Director, Consulting Practice Management and Operations

About the Role

PCDC is seeking a Director of Consulting Practice Management and Operations to strengthen the daily, functioning operations of the consulting practice. This is not a back-office role. It is a true thought partner to practice leadership: Someone who owns pricing, capacity planning, client tracking, ad-hoc engagement management, and the systems and culture that let an evolving consulting practice operate well.

Our consulting work spans different funding types, including fee for service client engagements and grant funded programs. This role builds and refines the operational foundation that supports both. You will work closely with practice leaders and staff across the team to keep the business running smoothly while helping it grow.

Key Responsibilities

Strengthening How the Practice Runs

Build standard pricing practices across consulting engagements, connecting cost, capacity, and margin so pricing decisions are consistent.
Develop capacity planning: know current and future capacity of consulting and delivery staff, so staffing decisions are based on real availability.
Own client engagement tracking: follow engagements from scoping through delivery and keep the CRM accurate and up to date.
Build and maintain the system and related guidance to capture client outcomes, learning, and feedback to inform the design of new work and creation of content/approaches
Implement and lead a data-informed, continuous quality improvement process throughout the unit and service lines, focusing on systems/process improvement. Promote regular and ongoing opportunities for all staff to give feedback on unit operations.
Keep teams working with efficient synchronicity across the practice, so different parts of the business support each other instead of duplicating work.
Proactively identify areas of improvement; determine solutions; implement enhancements/changes to improve client delivery.

Team and Practice Health

Support clear, effective communication across the practice.
Contribute to professional development and career growth planning for practice staff, including how roles evolve as the practice grows.
Enable collaboration across consulting team members, regardless of their function.
Help the practice function and feel like one team.

Supporting Growth

Partner with the team on developing new products and services for the practice.
Collect and organize client and market signals picked up by client facing staff, so ideas about new services do not stay scattered.
Support quality checks on outgoing proposals before they reach clients or funders.
Own the process for testing new service ideas before they launch: piloting at a small scale, checking whether the practice can deliver and afford it, and flagging when a new offering needs an outside partner. This is feasibility work, not sales.
Work with PCDC’s External Affairs and Advancement (marketing/communications) team to enable increased team visibility and engagement with target audiences/markets.
Evaluate helpful tools and technology for coaches and project managers as part of ongoing systems work.
Support the planning and data gathering for impact-oriented collateral (i.e. dashboards, compliance reporting, annual report, newsletters, webinars, etc.)
Infrastructure and Cross Team Coordination

Build the operational and administrative infrastructure the practice needs to run well, while serving as a key point of contact with PCDC's central Operations, Finance, and HR teams.
Work directly with Central's operations, finance, and HR leaders as a partner on shared processes.
Work with staff and leadership to fully understand and organize Consulting’s current impact measurement efforts. Act as advisor, teacher, and resource for staff on impact measurement for ourselves and our clients.
Design systems and processes with an eye toward long term growth and stability.

Team Leadership

Lead and develop the staff (project/engagement managers) who report to this role; grow the team's capabilities as the practice matures.
Portfolio Management Support

Plan and manage multiple project work plans, meeting internal and external deliverables in an efficient and timely manner.
Manage vendor and consultant contract execution, compliance management, and vendor management.
Manage portfolio of hourly-billed engagements, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
Contribute to strategies to address pressing large program challenges.

Requirements

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree required. A Master's degree in a business management field, such as an MBA or MPA is preferred.
7+ years of experience in practice management, operations management, or program administration, ideally spanning more than one business line or program area.
Advanced knowledge of project management systems, processes, and best practices.
Experience with project management, CRM, or invoicing systems, and building operational infrastructure from the ground up.
Demonstrated technology savviness and capacity to “dig in” and modify systems to meet users’ needs.
A track record on the scale of leading systems rollout from selection through launch or standing up a new program's staffing and operations from the ground up.
Familiarity with contract compliance and foundation and government grant-funded programs.
Exceptional analytical skills and can present complex analytics in an accessible manner
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and interpersonal skills
Proactively looks for new ideas and ways to improve established systems and work processes
Strong collaboration skills across teams, including finance, legal, HR, and compliance.
Comfort working in a fast-paced environment shaped by client and program needs.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience supporting proposal or pricing development in a professional services or consulting setting.
Experience building administrative infrastructure for a growing organization.
Familiarity with the application and use of generative AI to improve operations and work quality output.
Experience and/or familiarity with healthcare.
Experience with Monday.com platform.
Work Schedule and Travel

Hybrid, with regular in office time, approximately 1 to 2 days a week, at PCDC's Manhattan office. Occasional additional travel may be needed to support program and business activities.