Regional Operations Director

About The Role

The Regional Operations Director is the primary regional partner for delivery economics, firm-level operational discipline, and the infrastructure that enables firms to scale, working directly with the Regional Vice President (RVP).

• Deploy the Operations Playbook across the portfolio — standardizing billing discipline, collections cadence, WIP management, and realization rate optimization firm by firm.
• Drive working capital improvement: own DSO reduction, realization improvement, and cost-to-serve discipline as measurable outcomes at each firm.
• Build and maintain firm-level capacity planning frameworks aligned to Crete's standardized work discipline model.
• Coordinate Data & BI capabilities to ensure operational KPIs are captured, measured, and actioned in real time; translate data into Managing Partner-facing performance insights.
• Coordinate Regional FP&A and Regional Controller support across the portfolio — partnering with the Finance & Accounting enterprise function to ensure firms receive structured financial analysis, operational KPI dashboards, and budgeting support.
• Support managing partners in understanding firm financial and operational performance, identifying gaps, and building accountability to defined targets.
• Provide analytical support to the RVP on operational performance, working capital trends, and efficiency opportunities across the portfolio.
• Coordinate HR, legal, and compliance coordination at the firm level — managing succession planning support, regional recruiting coordination, and people-side operational issues in partnership with the enterprise HR & Compliance function.
• Eliminate and transition the HR BP structure, ensuring firm-level HR needs are absorbed cleanly into the new model.
• Coordinate legal needs across the firm portfolio with the enterprise Legal function; surface emerging issues and ensure firms are operating within Crete's legal and compliance framework.
• Coordinate technology and infrastructure at each firm — overseeing practice management system adoption, IT standards, and infrastructure alignment with Crete's approved technology stack.
• Aid firms with operational technology improvements and workflow automation (e.g., practice management improvements, billing workflow, PTO tracking) in coordination with enterprise tech resources.
• Build the operational capacity at targeted platform firms required to absorb tuck-in acquisitions — ensuring infrastructure, staffing models, and financial controls can scale without disruption.
• Partner with the Growth Director and Integration enterprise function during the 120-day integration process on the operational side — working capital setup, HR onboarding, tech migration, and financial reporting integration.
• Maintain a firm-level integration readiness assessment for all active and anticipated tuck-ins.
• Strategically partner to the RVP, acting as a trusted operational advisor to the RVP — surfacing firm-level issues early, flagging performance gaps against the Partner Journey roadmap, and ensuring accountability to defined milestones.
• Respond to ad hoc operational and strategic requests from RVP and firm leadership, providing structured problem-solving support on complex operational or people challenges.
• Coordinate firm engagement plans across product areas to avoid conflicting demands on Managing Partner time and bandwidth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of progressive operations leadership in a professional services environment (accounting, consulting, advisory, or similar), with direct exposure to P&L / delivery economics.
• Demonstrated experience improving working capital performance (e.g., DSO reduction, WIP management, billing/collections cadence, realization/rate optimization).
• Strong financial acumen: ability to interpret financial statements, partner with FP&A/Controllers, and translate performance into clear insights and actions for firm leadership.
• Proven ability to implement standardized operating rhythms and process discipline across multiple sites/locations (portfolio or multi-branch environment).
• Experience building operational capacity planning models (headcount/production planning, utilization, forecasting, throughput).
• Ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization (working across Finance, HR/Compliance, Legal, and Technology without direct authority).
• Comfort operating “in the field” with partner firms—hands-on, embedded, and able to surface issues early and drive accountability tactfully.
• Strong executive communication skills: can present operational performance, risks, and corrective actions to Managing Partners and regional leadership.
• High ownership, bias to action, and ability to manage multiple concurrent initiatives with tight timelines.
• Ability to travel 50%+ to partner firms and regional/enterprise meetings.