Client Services Manager

JOB TITLE: Client Services Manager

DEPARTMENT: ESOP Services

REPORTS TO: Senior Client Service Manager

DIRECT REPORTS: Yes

About ESOP Partners, Inc.

ESOP Partners, Inc. is a third-party administration and consulting firm dedicated to providing a liquid business transition solution for owners of closely held businesses through the establishment, maintenance, and sustainability of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Our mission is to maximize the financial and cultural benefits of employee ownership by helping ESOP companies build strong, informed, and engaged employee ownership cultures.

We aspire to be nationally recognized as the leading ESOP firm in the country. We pursue this vision through our Core Values:

• Seek to Understand – We identify the underlying reasons behind questions and actions and take ownership of continuous learning and improvement.
• Manage Expectations – We proactively communicate clear, specific, and achievable objectives to create alignment and accountability.
• Collaborate – We work together through constructive discussion and teamwork to achieve win-win outcomes.
• Get Things Done – We prioritize, organize, and execute efficiently to deliver accurate and timely results.
• Practice Professional Skepticism – We apply a questioning mindset to objectively analyze information for quality and accuracy.
• Exhibit Mental Strength – We manage challenges with professionalism, resilience, and a solutions-oriented attitude.

Position Summary

The Client Services Manager leads the people, workflow, resources, and project delivery activities of the ESOP Services team. This role is responsible for the performance, development, and coaching/mentoring of ESOP Assistant Administrators, balancing workloads and capacity, and ensuring client work is completed accurately, on time, within scope, and in alignment with financial expectations. The manager monitors team and project performance, anticipates staffing needs, addresses delivery risks, and strengthens onboarding, training, processes, and operating practices.

Success requires effective people leadership, sound operational judgment, and the ability to manage competing priorities in a deadline-driven professional-services environment.

Position Details

• Location: In-office position based in Appleton, Wisconsin
• Position Type: Full-time | Exempt
• Work Schedule: This role manages a team that works a busy season and may include periods of higher demand. This role works an average of 45 hours per week.
• Travel: Minimal; occasional as needed for personal or professional development

Key Accountabilities

Essential duties include, but are not limited to:

• Lead, coach, and develop employees through clear expectations, ongoing feedback, performance management, and individual development planning.
• Oversee daily workflow, project assignments, priorities, escalations, time off requests, and team coverage.
• Coordinate client-service projects to ensure clear ownership, timely completion, appropriate scope, and consistent quality.
• Monitor project schedules, hours, budgets, profitability, scope, and delivery risks; coordinate corrective actions when performance falls below expectations.
• Balance employee workloads based on priorities, capabilities, availability, capacity, and development needs.
• Review workload, utilization, project pipeline, and seasonal demand to anticipate staffing needs and support hiring decisions.
• Monitor productivity and quality metrics, investigate variances, and implement improvement plans.
• Own onboarding, training, competency development, and departmental process documentation.
• Partner with departmental leadership, project leads, Finance, Sales, and HR to align staffing and delivery priorities.
• Implement improvements that strengthen delivery accuracy, efficiency, predictability, profitability, and client experience.

Qualifications

Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated ability to coach employees, manage performance, and develop high-performing teams.
• Working knowledge of capacity planning, resource allocation, utilization, project profitability, and financial performance.
• Strong analytical, organizational, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Ability to communicate risks, performance concerns, and changing priorities clearly and constructively.
• Proactive, detail-oriented, service-minded, and comfortable operating independently in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience building and maintaining onboarding, training programs, and process documentation.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, accounting, HR, or related field (or equivalent relevant experience)
• 5+ years of people leadership or demonstrated team-lead/supervisory experience, including coaching, performance conversations, and documentation
• 5+ years project management, implementation, capacity planning or project coordination experience in professional services, accounting, or financial/retirement plan administration environments with measurable performance expectations (busy seasons, billable hours, deadlines)

Physical and Cognitive Requirements

• Ability to sit for extended periods and work at a computer
• Ability to analyze complex information and exercise sound judgment
• Ability to maintain focus and accuracy in a deadline-driven environment

Performance Expectations

Performance in this role will be evaluated based on:

• Accuracy, quality, and timeliness of teamwork product and managerial deliverables
• Effectiveness of onboarding, training, and SOP documentation (completeness, adoption, and ongoing maintenance)
• Improvement in productivity and quality metrics, including reduction of recurring backlog or rework
• Projects completed timely and internal workflow warnings managed for direct reports
• Effectiveness of communication and collaboration
• Adherence to ESOP Partners’ Core Values