Digital Direct Individual Retirement Product, AVP

The AVP, Digital Direct Individual Retirement (Product) will support the strategy, development, and ongoing management of Digital Direct retirement offerings for self-directed clients. This role partners closely with engineering, design, compliance, legal, operations, marketing, and service teams to deliver client-centric retirement capabilities—spanning account opening and funding, rollovers, contributions/distributions, beneficiary management, and retirement-related disclosures—while meeting regulatory, risk, and business objectives.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments and individuals from more than 1,200 offices in 43 countries.

Morgan Stanley is committed to helping its employees build meaningful careers and we strive to be a place for people to learn, achieve and grow.

Department Overview

In the Wealth Management division, we help people, businesses and institutions build, preserve, and manage wealth so they can pursue their financial goals

Wealth Management (WM) Platforms manages industry-leading platforms, across all WM channels and client segments, to provide a unified digital experience, unlock growth, and deliver efficiencies for Advisors, Clients, and Institutions. WM Platforms consists of ten sub-teams including: Field Experience & Platforms, Digital Client Experience & Platforms, Workplace Platforms, Automation & Workflow, Digital Trading & Investing, Generative AI, UX Design & Research, Strategy & Execution, WM Platforms Risk, and the Chief Operating Office.

What you’ll do in the role:

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Contribute to the multi-quarter product roadmap for Digital Direct retirement experiences (e.g., Traditional/Roth IRAs, rollover flows, distribution journeys).

• Translate business goals and client needs into prioritized initiatives, supported by clear success metrics and business cases.

• Monitor market and competitive trends in digital retirement and identify opportunities to improve acquisition, engagement, and servicing.

Delivery & Execution

• Partner with technology and design to define epics/user stories, acceptance criteria, and end-to-end requirements for retirement features.

• Coordinate cross-functional delivery activities (UAT planning, launch readiness, training, and post-launch monitoring).

• Maintain strong alignment across stakeholders; proactively manage dependencies, scope, and timelines.

Client Experience & Growth

• Use data and client feedback to optimize funnels (e.g., account opening completion, rollover conversion, contribution setup).

• Support A/B testing and iterative UX improvements, ensuring changes align to risk/compliance requirements.

• Work with marketing and digital channels to enable clear client communications and education for retirement products.

Disclosures, Communications Governance, and Regulatory BAU

• Own/coordinate Retirement smart alerts, forms, and agreements across key journeys (account opening/funding, rollovers, contributions/distributions, beneficiary updates), partnering with Legal/Compliance/Marketing/Service to ensure accuracy and timely updates. (Incorporates the “smart alerts, forms, and agreements” ownership bullets you provided; aligns to retirement journey and disclosures scope already in the JD.)

• Operationalize governance for retirement disclosures/communications, including intake, prioritization, review/approval workflow, release management, and post-launch monitoring.

• Provide dedicated execution support for BAU regulatory updates and change requests, reducing delivery risk while protecting roadmap commitments and release timelines.

Risk, Controls, and Regulatory Support

• Ensure retirement product journeys comply with applicable regulations and internal policies (e.g., disclosures, communications review, record retention, complaint handling).

• Partner with Legal, Compliance, Risk, and Ops to identify and mitigate risks across the product lifecycle.

• Support audits, exams, and internal governance forums by providing documentation, controls evidence, and product narratives as needed.

Operational Excellence

• Help define and improve servicing and operations workflows (e.g., rollover processing, distributions, beneficiary updates, RMD-related servicing where applicable).

• Drive issue triage and root-cause analysis for production incidents; manage remediation prioritization with technology partners.

• Maintain product documentation: requirements, decision logs, process maps, and operating procedures.

Skills Required:

• 4 years + relevant experience

• Experience with digital account opening, funding, and/or rollover workflows in a brokerage or wealth platform.

• Familiarity with retirement-related regulatory concepts and disclosures (in partnership with Legal/Compliance).

• Experience improving conversion funnels and service journeys through experimentation and UX research.

• Comfort working with distributed teams and multiple stakeholder groups across product, engineering, ops, risk, and marketing.

• Product judgment and prioritization

• Stakeholder management and influence

• Structured problem-solving and attention to detail

• Risk mindset and control orientation

• Client-first mindset with strong execution discipline

• Bachelor’s degree required (Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, or related). Advanced degree a plus.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM MORGAN STANLEY:

At Morgan Stanley, we raise, manage and allocate capital for our clients – helping them reach their goals. We do it in a way that’s differentiated – and we’ve done that for 90 years. Our values - putting clients first, doing the right thing, leading with exceptional ideas, committing to diversity and inclusion, and giving back - aren’t just beliefs, they guide the decisions we make every day to do what's best for our clients, communities and more than 80,000 employees in 1,200 offices across 42 countries. At Morgan Stanley, you’ll find an opportunity to work alongside the best and the brightest, in an environment where you are supported and empowered. Our teams are relentless collaborators and creative thinkers, fueled by their diverse backgrounds and experiences. We are proud to support our employees and their families at every point along their work-life journey, offering some of the most attractive and comprehensive employee benefits and perks in the industry. There’s also ample opportunity to move about the business for those who show passion and grit in their work.

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Expected base pay rates for the role will be between $85,000 and $140,000 per year at the commencement of employment. However, base pay if hired will be determined on an individualized basis and is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may also include commission earnings, incentive compensation, discretionary bonuses, other short and long-term incentive packages, and other Morgan Stanley sponsored benefit programs.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workforce that is diverse in experience and background. Our recruiting efforts reflect our strong commitment to a culture of inclusion, where individuals are hired, developed, and advanced based on their skills and talents.

Our workforce reflects a broad cross-section of the global communities in which we operate, bringing a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives, and experiences.

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