Client Onboarding Operations Manager

Client Onboarding Operations Manager JD

Role: Manager, Onboarding Operations

Manager: VP, Delegation Experience

Direct reports: Team Leads, Onboarding Operation

As Manager of Client Onboarding Operations, you will be responsible for leading the planning, execution and ongoing optimization of the client onboarding function across Athena’s Delegation Experience (DX) teams. This includes owning end-to-end performance, workforce planning, and client journey outcomes. You will manage and develop Team Leads, ensure high-quality and consistent onboarding delivery at scale, and champion the development of automation and tech-enabled solutions to streamline analyst workflows.

This role sits at the intersection of people leadership, operational excellence, and systems innovation. You will work closely with cross-functional stakeholders to improve onboarding pathways and proactively manage capacity across DX functions. You bring both the strategic foresight and operational rigor to evolve the function, while supporting a world-class client experience.

Team Leadership & People Management

• Manage and develop a team of Onboarding Operations Team Leads, each overseeing onboarding analysts, ensuring alignment with team performance goals and client SLAs.

• Foster a strong culture of coaching, continuous improvement, and frontline ownership through regular performance reviews, mentoring, and career development.

• Lead structured routines to track team KPIs, pipeline health, and identify training or capacity needs.

• Serve as the voice of Onboarding Operations across internal stakeholder groups, bringing qualitative and quantitative insights to weekly meetings and progress reports, quarterly business reviews and other high-visibility forums. 

Automation & Tech Enablement

• Own the identification and development of automation opportunities across the onboarding journey in partnership with product and tech teams.

• Evaluate tech tooling and process gaps, collaborating cross-functionally to deploy scalable solutions that reduce manual overhead and improve turnaround times.

• Champion the onboarding team’s role in testing and refining tech-enabled workflows, with a focus on seamless analyst experience and client benefit.

Forecasting & Workforce Planning

• Build and maintain forecasting models for team capacity, work volume, and resource planning across all onboarding teams.

• Partner with Delegation Experience leadership, Sales, and Operations to ensure appropriate headcount and readiness for growth targets.

• Monitor pipeline velocity and drive resourcing decisions to ensure effective client funnel progression and minimal bottlenecks.

Operational & Process Excellence

• Drive continuous improvement in onboarding SOPs, playbooks, and quality assurance frameworks.

• Use data and frontline insights to refine workflows, optimize analyst productivity, and remove sources of client friction.

• Establish operational dashboards and reporting systems for real-time visibility into performance trends, risks, and opportunities.

Cross-functional Partnership

• Act as the primary liaison between Delegation Experience, Product/Tech, Sales, Billings, and other stakeholders to align onboarding strategies with broader company goals.

• Lead initiatives to integrate onboarding success metrics into wider business OKRs.

• Contribute to strategic planning efforts that enhance the entire delegation lifecycle.

Delegation Experience Team, Sales Team, Billings Team, Operations Team, Clients, XPs

• 5+ years of experience in operations, customer onboarding, customer success, or program management roles, ideally in high-growth or tech-enabled service environments

• 3+ years of experience directly managing people managers or multi-level teams

• Demonstrated experience owning or heavily contributing to tech automation discovery and implementation, preferably in collaboration with product/engineering

• Proven track record developing process playbooks, change management strategies, or organizational scaling frameworks

• Strong proficiency with forecasting, capacity planning, and workforce modeling using tools like Google Sheets, Airtable, or BI dashboards

• Experience working in or with startups, B2B SaaS, service marketplaces, or tech-enabled services is a strong plus

• Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce, HubSpot), support tooling (e.g. Zendesk), and collaboration platforms (e.g. Glue, Slack, Notion, Asana)

• Leadership & Coaching: Ability to mentor, support, and drive results through others while fostering team accountability

• Client-Centric Thinking: Deep empathy for the client journey; able to anticipate and respond to needs with agility and care

• Operational Rigor: Strong process orientation and ability to improve workflows through data, feedback, and insight

• Communication: Clear and thoughtful in both verbal and written communications across diverse audiences

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Skilled at working across departments to align on shared outcomes

• Proactivity & Ownership: Takes initiative, solves problems before they escalate, and is committed to continuous improvement

• Analytical Thinking: Able to identify patterns in data, draw conclusions, and inform process improvements

• Tech Fluency: Comfortable working within CRMs, spreadsheets, and other team collaboration tools