Pod Leader (PAD)

Whiteley, Bath or London Office | Hybrid Working (2-3 days office and the rest from home)

Salary between £75k-95k DOE + excellent benefits

Introduction

The Personal Advice Desk (PAD) is a dedicated team within Saltus Financial Planning, responsible for delivering our Select proposition — a fully operational, remote advice service tailored to clients with investible assets typically under £250,000. These clients are comfortable with a non-face-to-face advice model, which is delivered through telephone and video meetings.

PAD is structured around two core functions: Relationship Management and Advice. Relationship Managers maintain ongoing relationships with Select clients, acting as their primary point of contact and conducting annual reviews. Where advice needs arise from these interactions, they are referred to the Advice team. This team is primarily made up of trainee advisers, and PAD serves as a development platform for them to complete their Stage 1 and Stage 2 Competent Adviser Status (CAS) assessments. Once qualified, advisers may continue within PAD or transition to the Premier team, managing their own client bank as required by business demand.

In the role of Financial Planning Adviser with PAD leadership responsibilities, you are accountable for delivering financial advice, building relationships with prospective clients, and maintaining service standards for a small portfolio of existing clients. Alongside this, you will lead the POD’s advice activities, ensuring that client needs — whether ad hoc, conversion-related, or arising from contracted annual reviews — are consistently met. This includes overseeing the work of advisers and trainee advisers, and supporting their development and performance.

The role also involves mentoring and managing a small group of Financial Planners, Trainee Financial Planners, and the Advice Delivery Manager within the POD. Approximately 75% of your time will be dedicated to leadership and team support, with the remaining 25% focused on managing a reduced book of clients.

Why Saltus?

Our mission is to improve everyone’s relationship with their wealth: to make it a positive force for their future and at the same time to prevent it being a source of anxiety. We want everyone who works at Saltus to be proud to work here, and to find fulfilment and meaning in the work that they do.

We are incredibly proud of our culture and work really hard to ensure that Saltus is a great place to work for our people, where they can have fun and grow in their career, with a passion for excellence and customer service.

We’re proud that we’ve been recognized as a winner by the Sunday Times in the Best Places to Work 2024 awards, as well as a winner in the Professional Adviser awards 2024 for the Best Financial Advisers to Work For. These accolades reflect our commitment to creating an exceptional work environment and our dedication to excellence in the financial industry. Join our award-winning team and be a part of our continued success!

Saltus is a privately owned financial planning and discretionary investment management house. We are dedicated to providing a high-quality service for private clients, trusts, and smaller institutions. Saltus Partners was founded in 2004 and has grown organically and through a small number of carefully integrated acquisitions. Originally the business started out as an investment manager and has now developed the financial planning side of the offering, putting this at the forefront of the client relationship.

Today Saltus manages and advises on over £10 billion of client assets, acquired through a combination of organic business growth and corporate acquisitions.

 What does this role look like?

This is a hybrid role, combining the responsibilities of maintaining a small client bank with the leadership and management of advisers — many of whom are trainees — within the Personal Advice Desk (PAD). As a qualified, and ideally Chartered, Financial Planner, the PAD Pod Leader plays a critical role in guiding trainee advisers through their Stage 1 and Stage 2 sign-off processes to achieve Competent Adviser Status (CAS). The Pod Leader is responsible for supervising and sanctioning advice provided during this transition, while also ensuring consistent advice standards are upheld across the entire advice team.

In addition to delivering financial planning advice to a limited number of clients, the Pod Leader is accountable for managing the adviser team’s workflow and priorities. This includes balancing business-as-usual support from Relationship Managers with the conversion of clients from mergers, acquisitions, and legacy propositions. The role carries Training & Competence (T&C) supervisory and line management responsibilities for both permanent and trainee advisers, encompassing complaint handling, disciplinary oversight, CAS sign-offs, and ensuring adviser files, SPS, and CPD records are maintained to a high standard.

Regular one-to-one meetings, quarterly and annual appraisals (via Lattice), and structured observations or shadowing sessions are essential components of the role. These are conducted in line with adviser risk ratings and the T&C scheme, with feedback documented appropriately. The Pod Leader is expected to lead by example, particularly in the conversion of off-platform and semi-orphaned M&A clients to the Saltus proposition, where suitable. Sales coaching and skills development are also part of the remit, alongside monthly prospect list management for trainees.

Support for trainees includes helping them analyse client information, assess existing investments and policies, and use cash flow modelling tools. The Pod Leader also plays a key role in constructing appropriate solutions and overseeing or making recommendations in collaboration with advisers.

What sort of person are we looking for?

We are seeking an experienced Financial Planner with a minimum of five years’ advisory experience. You should hold, or be working towards, Chartered status (Level 6 Diploma in Financial Advice). Ideally, you will have prior supervisory experience within a regulated T&C environment, or be able to demonstrate strong people management capabilities.

Attention to detail is essential, as is a high level of technical knowledge and the ability to resolve complex planning queries. You will need excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and be confident engaging with stakeholders across all levels of the business. Strong time and diary management skills are important, as is the ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities.

You should be customer-focused but commercially aware, and able to balance the dual demands of managing a small client bank while actively developing and supervising trainee advisers.

Where will I be working?

We are incredibly flexible about where, when, and how you work: we do not want anyone to be prevented from coming to work for Saltus as a result of the working pattern that they are looking for.

Ideally, you would be based out of one of our offices for two to three days each week, working the remainder of the week from home. For this role we shall be recruiting an individual to be based in Whiteley, Bath or London. We are passionate about championing flexible working for our people, so if there is a slightly different working pattern that you are looking for, then please come and have a chat with us about it.

What benefits do I get when working for Saltus?

Salary range of between £75,000 and £95,000 dependent on experience, with a discretionary bonus based on performance of up to 10% each year. Alongside this 28 days’ holiday (plus bank holidays and your birthday), study assistance, life assurance, income protection and a pension, alongside access to our flexible benefits platform. Just as importantly, you will get to experience our culture, which we really do live and breathe, ensuring that Saltus is a fantastic place to work for every single one of our 350+ people. We work hard, but we have an awful lot of fun along the way. If you think you would like to come and join us, then please do get in touch… we would love to hear from you.