Director – Project Management Office & Kantata Owner

CrossCountry Consulting•McLean, VA

5d•Remote

About The Position

CrossCountry Consulting is hiring its first dedicated PMO leader and senior business owner of Kantata. The role will establish sound, practical delivery practices and optimize the firm’s existing Kantata platform, with a focus on making workflows more intuitive and user-centric rather than creating unnecessary PMO bureaucracy or implementing a new platform. Kantata supports the engagement lifecycle and connects with Salesforce, Workday, Intacct, Adaptive, and the enterprise data warehouse. The Director will bring a product-owner mindset, project management expertise, knowledge of professional services economics, and the judgment to challenge changes that add complexity without sufficient value. The position governs the engagement lifecycle from Salesforce opportunity through engagement setup and delivery to Intacct and period close. It is accountable for data integrity, reporting accuracy, and consistent processes across pre-engagement pricing and margin modeling, setup, active delivery, month-end close, reporting, and governance. The role works closely with Finance, CITS, RevOps, Accounting & Billing, Staffing, Service Line and Market Leaders, and the Global Delivery Center. As the senior business owner and Executive Sponsor of the Kantata Council, the Director leads platform decisions and owns a multi-year roadmap in partnership with CITS. The role improves adoption and user experience, oversees integrations and business rules, advances data governance and reporting, and supports revenue recognition and month-end data quality. It also coaches Engagement Owners, establishes delivery standards, and serves as an escalation point for engagements or platform issues involving commercial, operational, or relationship risk.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in finance, accounting, business, information systems, or a related field.
12+ years of experience in professional services (consulting, advisory, or accounting) in operations, finance, business systems, or delivery leadership.
At least 4 years leading teams and cross-functional programs.
Proven project management expertise from leading a PMO, delivery function, or large engagement portfolios, including earned value and ETC/EAC methods.
Hands-on Kantata (formerly Mavenlink) experience as a business owner, administrator, or senior power user.
PSA or ERP implementation or optimization experience, with working knowledge of integrations.
Command of professional services economics, including ASC 606 revenue recognition for fixed fee, T&M, and subscription; utilization; ABR; standard cost; margin; and GL structures.
Record of improving enterprise platform adoption and owning firmwide data governance or business rules in a complex, multi-practice environment.
Track record of driving behavior change among senior practitioners using change management methods.
Executive presence and judgment to challenge senior leaders with data and make decisions on the firm's behalf.

Nice To Haves

Prior PMO leadership in a mid-to-large professional services firm.
Experience in a PE-backed, acquisitive environment.
Offshore or global delivery experience.
Familiarity with Salesforce, Workday, Concur, Intacct, Smartsheet, Tableau or Power BI, and EDW/BI tooling.
PMP, PgMP, or equivalent certification.
MBA or CPA.

Responsibilities

Define PMO decision rights, escalation paths, and interfaces with Finance, CITS, RevOps, Accounting & Billing, Staffing, and the Global Delivery Center.
Publish and own delivery standards adapted from PMI/PMBOK and incorporate them into Kantata workflows while Engagement Owners retain responsibility for execution.
Govern SOW completeness, change orders and cumulative overages, ETC/EAC forecast quality, RAG status, risk registers, accounts receivable aging, and engagement closeout with a lessons-learned repository.
Transition forecast accountability to Engagement Owners and build a Community of Practice to coach them, including on difficult client conversations.
Serve as an escalation point for engagements facing commercial or relationship risk.
Partner with Service Line and Global Delivery Center leaders on offshore quality control and cross-time-zone practices; standardize methodologies using Smartsheet and responsible AI practices consistent with firm policy.
Track delivery KPIs, including budget adherence, change order conversion, fixed fee recognition accuracy, AR aging, and training completion.
Serve as the accountable senior business owner and Executive Sponsor of the Kantata Council, with authority to lead, approve, and conclude changes across the engagement lifecycle.
Own a multi-year Kantata roadmap with CITS, prioritize user-experience, operational, executive, and reporting needs, and communicate trade-offs.
Represent practice and end-user interests at the Change Control Board and partner with CITS on vendor relationships and releases.
Track Kantata platform health, including feature adoption, month-end data quality, administrative time, and user satisfaction.
Establish user feedback channels, prioritize high-friction workflows, and simplify setup, forecasting, and change orders while preserving necessary reporting data.
Refine product templates and setup defaults, including staffing mix, and reactivate underused capabilities such as delivery portfolios, manual profiling, milestone management, and fixed fee tools.
Provide Service Line and Market Leaders with real-time visibility into engagement progress, portfolio health, and resource allocation.
Own the practice support model, including ticket triage, service levels, and routing; consolidate training and reference materials into a program that explains commercial and reporting consequences and is embedded in onboarding.
Maintain command of integrations including Salesforce, Workday, Concur, Intacct, Smartsheet, Power BI, and EDW; partner with CITS and Finance on the EDW build.
Co-lead the annual core data model review covering Markets, Service Lines, Capabilities, and Products, weighing proposed changes against reporting continuity.
Own business rules for revenue configuration, utilization, ABR, GL coding, and sales tax, with Finance sign-off where applicable; define setup rules for each product type and validate new products before go-live.
Oversee standard cost and its effect on project margin, Workday attributes driving gross margin, and utilization rules, including distortions associated with acquired-firm hires entering Kantata early.
Engage at the start of every acquisition and ensure structural changes are addressed through governance.
Approve firmwide leadership dashboards built on Kantata data with Finance, manage mid-year adjustments, and run a monthly pre-close data hygiene program to reduce Finance intervention.
Oversee revenue recognition monitoring across Fixed Fee, T&M, and Subscription, identify variances before close, and lead resolution of fixed fee pain points.
Advance pricing and margin modeling, including more accurate generic resource rates by service line and market.
Serve as senior escalation point for complex setup, fixed fee anomalies, change orders, and acquisition integration; apply judgment on materiality and bridge the practice and Finance on reporting.