Head of Advice Guidance

Successionwealth; Canterbury; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - GBP 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading independent financial planning firm in the UK is looking for a Head of Advice Guidance to enhance their advice frameworks and drive the future of financial advice. This senior role requires significant experience in advice guidance with a firm understanding of FCA regulations. You will be responsible for strategic leadership, stakeholder engagement, and team development to ensure exceptional client outcomes. The position offers a competitive salary and an extensive benefits package.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Generous pension scheme

Agile working arrangements

Enhanced maternity and paternity pay

Health benefits including digital GP and mental health sessions

Company events

Sponsorship for professional exams

Qualifications

• 5+ years in advice guidance or regulatory risk environments.
• Understanding of FCA regulations and digital advice landscape.
• Experience leading teams and driving change.

Responsibilities

• Lead evolution of advice frameworks and innovation.
• Embed digital and AI-based advice processes.
• Build relationships across Succession and the Aviva Group.

Skills

Stakeholder engagement

Strategic mindset

Strong communication

Team leadership

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning

Level 6 or Chartered desirable

Job description

Head of Advice Guidance

Field-based aligned to your nearest Succession office location

Highly Competitive Salary + Benefits

Succession Wealth, part of the Aviva Group, is one of the UK’s leading independent financial planning and wealth management businesses. With more than 900 colleagues and 200 Wealth Planners nationwide, we are committed to delivering outstanding client outcomes through high‑quality, ethical and future‑ready financial advice.

We are now seeking an experienced and forward‑thinking Head of Advice Guidance to lead the evolution of our advice frameworks, champion innovation, and shape the future of how advice is delivered across our organisation.

Why this role matters

This senior role sits at the heart of our Proposition function. As our internal Subject Matter Expert, you will lead the strategic development, delivery, and continuous improvement of advice guidance across Succession. You will guide a team of specialists, strengthen regulatory excellence, and play a critical part in helping us adapt to the rapidly evolving digital and AI‑enhanced advice landscape.

This is a senior role with significant responsibility, where you will play a key part in shaping advice standards and ensuring exceptional outcomes for our clients.

The Role

Strategic Advice Leadership

• Own and deliver a comprehensive advice guidance strategy aligned to business priorities and target customer segments.
• Translate complex regulatory change into clear, actionable guidance and scalable advice processes.
• Lead on embedding automated, digital and AI‑based advice delivery methods, ensuring standards remain compliant and client‑centric.

Regulatory Excellence

• Maintain and evolve advice frameworks, policies and procedures to meet FCA and industry requirements, including Consumer Duty.
• Partner closely with Compliance and Risk to ensure strong governance and timely implementation of regulatory change.

Stakeholder Engagement & Influence

• Build powerful relationships across Succession, the wider Aviva Group, regulators and industry bodies.
• Represent Succession at industry forums to share expertise, gain insight and strengthen our presence in the market.
• Collaborate with Proposition, Marketing, Advice, Paraplanning, and client delivery teams to ensure consistent high‑quality advice experiences.

Leadership of a Specialist Team

• Lead, develop and inspire a high‑performing team of SMEs.
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Ensure the team has the knowledge, tools and capability to deliver exceptional outcomes.

What success looks like

• Strong client acquisition, retention and satisfaction metrics
• Efficient and compliant client journeys
• High‑quality, scalable digital and AI‑supported advice processes
• Well‑supported Wealth Planners and advice teams
• An expert, high‑performing SME team

What you’ll bring

• Level 4 Diploma in Financial Planning (Level 6 or Chartered desirable)
• Significant experience (5+ years) within advice guidance, regulatory risk, compliance, or financial advice environments
• Deep understanding of FCA regulations, market trends, and the digital/AI advice landscape
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to influence at senior levels
• A strategic mindset, exceptional communication skills, and a passion for delivering excellent client outcomes
• Proven experience leading teams and driving business‑wide change

What you can expect from us

Acompetitive basic salary, annual pay reviews and performance linked increases as well as a fantastic range of benefits including:

• 25 days Annual leave rapidly increasing with service, plus bank holidays and additional days for Christmas closure.
• Excellent company pension scheme with a generous employer contribution.
• Agile and family friendly working arrangements to allow for a great work/life balance.
• Company sick pay.
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
• Up to 40% discount on Aviva Insurance & Investment products.
• £465towards the purchase of home office equipment.
• Group Life Assurance Scheme: 8 x salary.
• Access to the Benefit Hub; discounts on shopping, dining out, holidays and lots more!
• A range of health benefits including eye care vouchers, flu vaccinations, Annual Health Screening, Digitial GP, Mental health and Nutrition Sessions and Employee Assistance Programme.
• Voluntary flexible benefits platform including Private Medical Insurance, Medical Cash Plan, Dental Insurance, Critical Illness and Health Screening.
• Support with cost of professional exams /study days.
• Charity Days.
• Company Events

Support in achieving yourcareer goals:

• Sponsorship for relevant professional exams and study leave.
• Access to Insights Discovery, a psychometric tool, which helps individuals and teams to connect better, overcome challenges & conflict resulting in high performing teams.
• Clear career pathways and endless internal job opportunities.

We do not accept unsolicited cv submissions from agencies, any such will be accepted as a direct application from the candidate.

Succession is committed to building and preserving a culture of inclusion and diversity. With a diverse team of employees we are able to grow, innovate and deliver excellent client care to help us reach our goals as a business. Our diverse teams help us reflect and understand the communities in which we operate and the subjects we cover in our everyday work.

In recruiting for Succession, we welcome the unique contributions all candidates can bring regardless of their background and strive to ensure that every candidate is given the best chance of success through fair and equitable recruitment practice.