Senior Manager and Director, Operational Value Creation - Cost & Productivity

West Monroe•Chicago, IL

2d•$184,900 - $250,000

About The Position

Are you ready to make an impact? Director and Senior Manager / Manager – Cost & Productivity Role Overview West Monroe is expanding its Operational Value Creation practice with a focus on helping clients identify, prioritize, activate and realize sustainable cost reduction and productivity enhancements. We are seeking Director and Senior Manager / Manager level candidates with strong experience identifying and executing cost reduction across third-party spend, including indirect and direct categories by leveraging AI-enabled insights to drive value creation. This role requires a leader who has delivered real P&L savings, and who can leverage data, analytics, and emerging AI-enabled tools to accelerate insight, improve decision-making, and sustain results.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in management consulting or advisory roles
Experience working with middle-market clients ($500M–$2B revenue)
Deep expertise in third-party spend cost reduction, including indirect and direct categories
Proven track record of executing cost programs, not just diagnosing opportunities
Experience applying analytics, automation, or AI-enabled tools to procurement or cost programs
Strong client relationship skills and executive presence
Demonstrated success leading teams and managing complex stakeholder environments

Nice To Haves

Experience with PE-backed portfolio companies
Exposure to agentic or workflow-based automation in procurement, sourcing, or spend management
Comfort operating in ambiguous, execution-oriented environments

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end cost reduction programs across indirect and direct spend categories
Identify, size, and prioritize cost reduction opportunities using spend analytics, benchmarks, and AI-enabled insights
Design and execute sourcing, demand management, supplier rationalization, and should-cost initiatives
Apply AI- and automation-enabled approaches to: Accelerate spend visibility and opportunity identification Support category strategy development Improve governance and savings tracking
Own execution through savings realization, governance, and sustainability
Serve as a trusted advisor to client executives (CFO, COO, CPO, Operations leaders)
Lead and develop multi-disciplinary teams, including procurement, operations, data, and change resources
Contribute to building repeatable, AI-enabled category playbooks and toolkits
Support business development by articulating a clear, execution-led value proposition

Benefits

Employees (and their families) are covered by medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance.
Employees are able to enroll in our company’s 401k plan, purchase shares from our employee stock ownership program and be eligible to receive annual bonuses.
Employees will also receive unlimited flexible time off and ten paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
Eligibility for ten weeks of paid parental leave will also be available upon hire date.

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