Director of Service and Branch Operations

Altorfer • East Peoria, IL

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Service and Branch Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for Altorfer’s service organization and heavy branch operations. This role sets the vision and operating standards to deliver safe execution, strong financial performance, consistent processes and metrics, effective leader and technician development, and an outstanding customer experience across all branch locations. The position partners closely with branch leaders and cross-functional teams to align execution with divisional objectives while supporting continuous improvement and scalable growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in service operations, branch operations, or related industrial environments.
• Must be able to travel extensively (approximately 60%), including overnight travel.
• Ability to walk shop floors and branch facilities and engage in field-based operational reviews.
• Demonstrated experience leading multi-location operations with P&L responsibility.
• Strong knowledge of service operations, safety management, performance metrics, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Proven ability to lead and develop leaders, drive change, and influence across functions.
• Strong analytical, communication, and executive presence skills.

Nice To Haves

• advanced degree preferred

Responsibilities

• Champion a safety-first culture and partner with Safety leadership to ensure compliance, continuous improvement, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure consistent implementation of quality standards, processes, and controls across all service operations.
• Promote adherence to company policies, regulatory requirements, and ethical standards.
• Provide strategic leadership for service and branch operations, ensuring alignment with divisional and company goals.
• Translate Altorfer’s service excellence vision into operational standards, metrics, and execution expectations across branches.
• Drive consistent operating rhythms (monthly branch reviews, financial reviews, and action plans) focused on measurable results.
• Build and manage annual operating plans and budgets (revenue, expense, and profitability) in partnership with Finance.
• Monitor financial performance, identify trends and risks, and drive corrective actions as needed.
• Align and monitor operational metrics, including Caterpillar benchmarks, to support data-driven decision-making.
• Lead initiatives to improve service productivity and performance, including continuous improvement efforts toward divisional service FRP targets (target < 1.0).
• Lead, coach, and develop branch operations and service management leaders, fostering accountability, engagement, and high performance.
• Support succession planning, leadership development, and building capability across the branch network.
• Reinforce Altorfer core values through leadership behaviors, communications, and decision-making.
• Partner with Product Support, Sales, and Marketing to define service sales initiatives and customer coverage strategies.
• Ensure consistent customer experience standards across branches, with a focus on responsiveness, reliability, and issue resolution.
• Maintain strong customer relationships and support resolution of escalated service concerns.
• Standardize key processes and performance metrics across regions; develop and maintain SOPs for critical operations.
• Own technical capacity planning and development (headcount, training plans, and related planning inputs).
• Maintain and oversee standard job databases and job review processes to ensure accuracy, consistency, and adoption.
• Establish and maintain process alignment with internal teams and Caterpillar requirements.
• Partner with Facilities, Engineering, and Finance to support capital planning, governance, and ROI evaluation.
• Participate in prioritization and oversight of major facility improvements, capacity expansions, and infrastructure investments.
• Support vendor relationships, contractor selection, and cost discipline for major facility and engineering initiatives.
• Analyze service truck and fleet costs; guide purchasing, configuration standards, lifecycle plans, and lease vs. own decisions.
• Develop TT&M rates that recover and exceed fleet costs; ensure decisions are supported by data and total cost of ownership.

Benefits

• Health, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance
• 401(k)
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave and Funeral Leave
• Paid Time Off: Prorated 80 hours of PTO + 1 Floating Holiday
• Education Assistance
• Personal Tool Insurance, and Safety Equipment Reimbursement
• Voluntary Benefits: Supplemental Insurance, Accident, Critical and Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Legal Assistance and Identity & Fraud Protection

What This Job Offers

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