE, Series 7 & 66 must be obtained within 120 days; (63 & 65 accepted, in lieu of 66, if previously held). Once you obtain your licenses, you will be taught the foundational skills needed to be a WMCA - ADP.

This job is responsible for providing client service support to multiple FAs. Key responsibilities include supporting enterprise strategic objectives, operational excellence goals, and client advocacy within the FA’s business, while customizing solutions based on their specific needs. Job expectations include serving as the most frequent point of contact within Merrill to address all service needs of their clients and acting as a resource for FAs on the team.

Once you have reached your key milestones, including proficiency in your current role and the completion of experiential activities showcasing your ability to become an advisor, you will then progress into the next stage of the Advisor Development Program, beginning building a book of business as a Financial Advisor trainee. You will complete dedicated training preparing you for this role and once complete you will continue to work in a Merrill office where you will be acquiring, building, and managing client relationships while considering a client’s complex financial picture and guiding them with advice and solutions.

Once you complete your performance requirements as a Financial Advisor trainee you will reach the ultimate destination of becoming a Merrill Financial Advisor. You will be supported along the way with dedicated programs, tools, and resources throughout your career journey.

The Advisor Development Program consists of progressive roles to ultimately become a Merrill Financial Advisor. Our progressive roles in the Advisor Development Program engage in:

• Developing a book of business in order to meet and exceed established performance hurdles
• Effectively prioritizing and sourcing prospective clients, capitalizing on referrals, assessing customer needs, referring customers to the appropriate internal specialists, and executing highly customized solutions to meet client needs
• Recommending investment products and services that are suitable for prospects based on their objectives, resources, time horizon, risk profile and preferences
• Balancing investment growth, referral activities, customer follow up, prospect building, administrative compliance and personal growth and development according to both a day-to-day and longer-term planning
• Organizing and managing resources (time, people, budget) to run a productive practice
• Seeking the expertise of specialists, where appropriate, to identify planning and investment strategies for a client
• Completing mandated training, assessments, performance goals and continuing education requirements

We’ll help you

• Build a successful careerat Bank of America through world-class training and on-boarding programs that set you up for success.
• Get training and one-on-one coachingfromour-award winning Academy at Bank of Americaand local leadership who are invested in your success.
• Grow your business knowledgeby using a defined consultative approach to systematically identify client needs and appropriate solutions.
• Provide end-to-end comprehensive advice, deliver clientreviews/presentationswith confidence and recommend strategies to help achieve their financial goals and life priorities.
• Collaborate with core banking and investment partners.Connect to all the solutions we provide through Bank of America and Merrill to meet virtually all their financial needs.

Required Qualifications:

• Displays confidence working as a self-starter in a sales role
• Builds strong client relationships through effective communication and collaboration
• Displays a proactive mindset and effective time management
• Demonstrates a results-driven growth mindset and prioritizes client interests
• Identifies appropriate client solutions through application of learnings and new information
• Exceptional interpersonal and relationship building skills
• Effective communication skills (written and verbal)
• Proven ability to quickly build trust and credibility
• Proven ability to assess needs of and recommend appropriatesolutions
• Proven ability to work both collaboratively on a team with key partners and independently
• Proven ability to listen and probe for clarity and understanding
• Entrepreneurial mindset with a proven ability to source clients through extensive prospecting and networking
• Strong follow-through skills
• Computer/technical literacy and proficiency in applications such as Microsoft Suite

Desired Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and/or a minimum of one year of work experience
• Learns and adapts to new technology or applications
• Executes multiple tasks simultaneously

Job Responsibilities:

• Partners with Financial Advisors, Client Relationship Managers, and Market Supervision Managers on all aspects of client servicing, risk, investments, and banking products, while receiving appropriate guidance and escalating issues as needed
• Provides excellent Client Service to the bank's clients through educating them on all of the bank's service and banking offerings
• Ensures timeliness, accuracy, and completeness in client materials and follows up on all client and Financial Advisor (FA) requests
• Assists with ensuring practices are in alignment with the bank's policies and procedures to support operational excellence, protect the bank's clients, and manage risk
• Identifies, deepens, and maintains client relationships through emphasizing the bank's offerings and promoting incorporation of banking into day-to-day practices, while communicating outputs to the FA
• Performs general business growth support functions aligned to the role of the Client Associate or Wealth Management Client Associate, providing business development, investment solutions, and/or business management support to multiple FAs

:

• Account Management
• Client Management
• Customer and Client Focus
• Issue Management
• Oral Communications
• Business Development
• Client Solutions Advisory
• Pipeline Management
• Prioritization
• Trade Operations Management
• Administrative Services
• Client Investments Management
• Emotional Intelligence
• Referral Identification
• Written Communications

This position is subject to SAFE Act registration requirements. Pursuant to the SAFE Act requirements, all employees engaged in residential loan mortgage originations must register with the federal registry system and remain in good standing. Since your position requires SAFE Act registration, you will be required to register and to submit to the required SAFE Act background check and registration process. Failure to obtain and/or maintain SAFE Act registration may result in your immediate termination.

What you will accomplish:

• Lead and oversee multiple initiative portfolios across product and technology, ensuring TPMs deliver on execution excellence and business impact.

• Build and lead a high-performing TPM/PMO team, coaching senior ICs and managers, and creating clear growth paths that strengthen the TPM craft across the org

• Drive org-wide planning and execution processes, ensuring strategic alignment and resource investment across priorities.

• Build and lead a high-performing PMO team, fostering a culture of excellence, continuous improvement, and strategic value delivery.

• Establish consistent frameworks for status reporting, risk management, roadmap planning, and execution health.

• Own the operational narrative at the leadership level, synthesizing cross-domain delivery health, risks, and tradeoff recommendations for VPs and the C-suite

• Serve as a trusted advisor to VP+ leaders, helping resolve escalations and ensure cross-functional coordination at scale.

• Advocate for customer impact and business value, holding teams accountable to deliver outcomes—not just output.

• Implement program management methodologies and technical governance structures that lead to orders of magnitude improvements in execution speed and reliability for global-scale initiatives

• Shape and evolve TPM team practices, tooling, and operating models to drive continuous improvement and innovation.

• Represent TPM function in exec forums, surfacing insights, driving decisions, and creating visibility for the team’s impact.

What you will bring:

• 10+ years of TPM experience, with 5+ years in a senior leadership or people management role.

• Proven ability to lead large-scale programs and TPM teams across multiple domains.

• Deep, practical experience in managing complex, multi-faceted project portfolios, including strategic prioritization, resource optimization, and benefit realization

• The ability to define clear paths forward and drive execution in situations of extreme, unprecedented ambiguity and interconnected complexity.

• Strong technical fluency and ability to guide architectural discussions and engineering tradeoffs.

• Excellent communication and executive presence, with experience influencing VP+ stakeholders.

• Deep understanding of financial planning, budgeting, and cost control at the enterprise portfolio level, optimizing ROI

• A builder’s mindset you create durable operational systems, not just short-term fixes. You proactively evolve the operating model as the org grows

• The ability to deeply understand business objectives and translate them into actionable, well-governed technical and business programs

The base pay range for this position is expected in the range below:

As a , you’ll not only get to lead one of these critical programs, but you’ll also help establish standard processes for program management and play a key role in shaping important business strategies and decisions. You will join a fast-paced distributed team of technical program managers acting as the central conduit for all execution and operations of the organization.

What you will accomplish:

• You will own and deliver critical, high-impact programs from strategic inception to successful implementation

• You will partner with product and engineering teams to translate roadmaps into actionable plans, setting shared goals and achievements aligned with business priorities

• Coordinate and lead cross-functional teams, encouraging accountability, clear communication, and efficient prioritization

• Identify and resolve potential program risks, challenges, and dependencies early, ensuring smooth execution

• Design, document, and improve efficient execution processes across geographically distributed teams and partners

• Develop and report on key program performance metrics, providing actionable insights to senior leadership

• Partner with senior collaborators across Finance, HR, Operations, and Technology to ensure alignment and drive program execution

What you will bring:

• 6+ years leading complex, high-impact programs in global organizations, driving significant business transformation

• Proficient in syncing program execution with yearly planning, resource capacity modeling, and financial budgets to unveil product roadmaps

• Success collaborating with multi-disciplinary partners (Product, Engineering, Science, Design, Analytics, Finance) in a product environment

• Outstanding ability to lead opposing priorities without compromising efficiency or visibility

• A strong ownership mentality, ensuring meticulous attention to detail and proactive program execution

• Experience in a tech or eCommerce company

The base pay range for this position is expected in the range below:

As a Senior Technical Program Manager (TPM), you will lead the coordination, execution, and successful delivery of one or more complex end-to-end product and engineering projects. You will be responsible for ensuring that all projects are optimized for readiness, execution, utilization, and velocity while driving seamless collaboration across engineering, product, and cross-functional teams. This role requires a blend of technical expertise, strategic execution, and leadership skills to manage multiple domain partners, influence technical decisions, and guide teams through the full software development lifecycle. The ideal candidate will be adept at breaking down complex projects, managing ambiguity, and fostering collaboration across engineering, product, and leadership teams to drive innovation, quality and efficiency.

What You Will Accomplish

• Drive end-to-end execution of complex technical programs from concept to launch, ensuring alignment with business goals.

• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to design features, prioritize tasks, and maintain roadmaps with clear milestones and dependencies

• Lead technical discussions to facilitate scalable architecture decisions and guide Agile methodologies for optimizing delivery processes

• Monitor program execution, identifying blockers and implementing mitigation strategies to ensure smooth progression

• Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholders, providing program status updates and resolving escalations

• Partner across functions to align execution strategies and drive consensus in decision-making processes

• Drive discussions on technical feasibility and best practices, supporting design discussions and architecture reviews

• Establish governance frameworks to uphold quality, transparency, and accountability throughout program lifecycles

• Implement automation and tooling to enhance program tracking, transparency, and operational oversight

What You Will Bring

• 10+ years of experience working directly with product & engineering teams on software development projects.

• 8+ years of experience in technical program or product management, leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives.

• Experience managing technical roadmaps, defining product requirements, and driving system architecture decisions.

• Experience in crafting epics & user stories, release planning, backlogs, and agile methodologies.

• Proven ability to influence stakeholders, build consensus, and navigate ambiguity.

• Strong understanding of scalability, reliability, and system design trade-offs.

• Excellent problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills.

• Strong knowledge of project tracking tools (Airtable, JIRA, Confluence, etc.).

• Ability to drive continuous process improvements and automation.

The base pay range for this position is expected in the range below: