Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Assistant Vice President (AVP)

🎯 Role Definition

The Assistant Vice President (AVP) is a mid-senior leadership role responsible for driving business results through strategic management of teams, client relationships, operations, risk and compliance, and product or service delivery. AVPs serve as a key interface between senior leadership and operational teams, owning P&L outcomes, project delivery, stakeholder engagement, and continuous process improvement. This profile is tailored for AVP positions across banking, corporate finance, operations, product management, and risk functions, and is optimized for search and candidate matching.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Manager — Operations, Finance, Risk, Product, or Relationship Management
Director / Lead Specialist in a function (e.g., Credit, Treasury, Compliance)
Principal Analyst / Team Lead with cross-functional leadership experience

Advancement To:

Vice President (VP) / Senior Vice President (SVP)
Head of Department (e.g., Head of Operations, Head of Risk)
Group Director or Executive Director roles with regional or product P&L ownership

Lateral Moves:

Product Manager / Head of Product
Head of Client Coverage / Relationship Management
Program Director — Strategic Initiatives or Transformation

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own full-cycle program and operational leadership for assigned products or business lines, including strategy development, go-to-market planning, target-setting, and quarterly business reviews that drive measurable revenue and margin improvements.
Lead a cross-functional team of managers and individual contributors, setting clear goals, managing performance, coaching for development, and ensuring high employee engagement and retention across operations, client services, and support functions.
Manage P&L and budget accountability for the portfolio, including forecasting, variance analysis, cost control initiatives, and recommendations to senior leadership to maximize return on capital.
Develop and execute risk management and compliance frameworks for the business unit, partnering with Legal, Compliance and Risk teams to ensure regulatory adherence, audit readiness, and remediation of control gaps.
Serve as primary client escalation point and executive sponsor for key accounts, building deep client relationships, negotiating contract terms, driving renewals, and expanding wallet share through consultative selling and trusted advisory.
Drive operational excellence and process optimization initiatives (Lean/Six Sigma mindset) to reduce cycle times, improve accuracy, and scale service delivery while maintaining rigorous control standards.
Own product lifecycle activities including roadmap prioritization, requirements definition, stakeholder alignment, go-to-market coordination, and performance measurement to deliver customer-centric outcomes.
Lead complex cross-organizational projects and strategic initiatives (e.g., digital transformation, M&A integration, system migrations), managing project plans, resource allocation, risk mitigation, and communication to stakeholders.
Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics dashboards (e.g., SLA adherence, client satisfaction scores, loss rates), translating data into actionable insights and operational decisions.
Drive credit and underwriting decisions or oversight (where applicable), ensuring portfolio quality through structured review processes, concentration monitoring, and corrective action plans.
Oversee vendor and third-party relationships, negotiating contracts, monitoring SLAs, and ensuring third-party compliance with enterprise policies and performance expectations.
Implement and maintain robust reporting and regulatory submissions for internal and external stakeholders, coordinating with Finance and Risk for accurate, timely, and auditable disclosures.
Design and deliver training, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and governance models to scale consistent execution across multiple teams and geographic locations.
Influence product design and roadmap through market research, competitor analysis, and client feedback loops to ensure alignment with customer needs and commercial objectives.
Drive commercial initiatives including pricing strategy, fee structures, product bundling, and promotional campaigns to achieve revenue growth and market share expansion.
Build and present persuasive business cases to executive leadership for investments, resource requests, and strategic shifts, backed by financial models, scenario analysis, and ROI projections.
Champion digital and data-driven capabilities, partnering with data science and engineering to improve analytics, reporting, automation, and customer experience.
Oversee day-to-day operations ensuring incident management, business continuity, security controls, and rapid resolution of service disruptions to minimize client and business impact.
Manage regulatory change initiatives, translating new requirements into operating model updates, remediation plans, and training to ensure enterprise-wide compliance.
Lead diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and talent development efforts within the team, mentoring high-potential staff and creating succession plans to support organizational resilience.
Coordinate with Treasury, Finance, and Capital teams for liquidity, funding and balance sheet optimization where the AVP role has financial product or corporate treasury exposure.
Drive stakeholder communication and change management for key initiatives, creating communication plans, executive summaries, and town-hall materials to align and engage stakeholders at scale.
Evaluate and implement technology platforms and automation solutions (RPA, workflow, CRM, loan origination systems) that reduce manual effort and increase throughput.
Act as subject-matter expert for internal and external audits, regulatory exams, and customer inquiries, preparing evidence, walkthroughs, and remediation plans as needed.
Support business development and sales enablement by creating sales tools, training materials, and participating in client pitches to convert strategic opportunities into closed business.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Financial management & P&L ownership: forecasting, variance analysis, budgeting and cost management.
Regulatory compliance & risk controls: knowledge of banking/regulatory frameworks (e.g., Basel, Dodd-Frank, AML, KYC) and control remediation.
Project & program management: proven experience with complex, multi-stakeholder transformations and PMO governance.
Data analytics & reporting: ability to create and interpret dashboards (Power BI, Tableau) and work with SQL or analytics teams to drive insights.
Product management fundamentals: roadmap development, requirements articulation, market analysis, and go-to-market execution.
Process optimization & automation: Lean/Six Sigma, RPA, workflow optimization experience to increase operational efficiency.
Credit analysis / underwriting (if applicable): financial statement analysis, credit policy development and portfolio monitoring.
Contract negotiation & vendor management: drafting/negotiating master services agreements, SLAs and managing vendor performance.
Technology literacy: familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce), core banking systems, loan origination platforms, and collaboration tools.
Change management & implementation: creating communication plans, training programs, and adoption metrics for new systems or processes.
Audit & regulatory reporting: preparing audit responses, regulatory filings, and maintaining audit trails for compliance.
Advanced Excel & financial modeling: scenario planning, sensitivity analysis, and building executive-ready financial models.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinking and business acumen with a track record of aligning execution to commercial goals.
Exceptional leadership and people management — hiring, coaching, developing and retaining top talent.
Strong stakeholder management and executive presence; able to influence cross-functional leaders and external clients.
Excellent verbal and written communication — distilling complex topics into concise, executive-level messaging.
Problem solving and critical thinking — structured approach to root-cause analysis and remediation.
Decision making under uncertainty — balancing risk, cost, and time to deliver outcomes.
Client-centric orientation and relationship-building aptitude for managing escalations and strategic accounts.
Time management and prioritization in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
Adaptability and resilience — leading teams through ambiguity, regulatory change, and market volatility.
Collaborative mindset with demonstrated experience working in matrixed organizations and cross-geography teams.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree (MBA, MS Finance, or related) or relevant professional qualifications (CFA, CPA, FRM, PMP).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Finance, Accounting, Economics
Business Administration, Management
Computer Science, Information Systems (for tech-heavy AVP roles)
Risk Management, Actuarial Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

8–15+ years of progressive experience in banking, corporate finance, operations, product management, or risk functions, with at least 3–5 years in people leadership roles.

Preferred:

Prior experience managing P&L, leading cross-functional teams, and owning complex regulatory or transformation programs in a bank, financial institution, or large corporate environment.
Demonstrated success in client relationship management, revenue generation, and operational scalability.