Managing Director, Business Strategy and Transformation

BDO’s $500M Advisory Business Line is seeking a Managing Director, Business Strategy & Transformation to serve as the main internal strategist and transformation lead. Reporting directly to the Advisory National Managing Principal, this role drives transformational growth and raises the practice’s EBITDA contribution.

About the role

The Managing Director ensures the Advisory business line has a clear, compelling, and executable strategy for growth and value creation. They partner closely with the Advisory National Managing Principal and senior leadership to develop and execute a multi-year strategic plan, lead large-scale transformation, and build alignment across geographies and functions.

Responsibilities

• Own the development and evolution of the Advisory practice’s multi-year strategic plan, leveraging market analysis, competitor positioning, and internal capability assessments.
• Translate strategy into clear priorities, accountabilities, and investment decisions with a disciplined planning cadence (annual cycles, mid-year reviews, horizon scanning).
• Build alignment across geographies, business lines, and functional groups to ensure strategy is executed, not just documented.
• Lead the shift to a client-centric, solution-oriented selling model, embedding this mindset in go-to-market strategy, client targeting, and principal behavior.
• Drive delivery excellence by establishing consistent frameworks, quality standards, and client experience benchmarks.
• Build and deepen capability expertise in priority solution areas, investing in people, tools, and intellectual capital to differentiate BDO in the market.
• Design and guide the Advisory transformation program, including operating model evolution, business development, technology enablement, and workforce transformation.
• Establish program governance: workstream design, milestone tracking, interdependency management, risk oversight, and benefits realization.
• Mobilize internal talent to lead change, augmenting with external skills where gaps exist to accelerate progress.
• Remove structural, cultural, and operational barriers to transformation across a geographically dispersed leadership community.
• Maintain familiarity with the practice’s financial performance, including revenue, margin, and growth drivers.
• Design and oversee a KPI framework to provide timely, actionable insights into business performance and strategic progress.
• Develop business cases for growth initiatives, efficiency improvements, and portfolio realignment.
• Support significant client pursuits, strategic partnerships, and investment decisions with strategy and transformation expertise.
• Influence platform build-out and acquisition strategy, evaluating opportunities and ensuring effective integration.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Advisory National Managing Principal, providing honest counsel and strengthening leadership decisions.
• Build strong relationships with Principals, business leaders, and functional heads (Finance, HR, Technology, Risk) to drive alignment.
• Communicate strategy and transformation priorities with clarity and conviction to diverse audiences.
• Partner with People & Culture and Talent Acquisition to ensure the practice has the capabilities and leadership depth to deliver on strategic ambitions.
• Drive initiatives to strengthen team effectiveness, leadership development, inclusion, and employee experience.
• Shape the Advisory Employee Value Proposition, aligning it with the emerging operating model.
• Champion a high-performance culture grounded in BDO’s values, encouraging innovation, accountability, and results.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or Master’s degree preferred.
• Fifteen (15) or more years of senior leadership experience in strategy, transformation, or business leadership, ideally within professional services, consulting, or financial advisory.
• Demonstrated track record of designing and delivering complex, large-scale transformation programs from inception to sustainable outcomes.
• Experience within a Big 4 or mid-tier professional services firm, with an understanding of the partnership model, preferred.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite; experience with Smartsheet and Oracle ERP Platform preferred.

Skills

• Strong commercial acumen and financial literacy, with the ability to interpret practice-level performance data.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, with credibility to engage Principal-level and executive audiences.
• Outstanding analytical and structured thinking, synthesizing complexity into compelling strategic narratives and actionable plans.
• High executive presence and personal credibility; proven ability to lead with influence in a partnership or professional services model.
• Exposure to agile program delivery, design thinking, or structured change management methodologies.
• Knowledge and fluency with AI tools and workforce enablement.
• Demonstrated ability to embrace and lead change in organizations.
• Inspiring leader who sets a high bar, develops talent intentionally, and builds proud, high-performing teams.
• Intellectually rigorous and creatively ambitious, pushing the business beyond conventional thinking.
• Deeply client-oriented, measuring success by client outcomes rather than internal process compliance.
• Collaborative and commercially aware, partnering with go-to-market leadership to connect delivery performance to business growth.
• Composed and decisive under pressure, navigating complex engagements and competing priorities with clarity and confidence.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to share knowledge directly and listen intently.
• Proven ability to hold self and others accountable.

Benefits

BDO offers a comprehensive Total Rewards package, including an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) that provides participants with beneficial ownership and a stake in the firm’s success. Benefits may be subject to eligibility requirements.