For more information: morgan@rsmr.com
US, East Coast:
Our client is a multinational service company specializing in engineering inspection serving a wide variety of industries including transportation and infrastructure. Employing more than 40,000 people located in more than 100 countries, it is one of the largest Testing, Inspection and Consulting (TIC) organization in the world.
The Transportation & Infrastructure practice group is based on the East Coast and provides a wide variety of specialty services to include asset management, certification, consulting, inspection audits, testing analysis and training. This division focuses most of its efforts on departments of transportation and other public sector organizations, but has also begun adapting their services to private sector companies.
RSMR / TRANSEARCH, specialists in global executive search in the manufacturing industry, has been retained to recruit candidates for this key role.
The Role:
Over the last five months, significant progress has been made in repositioning the Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) business unit. We are searching for an Operations Manager to lead this $10 million practice group as the profit and loss manager. This role requires a high achiever who will set the standard for others to follow by sweating the details, carefully controlling costs, and effectively delivering value to their clients. To succeed it will be imperative that this person grow and motivate a strong team of committed project managers, consultants and technicians who will meticulously execute standardized business practices to achieve operational excellence. One of the main goals is to grow the business at a 15% annual rate. Planned increases in revenue, profits, and headcount with some mix of acquisition and organic growth will double the business by the end of 2015.
Along with a strong technical background, ideally an engineer, this role requires some significant financial savvy and an ability to decipher the meaning of corporate metrics. The company generates numerous weekly, monthly and quarterly reports, and it is this individual’s responsibility to review, digest and act upon such material in a timely and effective manner. Such activities may be 30% of the individual’s personal activity. Operational effectiveness is extremely important in this business. Additionally, it will be useful if this person has a strategic mindset to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, whether they are related to employees, customers or acquisition targets.
Candidate Profile:
This is a role for an experienced professional with proven experience in operational performance management and exceptional leadership skills.
The individual we are seeking will be someone who
- Has managed a P&L of $5 Million or more
- Has managed a group larger than 25 people
- Has overseen PM’s and improved their performance
- Has reduced expenses and controlled costs
- Has improved profitability and identified opportunities
- Has built or overseen the development of client relationships
- Understands the challenges of leading a mature team
- Demonstrated understanding of markets and client needs
- Orchestrates exceptional service delivery to clients
- Stays ahead of market trends and develops new services and methods of value delivery
Preferred Experience and Education:
- A technical professional, preferably an engineer, with a verifiable and measurable track record of administering professional services to transportation, structures, or infrastructure organizations
- An individual who has successfully managed the Profit & Loss of a service organization
- An individual possessing outstanding written and verbal communication skills
- An individual who is energetic, “self-motivated” with high standards for professionalism
- A leader experienced with the direct supervision of a technical staff
- A manager possessing a strong comprehension of accounting principles
- A person with strong social skills who enjoys interactions with clients and staff
- An individual with strong analytical skills who will get to the root cause and provide thoughtful solutions
- A financial manager who will maintain tight budgetary control
- A well organized business professional with strong executive functioning skills
Specific Leadership Competencies Required:
- Harvester
- Hungry for Results
- Sweating the Details
- Strong Financial Skills
- Challenge the Status Quo
- Committed
- Team Builder
- Candid
