Vice President – Cross Border/International Strategy

Job Description Summary

Under general direction, with a high level of autonomy, the Vice President, International/Cross Border Institutional Business Strategy leads strategy, program delivery, governance, and cross-functional coordination for the Institutional international businesses. The role translates business and client needs into prioritized initiatives, practical operating models, clear standards, and executable solutions aligned with the firm’s cross-border framework. As a people leader, this person will be responsible for leading, coaching, and developing a team.

Working closely with the Cross Border Jurisdictional team, the Vice President serves as a central connector between the Institutional businesses and their control and operating partners, aligning stakeholders around shared priorities, clear ownership, and consistent standards to deliver coordinated, sustainable outcomes for the firm and its clients.

The role also assesses existing business models, client relationships, and capabilities to identify opportunities to grow market share, applying disciplined decision-making to weigh client demand, commercial potential, regulatory accessibility, operating readiness, investment requirements, and risk.

Job Description

Global Client Capabilities & Strategy:

• Partner with Institutional business leaders and the Cross Border Jurisdictional team to understand client needs and how international products, research, execution, onboarding, account servicing, and affiliate capabilities are delivered.
• Maintain a clear view of available capabilities and permissible activities by business line, legal entity, jurisdiction, client type, product, and servicing model.
• Identify capability gaps, operational friction, and unclear ownership that may impair client service or limit the firm’s ability to deepen relationships.
• Coordinate with Institutional business and operating leaders to align each business’s strategic priorities, target markets, and competitive position with recommendations on international strategy that balance strategic value, commercial potential, and risk.

Strategy Execution & Operating Models:

• Incorporate jurisdictional, licensing, legal-entity, tax, booking, supervisory, and market-access considerations into the design and sequencing of strategic initiatives.
• Align business and operating stakeholders on cross-business dependencies, accountability, resource needs, and decisions with enterprise implications.
• Evaluate priority markets using client demand, revenue potential, competitive position, regulatory accessibility, operating complexity, investment needs, and expected return.
• Identify opportunities to deepen penetration and grow market share where the firm has relevant clients, capabilities, relationships, or infrastructure.
• Partner with the Cross Border Jurisdictional team to assess how licensing, registration, market-access, and permissible-activity requirements influence strategic alternatives, and incorporate them into each market evaluation.

Cross-Border Gatekeeping:

• Own the governance framework for evaluating Institutional activities that require Cross Border or international-business review, including intake standards, review pathways, decision rights, and escalation thresholds.
• Develop, maintain, and periodically refresh desktop procedures that translate approved requirements into clear and consistent review practices.
• Assess proposed activities against the applicable line-of-business standards, jurisdictional requirements, and the firm’s established risk appetite.
• Coordinate review by the Cross Border Jurisdictional team and relevant Legal, Compliance, Risk, Tax, Operations, and other subject-matter experts.
• Provide strategic guidance on material, novel, or time-sensitive matters, including exceptions requiring leadership review.
• Use recurring themes, policy interpretations, and review outcomes to strengthen procedures, business guidance, training, and control design.

Governance & Insights:

• Design, establish, and lead working groups that bring together business, operating, jurisdictional, and control stakeholders, and shape agendas across international priorities, emerging issues, operational matters, existing and proposed business activity, regulatory-change implementation, capability development, risk themes, and cross-business dependencies.

• Lead the administration and strategic direction of the International Business Committee, including agenda development, decision materials, meeting coordination, action tracking, and escalation of matters requiring leadership attention.

• Establish a consistent international data and reporting framework across Institutional lines of business while accommodating differences in business models, source systems, available data, and reporting needs.

• Produce executive-level reporting and analysis on international activity, strategic initiatives, regulatory developments, operating issues, risks, dependencies, and decisions required.

• Use governance discussions and management information to identify enterprise themes, inform priorities, clarify accountability, and drive follow-through across business and control partners.

• Oversee remediation and regulatory-change programs with defined actions, owners, target dates, evidence requirements, dependencies, and escalation paths.

International Travel Oversight:

• Oversee the international business-travel framework for Institutional associates, including intake, review, approval tracking, guidance, exceptions, and follow-up.
• Partner with business leadership, the Cross Border Jurisdictional team, Compliance, Legal, Corporate Security, Cyber Security, Tax, and other stakeholders on elevated-risk or unusual travel, and coordinate escalation of exceptions with recommendations that balance business need with regulatory, security, tax, data, and reputational considerations.
• Maintain guidance on permissible in-country activities, business versus non-business travel, device and data-security expectations, and required approvals.
• Analyze travel patterns for potential licensing, registration, tax, permanent-establishment, security, technology, or business-model implications.

Risk Alignment:

• Determine with appropriate stakeholders whether an activity may be supported through existing permissions or affiliated capabilities or requires additional review, registration, exemption, or entity involvement.
• Ensure material risks and unresolved questions are elevated to the appropriate governance body without assuming responsibilities owned by Legal, Compliance, Tax, or independent risk functions.
• Monitor relevant developments and coordinate updates to affected strategies, operating models, standards, controls, communications, and training.

Education

Bachelor’s - Completed: Accounting, Bachelor’s - Completed: Business Administration, Bachelor’s - Completed: Finance

Work Experience

General Experience - More than 15 years, Manager Experience - 10 to 15 years

Certifications

Travel

Less than 25%

Workstyle

Hybrid

The total compensation for this position includes base salary or wages, and may include components such as additional compensation (cash or equity), discretionary bonuses, or commissions. This position is eligible for a benefits package that may include medical, dental, and vision; life insurance; critical illness insurance and accident insurance; disability benefits; retirement savings; paid time off (including vacation, holidays, and sick leave); and parental leave.  Eligibility for benefits and specific offerings may vary based on position and employment status. To view more details of the benefits offered, visit Myrjbenefits.com.

At Raymond James our associates use five guiding behaviors (Develop, Collaborate, Decide, Deliver, Improve) to deliver on the firm's core values of client-first, integrity, independence and a conservative, long-term view. 

We expect our associates at all levels to:
•  Grow professionally and inspire others to do the same
•  Work with and through others to achieve desired outcomes
•  Make prompt, pragmatic choices and act with the client in mind
•  Take ownership and hold themselves and others accountable for delivering results that matter
•  Contribute to the continuous evolution of the firm

At Raymond James – as part of our people-first culture, we honor, value, and respect the uniqueness, experiences, and backgrounds of all of our Associates.  When associates bring their best authentic selves, our organization, clients, and communities thrive. The Company is an equal opportunity employer and makes all employment decisions on the basis of merit and business needs. 

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