Vice President, Operations East
About The Position
Zūm provides safe, reliable, technology-enabled student transportation for school districts. The Vice President of Operations leads multi-market operations and the regional P&L in the East, managing general managers and their teams while maintaining safe, on-time bus service. This hands-on, start-up-mode role builds and standardizes operating processes, launches new districts and yards, and supports established markets as they grow. The role owns the operating rhythm across daily route coverage, dispatch, on-time performance, safety communications, and escalations; weekly KPI action plans, labor reviews, customer launch calls, payroll dashboards, and accounts receivable collections; monthly safety, union compliance, forecast, and liquidated-damages reviews; and seasonal readiness, budgeting, renewals, and scaling forecasts. It also oversees the transition of new contracts from Sales through launch and stabilization, including contract review, backward planning, staffing and training, labor and compliance setup, customer readiness, go-live support, and post-launch review. The VP serves as a senior operational contact for school district leaders and an escalation point for district and union disputes. The position works closely with Sales, Customer Success, Finance, HR, Legal, Safety, and Technology, and may support bargaining, grievances, discipline, incident investigations, and service-disruption planning. Zūm is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment on legally protected grounds.
Requirements
- At least 10 years of operations experience, including at least 5 years leading multi-site or multi-region teams in student transportation, logistics, or similar safety-critical field operations.
- Experience in high-growth or turnaround settings, launching sites and building processes from scratch.
- Strong financial skills in budgeting, forecasting, expense control, and accounts receivable management.
- Direct union experience, including collective bargaining agreement administration, grievances, discipline, and bargaining.
- Skill in renewals and escalations with school districts and unions.
- Command of DOT/FMCSA, CDL, and state pupil-transportation requirements.
- Public-sector contract experience, including service-level agreements and liquidated damages.
- Ability to interpret operational and workforce data and turn it into weekly action.
- Strong multitasking and proactive planning skills, with exceptional written and verbal communication.
- Willingness to travel.
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Responsibilities
- Own regional on-time performance, route coverage, and service quality.
- Manage the regional P&L, budget, forecast accuracy, and expense control.
- Lead contract renewals and accounts receivable, including disputed invoices and liquidated damages.
- Serve as the escalation point for district and union contract disputes, working with Legal and HR.
- Coordinate field operations with Sales, Customer Success, Finance, HR, Legal, Safety, and Technology.
- Lead and coach general managers and field managers, address performance issues, and run promotion panels.
- Lead incident reviews, make documented discipline decisions, and oversee safety training and records.
- Support bargaining, grievances, arbitration, and collective bargaining agreement implementation.
- Serve as the senior operational contact for district leaders.
- Oversee driver hiring, spare ratios, CDL training, retention, and recognition.
- Evaluate routing vendors and support yard and equipment readiness.
- Manage the daily operating rhythm, including route coverage, dispatch, on-time performance, safety messages, and same-day escalations.
- Lead weekly KPI releases and action plans, labor reviews, customer launch calls, payroll dashboard reviews, and AR collections.
- Oversee monthly safety themes, union dues and benefits compliance, forecast-to-actual review, and liquidated damages reconciliation.
- Lead seasonal back-to-school readiness, budget planning, renewals, and 45-day scaling forecasts.
- Launch new districts and yards while operating existing markets, moving people and fleet across markets as needed.
- Write and standardize SOPs, RACIs, and protocols; step in directly when a manager leaves or a launch stalls.
- Own new-contract handoffs from Sales through Day One and stabilization, including contract review, launch planning, staffing, training, labor and compliance setup, customer readiness, go-live support, and post-launch review.
- Participate as needed in bargaining, grievances, discipline, incident investigations, and service-disruption planning.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Executive
