Director, Management Consulting

BDO USA • Chicago, IL

2d

About The Position

The Chief of Staff serves as the operational partner to two to three Management Consulting Segment Leaders, enabling their focus on strategy, client relationships, market growth, and talent development while ensuring business operations are executed effectively. This highly visible leadership role translates business priorities into action and coordinates operational work across shared services and support teams, including Finance, Staffing, Recruiting, Contracting, Client Onboarding, Compliance, and Technology.

The role operates as an extension of Segment Leadership, advancing clarity, accountability, and follow-through through influence, business acumen, communication, and ownership. The Chief of Staff reports directly to the Management Consulting Operations Leader and works closely with Segment Leaders and the Advisory Operations Leader to ensure consulting professionals have the tools, processes, staffing, and operational support needed to deliver client outcomes.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; alternatively, a Bachelor’s degree in another field plus seven or more years of operations experience is required.
• Six or more years of progressive experience in consulting, professional services, operations, business management, program management, or chief of staff functions.
• Experience supporting senior executives or business leaders.
• Demonstrated success operating across matrixed organizations and multiple stakeholder groups.
• Knowledge of financial management, resource planning, operational governance, and business performance.
• Ability to lead through influence without direct authority.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and executive presence skills.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong business and financial acumen.
• Ability to apply systems thinking and process improvement knowledge to drive business outcomes.
• Ability to manage ambiguity and multiple competing priorities.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• High degree of ownership and accountability.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.

Nice To Haves

• Business, Accounting, or Finance focus for the required Bachelor’s degree.
• MBA.
• PMP, CSM, or SAFe certification.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Copilot.
• Proficiency in Miro, Lucid, or other whiteboard platforms.
• Familiarity with common middle-market ERP solutions, software development methodologies, or architecture frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted advisor and operational partner to assigned Segment Leaders.
• Maintain visibility into segment priorities, risks, opportunities, staffing constraints, financial results, and operational needs.
• Translate leadership objectives into actionable workstreams and ensure their completion.
• Anticipate issues before they become leadership escalations and prepare leaders for key meetings, decisions, and operating reviews.
• Drive cross-functional execution of strategic and operational initiatives.
• Coordinate operational activities needed to run the business effectively and route requests to appropriate support teams with complete context, business justification, and clear expectations.
• Facilitate rapid resolution of issues affecting delivery teams, clients, or segment performance; monitor progress, remove obstacles, and hold stakeholders accountable.
• Establish repeatable operating rhythms that create visibility and predictability.
• Build trusted relationships with Managing Directors, Principals, Operations Leaders, and functional support organizations; influence outcomes through credibility, preparation, and business acumen.
• Escalate when necessary with a clearly articulated business case, risk assessment, and recommended path forward, while resolving issues at the lowest effective level and protecting leadership capacity.
• Drive alignment among stakeholders with competing priorities.
• Partner with Finance and segment leadership on forecasting, profitability analysis, revenue projections, expense management, collections, and operational performance.
• Monitor business health, identify potential risks or opportunities, and facilitate action plans for operational bottlenecks affecting financial performance.
• Support executive decisions with data analysis and operational insight.
• Coordinate staffing, recruiting, workforce planning, and resource management; provide visibility into resource constraints, hiring needs, contractor utilization, and emerging demand.
• Ensure operational readiness for growth and delivery execution, and partner with people leaders to address operational challenges affecting teams.
• Identify recurring operational pain points and design scalable solutions with MC and Advisory leadership as needed.
• Simplify processes, improve collaboration, and establish metrics, dashboards, governance, and operating mechanisms that improve execution and accountability.
• Drive adoption of tools, processes, and capabilities that enhance business effectiveness.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director