Executive Director, Client Intake & Conflict Management (Americas)

Ankura•Charlottesville, VA

5d•Remote

About The Position

Ankura is seeking an Executive Director to lead its Client Intake & Conflict Management function for the Americas. The role provides strategic and operational oversight of the end-to-end conflicts and client/matter intake process, ensuring checks are timely, accurate, well documented, and consistent with firm policies and business priorities. The Executive Director leads and develops the team, establishes service and quality standards, and serves as the senior escalation point for matters requiring judgment, stakeholder alignment, or executive-level resolution. The leader will work in a high-volume, fast-paced environment and balance risk management with commercial considerations. The position requires confident, diplomatic communication; trusted relationships with senior stakeholders; and strong people leadership to promote stability, accountability, engagement, and consistent performance. The Executive Director will maintain a hands-on role in conflict clearance as operational needs require and support business needs across U.S. time zones, including leadership coverage for urgent matters. Ankura’s Client Intake & Conflict Management team protects the firm, its clients, and its reputation by evaluating and resolving legal and commercial conflicts associated with new matters and business opportunities. The team performs client risk, reputational, high-profile, and strategic assessments; supports intake; and assists with requests for proposals. The function operates across risk management, client service, and business growth.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience.
Significant progressive leadership experience in conflicts, client/matter intake, business acceptance, or a closely related function within consulting, professional services, or a similarly complex organization.
Demonstrated experience leading a conflicts or intake operation at scale, including team management, executive escalations, stakeholder alignment, service delivery, quality control, and process improvement.
Deep understanding of conflicts-of-interest and new client/matter intake principles, particularly in consulting or professional services, including bankruptcy, restructuring, and interim management matters.
Excellent critical-thinking, research, analytical, and issue-spotting capabilities, including the ability to synthesize complex information and formulate clear recommendations.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including communicating with senior executives and facilitating high-stakes discussions.
Proven ability to lead through change, improve operating processes, and use metrics and technology to enhance quality, transparency, efficiency, and service.
Strong proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and Adobe Acrobat.
Collaborative and team-oriented approach, with a commitment to partnerships across business, legal, risk, operations, and technology stakeholders.
Strong organizational and detail-conscious skills, while maintaining an enterprise-level perspective and prioritizing effectively.
Flexibility to adapt as the firm’s services, systems, risk profile, and business needs evolve.
Willingness to maintain a hands-on role in day-to-day conflicts clearance activity.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or relevant professional credential.
Experience in a peer consulting or professional services firm.
Experience with Intapp Open or a comparable conflict and intake platform.
Familiarity with Boolean search logic and external research sources, including PACER.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership and executive oversight of the Conflict Management and client/matter intake function, including its operating model, priorities, service standards, controls, and continuous improvement agenda.
Lead day-to-day conflict check operations, including queue oversight, work in progress, prioritization, escalations, timely processing, procedural compliance, and data integrity.
Serve as the senior escalation and decision-support leader for potential legal, commercial, client, reputational, or relationship conflicts requiring stakeholder alignment.
Partner with senior business and firm leaders to frame complex issues, facilitate discussion, evaluate competing considerations, and drive practical resolutions consistent with firm policy and strategy.
Communicate conflict determinations, risks, constraints, and required actions, including when an opportunity may need to be delayed, modified, or declined.
Establish transparent prioritization and escalation protocols for a high-volume, time-sensitive environment, balancing responsiveness, risk, and business needs.
Review, comment on, and advise regarding engagement letters and intake documentation from a conflicts and intake perspective.
Build, lead, coach, and retain a high-performing team; establish roles, expectations, decision rights, performance standards, development plans, succession coverage, and a culture of accountability, collaboration, and service.
Assess team capacity, workflow, capabilities, training needs, and engagement, and implement sustainable staffing and development approaches that support retention and consistent execution.
Maintain strong internal client service, targeting 24–48-hour turnaround for initial conflict checks and appropriate coverage for urgent and after-hours matters.
Maintain quality controls, including accurate data, complete intake documentation, audit trails, routine review of checks in process, and timely closure of outdated leads.
Oversee complex conflict-of-interest and business-relationship analyses using firm policies, procedures, and conflict analytics tools; ensure sufficient information gathering and appropriate internal and external research.
Own effective use and governance of conflict and new client intake technology, including Intapp Conflicts or a comparable platform; partner on system administration, dashboards, data quality, training, adoption, and process improvements.
Develop and monitor operational metrics and reporting, identify trends and risks, and provide senior leadership with insights on service levels, volume, quality, escalations, capacity, and improvement priorities.
Represent the function in external or cross-functional communications as appropriate and lead other Conflict Management initiatives as business needs evolve.
Support business needs across U.S. time zones and provide leadership coverage for urgent matters when required.
Personally review, analyze, and resolve conflicts matters as needed to support operational demands and service levels.