Internal Sales Desk Manager

About the role

Lazard seeks an Internal Sales Desk Manager to lead the Field Sales internal wholesaler desk in New York. The role involves coaching and developing a team of early‑career sales professionals, managing daily operations, assessing talent, overseeing onboarding, building desk‑level skills, providing real‑time coaching, managing career progression, overseeing licensing, partnering on distribution strategy, maintaining operating rhythm, and upholding firm standards.

Lazard is a global financial advisory and asset management firm with a close, collaborative community of over 3,000 professionals. The firm emphasizes continuous knowledge sharing, skill development, relationship building, and an entrepreneurial, flat structure that embraces individual differences. Lazard is committed to sustaining an environment where every colleague is supported in their professional pursuits, can maximize their individual potential, and contributes to collective success, reflecting a deep tradition of respecting and appreciating diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach the internal desk: manage daily operations, activity standards, and performance culture to drive asset growth and qualified appointment setting for external partners.
• Assess and develop desk talent: rapidly evaluate each individual’s sales capability, product knowledge, and commercial judgment; build targeted development plans with measurable expectations; accelerate high potentials and address performance gaps promptly.
• Own onboarding for the desk: deliver structured onboarding for new internal sales hires covering the firm, products, systems, sales process, and client segments so new joiners reach productivity quickly.
• Build desk‑level skills: run focused skill‑building on product mastery, consultative selling, discovery, prospecting and cold calling, objection handling, and partnership with the external wholesaler.
• Coach in real time: listen in on live calls and pipeline work and give immediate, practical feedback on client conversations, product positioning, and follow‑up discipline.
• Manage career progression: execute a structured framework with clear, communicated advancement criteria that prepares internal wholesalers for Hybrid roles and eventual External territory ownership.
• Oversee licensing and technical competency: manage the desk’s licensing path (SIE, Series 7, 63/65) and ongoing product training for new and tenured team members.
• Partner on distribution strategy: work with Sales Leadership to implement business priorities, identify territory coverage gaps, and leverage CRM data to prioritize market opportunities based on revenue potential.
• Run a disciplined operating rhythm: lead team meetings, pipeline reviews, and one‑on‑ones; use CRM, sales analytics, and AI‑enabled tools to track desk KPIs, surface coaching needs, and measure individual progress.
• Uphold firm standards: ensure sales activity and client interactions are documented appropriately and conducted in line with firm policies, compliance requirements, and approved messaging.

Requirements

• Industry experience: minimum of 10 years in asset management retail distribution, including ownership of an external territory (ideally across channels and geographies).
• Leadership track record: minimum of 5 years leading and developing field sales talent, specifically internals and hybrids, with a record of progressing junior sales professionals into senior production roles within a structured retail sales environment.
• Talent development: demonstrated ability to identify, assess, and develop early‑career sales talent, and to deliver timely, direct, and constructive feedback that changes behavior.
• Channel expertise: deep technical knowledge of the Wire