Director of Operations

Cushman & Wakefield•Chicago, IL

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Operations is responsible for leading and overseeing all facilities services across multiple client accounts within an assigned region. This role ensures operational excellence through effective staffing, quality assurance, financial management, safety leadership, and customer relationship management. The Director partners closely with Operations, Account, and Area Managers to implement standardized processes, drive service quality, support business development, and ensure successful account start-ups and transitions. The position also carries significant responsibility for budget performance, workforce planning, talent development, union compliance, and safety programs. Success in this role requires strong leadership, financial acumen, industry expertise, and the ability to build trusted relationships with clients and internal stakeholders while delivering consistent, high-quality facilities services. The Director of Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for C&W Services’ industrial maintenance program supporting client facilities across the United States. This role oversees multi-site teams responsible for the maintenance, repair, and reliability of conveyors, robotics, and automated material handling equipment (MHE) in fast-paced manufacturing and fulfillment environments. This leader ensures standardized maintenance processes, strong safety performance, reliable uptime, and best-in-class service delivery across all assigned sites.

Requirements

BA/BS degree in Business Management, Engineering, Industrial Technology, or related field preferred.
10+ years of experience in industrial maintenance, manufacturing, distribution, automation, or facilities engineering.
7+ years of multi-site management experience leading maintenance, MHE, or robotics operations in large-scale environments (Amazon experience strongly preferred).
Strong understanding of conveyors, robotics, PLCs, mechanical/electrical systems, and preventive/predictive maintenance.
Experience managing large, geographically dispersed teams.
Strong leadership, communication, and relationship-building skills.
Demonstrated ability to drive uptime improvements and operational efficiencies.
Proficient in CMMS/EAM systems, maintenance scheduling, technical reporting, and KPI dashboards.
Strong customer service orientation and client partnership capabilities.
Financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, and cost management.
Ability to travel 30-40% nationally to fulfillment facilities

Nice To Haves

Amazon experience strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Manage and oversee day-to-day industrial maintenance operations across multiple fulfillment and sortation facilities.
Ensure high performance in PM/PdM programs, conveyor and robotics maintenance, troubleshooting, and automation reliability.
Conduct regular onsite visits, technical assessments, and audits to evaluate maintenance execution, uptime performance, and technician skill levels.
Ensure consistent use of standardized work processes, CMMS/EAM systems, safety procedures, and maintenance playbooks across all sites.
Lead operational readiness for new site start-ups, transitions, and expansions—including staffing, onboarding, equipment readiness, and process implementation.
Remain current on emerging technologies within automation, controls, robotics, and industrial maintenance practices; cascade updates to the field teams.
Maintain strong relationships with onsite engineering, operations, and reliability partners to ensure alignment on goals and expectations.
Serve as the senior point of contact for all operational and service delivery discussions with leadership.
Maintain high client satisfaction by delivering reliable service, transparent reporting, and responsive issue resolution.
Partner with Business Development on renewals, expansions, and special project opportunities within the network.
Collaborate with regional and national leadership to align operational strategies with account-wide goals.
Manage multi-site budgets, including labor, materials, spare parts, contracts, and vendor services.
Monitor operational KPIs such as uptime, downtime reduction, PM compliance, technician productivity, and cost-per-unit.
Utilize dashboards, CMMS data, and monthly financial reviews to ensure performance targets are achieved.
Oversee purchasing and inventory processes to ensure proper controls and cost efficiency.
Maintain strong oversight of receivables, labor management, overtime, and cost-containment initiatives.
Lead a team of Maintenance Managers, Senior Maintenance Managers, Area Managers, and Reliability leaders across the network.
Oversee recruiting, selection, and onboarding of exempt and non-exempt maintenance and technical staff.
Develop succession plans, career paths, and training programs for field teams across multiple skill levels (robotics techs, controls techs, maintenance managers, etc.).
Coach and mentor leaders to build strong operational bench strength and technical capability.
Support employee relations, performance management, and (where applicable) union-related processes.
Ensure all technicians receive required safety, technical, and CMMS training.
Champion a culture of safety within all facilities under your oversight.
Ensure implementation and continuous improvement of safety programs, hazard reporting, LOTO procedures, JSAs, and compliance activities.
Oversee incident management, root cause analysis, and corrective actions in partnership with HSSE and Risk teams.
Track safety KPIs and ensure operational leaders are consistently coaching and reinforcing safe behaviors.
Complete special projects or directives from senior leadership.
Support operational excellence initiatives and cross-functional projects across the broader C&W Services network.