Operations Director PPK

WHAT MAKES US A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

We are proud to be consistently recognized as one of the world’s best places to work. We are currently the #1 ranked consulting firm on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list and have maintained a spot in the top four on Glassdoor’s list since its founding in 2009. Extraordinary teams are at the heart of our business strategy, but these don’t happen by chance. They require intentional focus on bringing together a broad set of backgrounds, cultures, experiences, perspectives, and skills in a supportive and inclusive work environment. We hire people with exceptional talent and create an environment in which every individual can thrive professionally and personally.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Sustainability (which covers environmental, social, and governance issues) is an increasingly important topic for our clients. In the Sustainability Practice, we help our clients make critical decisions that impact the core of their business strategy, related to sustainability strategy, the environmental and social impact of operations, stakeholder engagement, and sustainability-related growth and cost opportunities. We work to ensure that sustainability efforts are anchored in business fundamentals and demonstrate a clear return on investment – and that those efforts are then firmly embedded within our clients strategy and operations.

Read more about our Sustainability consulting services to learn more about our work.

The Operations Director is a leadership and pivotal role within Bain’s Sustainability Practice – which functions much like a business unit at Bain. This is not a stepping stone into client consulting. It’s a strategic business role at the heart of a global business, suited for someone who thrives on being a critical member of the team that is shaping and running a business unit, who brings strong problem-solving, analytical, and stakeholder skills, ideally from strategy consulting or an equivalent strategic/operational role, and is motivated by making others shine. 

You’ll help lead the internal strategy, operations, and execution that enable our partners and case teams to deliver outstanding client and people results. You’ll also collaborate with senior practice leadership to shape and deliver our growth strategy, ensure operational excellence, and make high-quality, data-driven decisions. Your work will directly influence the practice’s priorities, investments, and ability to scale our expertise globally.

If you enjoy strategy, business management, and operational leadership, want to apply your skills in a role where impact is measured in practice-wide success, internal capability building, and long-term value creation from a business point of view, this role offers that unique opportunity.

You will lead our Operations team and other junior team members in the practice, helping to manage and ensuring smooth operations across the practice. The scope of work is flexible but will fall into the following main categories. 

Practice planning and strategy 

• Partner with practice leadership to shape and support the practice’s short- and long-term strategy
• Orchestrate the Annual Planning Process (202X strategy, revenue forecast and budget proposal) and ensure elements support strategic priorities
• Steer the annual strategic planning process, integrating and synthesizing elements (e.g. solution, sector, region) into the full plan, adding and balancing inputs from stakeholders such as Finance, Marketing, Partners, senior PPK members, and translate them into actionable initiatives with measurable outcomes
• Advise and guide the development of a practice view on competitive positioning; provides direction on how to interpret data and operationalize insights; ensures common approach across solutions
• Lead the design and deliver on center-led strategic initiatives for the practice: sequence and prioritize, secure resourcing, ensure progress (remove roadblocks, make trade-offs)
• Advise on hiring and resourcing to support strategy: coordinate activities across paths and with ecosystem players and align stakeholders
• Act as a key point of contact for the senior leadership team, shaping and influencing them as they lead the practice 

Practice operations and reporting

• Set strategy and standards for reporting (metrics, sources): define KPIs and scope analysis in service of strategy and priorities, work cross-functionally with Strategy & Ops team, knowledge team and reporting & analytics team to accurately track, analyze and interpret revenue 
• Innovate operations and reporting, e.g., automation with tech/AI and zero-basing; focus practice on high-value activities; drive adoption of best practices across team
• Work with leadership to propose initiatives; lead process to implement or support solutions/sectors with tools and reporting needed to achieve mandate
• Play a lead role in driving coordination and materials for meetings (e.g., Ops scrum meeting, quarterly business review, mid-year review, leadership memos)
• Guide the execution of our talent strategy, including planning, development of job descriptions and recruiting

Affiliate management and meetings

• Oversee affiliate and leadership role strategy, partner with leadership on engagement and development; make recommendations on affiliation decisions
• Run year-end processes such as the HLA and ratings program together with practice and regional leadership; ensure consistent criteria and support to practice leadership and solution/sector teams

• Identify gaps in practice expertise; own relationship with leadership recruiting team to hire right bench to sell and serve; work with solutions/sectors to successfully onboard

• Drive talent projects and cultivation, e.g. outside hiring, capability building, team surveys, internal staffing allocations, engagement
• Partner with leadership on scope and cadence of meetings and co-create agendas and select content

Commercial Operations 

• Implement client prioritization criteria and actions, including best practices on account management
• Monitor and help advance agreed commercial pipeline actions; coordinate on evolving client priority list (regions/sectors); ensure consistent account management approach and prepare materials for calls
• Connect to frontline feedback loops and use to inform analysis; share best practices, e.g. business development requests, use of client promoters

• Act as point of contact between practice leadership, solutions/sectors, and Marketing on marketing plan and commercialization efforts; ensure innovation and impact; share insights on sales trends to address gaps and improve outcomes

Practice communications and teaming

• Foster best practice sharing and set standards across or within solutions/sectors on operations across solutions; drive adoption of central PPK initiatives 
• Effectively develop and coach team members; may have supervisory role to team member(s); uses situational leadership and feedback to drive optimal performance
• Ensure high quality results, may manage analysis done by junior(s) within or outside of the Operations team
• Work seamlessly across other Bain functions to share information and create alignment

 
ABOUT YOU 

Education

• Bachelor of Arts, Engineering, Science, or equivalent undergraduate degree with strong academic credentials; Statistics, Business, or Economics concentrations also applicable 
• MBA is a plus

Experience  

• At least 10 years of experience in a professional services firm environment
• Current or former top-tier management consultant experience is preferred 
• You have a consistent track record of delivering strong results in a fast-paced, cross-functional and global environment with senior stakeholders 

• You have the ability to execute multiple projects at once using strong work planning skills
• You are a strong team player with a demonstrated ability to lead and motivate team members and a willingness to be flexible in meeting the needs of the practice and stakeholders
• You have experience and proficiency in creating high quality presentations, strong communication and executive-level presentation skills and the ability to establish credibility with senior business executives

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• You have strong problem-solving and analytical abilities; you drive experimentation and innovation

• You are intellectually curious and have a positive mindset
• You are known for your high-quality work, attentive to detail and very organized

• You can operate independently (comfortable with a remote supervisor, juniors, and wider team) and manage competing priorities with minimal supervision
• You have the maturity and integrity to manage confidential information and use technology in a responsible way (e.g. AI)
• You are comfortable with data modelling, analysis and other tools (e.g., Alteryx, Tableau, AI/GBTs/prompt engineering) with a command over Microsoft and automation applications (Excel, PowerPoint, PowerApps, Python) 
• You have experience with business and performance measurement, strategic planning, finance/budget management, project management

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• You are comfortable with AI technologies and tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok), with an applied understanding of how they can create business value