Innovation Lab Manager

Mariner is a privately held national financial services firm equipped with the experience to meet your modern wealth needs. Our advisors have access to in-house expertise covering everything from tax, estate, trust, and insurance to investment banking and valuation, so they can maximize time spent creating unified wealth plans with clients. By opening more windows of wealth, we can create opportunities to positively impact the lives of many.

With this purpose, we intend to raise the bar for the entire industry. Founded in 2006 with $300 million in assets under advisement, Mariner and its affiliates now advise on over $560 billion in assets as of 1/3/25. Figures include assets from Cardinal Investment Advisors, currently undergoing acquisition by Mariner Institutional and slated to operationally close by 3/31/2025. Learn more at  .

Mariner is committed to, and maintains, a drug-free workplace. For further information,  .

The Innovation Lab Manager is responsible for enabling experimentation across the organization by managing and optimizing the sandbox environments that support innovation initiatives. This role serves as a bridge between the Innovation Office, IT teams, and proof-of-concept project owners to ensure secure, efficient, and compliant access to test environments. The Innovation Lab Manager ensures that users have the technical resources they need to explore new ideas while adhering to governance standards and maintaining the integrity of systems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Environment Management:
  Define, configure, and manage sandbox/test environments to support experimentation and proof-of-concept activities.
• Access Control:
  Collaborate with IT to create, maintain, and deactivate user accounts; oversee requests for entering and exiting the test environment.
• Governance & Compliance:
  Ensure alignment with innovation governance policies and maintain adherence to data security, compliance, and ethical standards.
• Oversee information exchange with external collaborators (e.g., partners, vendors, research institutions) to ensure data is shared appropriately and securely.
• Collaboration & Support:
  Partner with proof-of-concept users and project teams to understand their needs, access requirements, and technical dependencies.
• Monitoring & Reporting:
  Track and provide regular updates on environment utilization, performance, and capacity.
• Issue Escalation:
  Identify, document, and elevate issues or new environment requirements to appropriate stakeholders.
• Continuous Improvement:
  Recommend enhancements to the lab infrastructure, integrations, and processes to optimize innovation experimentation.

Required

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 2- 3 years of experience inIT systems management, innovation enablement, or lab/test environment administration.
• Prior experience working with innovation labs, proof-of-concept projects, or experimental environments is a plus.
• Understanding of sandbox/test environments, system integrations, and technical experimentation platforms.
• Strong understanding of identity and access management (IAM) and user provisioning processes.
• Familiarity with SaaS applications(e.g. OCS, Salesforce) and enterprise IT environments.
• Knowledge of system security, compliance, and governance frameworks.
• Ability to troubleshoot technical issues and coordinate with IT for resolution.
• Familiarity with AI technologies (e.g., generative AI, machine learning frameworks, or AI-driven platforms) and their requirements in test environments.

Skills:

• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across IT, innovation, and business teams.
• Detail-oriented and organized, with effective project management abilities.
• Capable of translating technical needs into practical processes and solutions.
• Strong problem-solving skills, especially in dynamic, experimental environments.
• Comfort with remote work and virtual collaboration tools.

Physical Demands/Requirements:

The physical demands described here are representative of those requirements employees must meet to perform the essential functions of this job with or without reasonable accommodations. While performing job functions the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, write, review and type reports, compile data, operate a pc, communicate, listen, and assess information. The employee may move about the office complex, may travel to other office locations and may lift, push, pull or move 10 - 15 pounds.

Visual requirements include distant, close and color vision, and ability to adjust focus

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as laptop computers, photocopiers and smartphones. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Our compensation reflects the cost of talent across multiple US…