Digital Assets Strategy Enablement & Governance Lead – Executive Director

Wealth Management Platforms
Purchase, NY

The role of the Executive Director on the Platforms Digital Assets team will serve as the orchestration and governance lead to drive delivery of the firm’s digital asset initiatives across technology, product, risk, compliance, legal, operations, and the field. Reporting into the business and product organization, this role is designed for a leader who can translate strategy into execution – establishing the right forums, decisioning, controls, and operating cadence – while actively unblocking teams and accelerating outcomes.

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 nine sub-teams including: Field Experience & Platforms, Digital Client Experience & Platforms, Workplace Platforms, Automation & Workflow Solutions, Digital Trading & Investing, UX Design & Research, Strategy & Execution. Business Control & Support, and the Chief Operating Office.

What you’ll do in the role:

Orchestrate Delivery Across Digital Asset Portfolio:

• Lead cross-functional execution for multiple digital asset workstreams, e.g., custody and wallet infrastructure, client experience, etc., ensuring teams move from concept to production

• Translate executive priorities into a structured roadmap with clear milestones, dependencies, and measurable outcomes

• Proactively identify and resolve blockers across technology, vendors, data, security, risk sign-offs, and operating model readiness

Support Fit-for-Purpose Governance that Enables Speed:

• Design and provide oversight for governance forums (SteerCo, architecture review, risk/compliance, etc.) that are decision-oriented with clear agendas, owners, and outcomes

• Define the operating model for digital assets in Platforms, including roles/responsibilities, RACI, intake/prioritization, escalation paths, and decisioning

• Ensure governance is lightweight but rigorous, enabling delivery while meeting control expectations

Embed Risk, Regulatory, and Control-by-Design:

• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Controls to ensure initiatives are designed to meet evolving regulatory requirements and internal policies

• Own the traceability of key decisions, approvals, and control artifacts without creating bureaucracy

Organizational Enablement: Field and Home Office Training, Curriculum, and Presentations

• Support creation of advisor-ready and home office curriculum (modular content, job aids, playbooks, FAQs, scenario-based learning) covering digital asset fundamentals, firm-approved use cases / products, client suitability considerations, risk disclosures, operational flows, and what can / cannot be said

• Develop and maintain a field communications cadence tied to launches and policy updates, e.g., quarterly enablement series, launch toolkits, “what changed” updates

• Deliver live and virtual presentations to the field (regional meetings, advisor townhalls, leader forums) translating complex topics into practical, client-relevant narratives

• Equip field leadership with presentations and speaking points, and coach internal champions to scale delivery

• Create mechanisms to capture field feedback and feed insights back into product, platforms, and governance prioritization

Stakeholder Engagement & Leadership:

• Partner with product leads and platform engineering to ensure initiatives meet business needs and are scalable, secure, and supportable

• Coordinate with Wealth business stakeholders (advisors, client service, operations, finance) to ensure readiness for launch, training, and adoption

• Lead through influence and collaboration – bringing teams together, setting a clear cadence, and holding stakeholders accountable to commitments

Skills Required:

Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Business, Finance, or a related field.

• 10+ years of experience in financial services transformation, platform delivery, or strategic program leadership. Digital assets, market infrastructure, or wealth platforms experience strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to lead dedicated teams and cross-functional execution in regulated environments. Exceptional stakeholder management and executive communication: can synthesize complexity into clear decisions and next steps.

• Strong familiarity with digital asset constructs (custody, wallets, tokenization, stablecoins, blockchain networks, on/off chain data, settlement models) and the related risk/control landscape.

• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills. Hands-on orientation to move work forward.

Preferred Skills

• Proven ability to build compelling presentations to executives and large audiences, translating complex topics into practical conversations.

• Knowledge of digital asset products and infrastructure and how to stand up an operating model in a regulated wealth environment.

• Strong track record of running decision-oriented governance, managing interdependencies across Tech/Risk/Legal/Operations, and driving outcomes through influence.

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.

To learn more about our offices across the globe, please copy and paste https://www.morganstanley.com/about-us/global-offices​ into your browser.

Expected base pay rates for the role will be between$150,000 and $250,000 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's goal is to build and maintain a workforce that is diverse in experience and background but uniform in reflecting our standards of integrity and excellence. Consequently, our recruiting efforts reflect our desire to attract and retain the best and brightest from all talent pools. We want to be the first choice for prospective employees.

It is the policy of the Firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, sex stereotype, gender, gender identity or expression, transgender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy, veteran or military service status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Morgan Stanley is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversifying its workforce (M/F/Disability/Vet).