Director Of Operations

Job Description

Job Description

Are you the kind of operations leader who can see the big picture—and then roll up your sleeves and build what is missing?

Do you create structure where structure does not yet exist?

Are you passionate about using data and technology to drive efficiency and growth?

And are you comfortable respectfully holding talented professionals accountable for commitments and results?

Bixler Moore, LLC is seeking a Director of Operations to help build the operational infrastructure for our next stage of growth.

We are an established and growing Northeast Ohio law firm focused on Estate Planning, Elder Care Planning, and Estate Administration. Our work helps families plan for the future, protect what they have built, care for aging loved ones, and navigate the administration of an estate after a death.

We have seen tremendous growth, have ambitious growth goals, and we know that our next stage cannot simply come from adding more people. It will require better systems, stronger management, thoughtful use of technology and AI, better financial intelligence, clearer accountability, and disciplined execution.

This is not an office manager position. It is also not a strategy-and-delegation position.

We need a hands-on operational leader.

You will be expected to move comfortably between the 30,000-foot view and the details required to make change happen. Sometimes that means developing an operational strategy with the Managing Partner. Sometimes it means personally mapping a broken workflow, building the first version of a dashboard, evaluating software, documenting a process, or sitting with team members to understand why a system isn't working.

As the organization and its management infrastructure mature, the role will increasingly lead through others. But initially, we need someone who is willing and able to build, implement, troubleshoot, refine, and finish.

Compensation:

$110,000 - $130,000 per year with significant bonus opportunities

Responsibilities: Your Four Core PrioritiesBuild the Operating System

Our firm has grown successfully, but not every part of our operational infrastructure has grown at the same pace.

• Your job will be to help build it.

• Map, document, and improve critical workflows.

• Work directly with team members and department leaders to build practical SOPs.

• Standardize processes and improve handoffs between departments.

• Identify bottlenecks, unnecessary work, and opportunities for automation.

• Evaluate and improve our practice-management software, CRM, phone systems, integrations, and broader technology stack.

• Help identify and implement appropriate uses of AI in both legal and business operations.

• Build systems that are actually used—not manuals that sit on a shelf.

• Create structure where structure does not currently exist.

We aren't handing you a finished operating system to manage. We're asking you to help build one.

Create Accountability and Drive Execution

• We believe a collaborative culture and strong accountability should reinforce each other.

• You will help create clear expectations, ownership, measurable outcomes, and a disciplined management rhythm throughout the organization.

• Develop meaningful firm-wide, departmental, and individual KPIs.

• Create practical scorecards and dashboards.

• Build an effective accountability cadence using approaches such as tiered accountability, Lean Daily Management (LDM), huddles, scorecards, or other systems that accomplish the objective.

• Help department leaders identify problems early and solve them at the appropriate level.

• Turn leadership priorities into projects with owners, deadlines, milestones, and measurable results.

• Follow through relentlessly until commitments are completed.

• Help managers coach performance and address problems promptly.

• Create visibility when projects or performance begin drifting off course.

We care more about whether you can build an accountability system that works than whether you use any particular management terminology or methodology.

Build Financial and Management Visibility

• We want operational decisions driven increasingly by reliable information rather than intuition.

• Working with the Managing Partner and our financial professionals, you will help leadership understand both where the business has been and where it is going.

• Develop meaningful operational and financial dashboards.

• Build job-costing systems to understand the actual economics of our services.

• Analyze labor utilization, margins, profitability, expenses, and pricing.

• Develop revenue and cash-flow forecasts.

• Connect pipeline, work in progress, staffing capacity, and projected revenue.

• Help determine when additional hiring is financially and operationally justified.

• Identify capacity constraints before they become crises.

• Use P&L and operational data to identify opportunities for improved profitability and efficiency.

• Help leadership distinguish between what feels busy and what the data actually shows.

This financial component is central to the position. We are looking for a business operator, not an office administrator.

Lead and Scale the Organization

• Ultimately, systems only work if people use them.

• You will work closely with the Managing Partner and department leaders to strengthen the management infrastructure of the firm.

• Help department leaders build and manage high-performing teams.

• Establish clearer roles, ownership, and decision-making authority.

• Coach managers on accountability and execution.

• Lead significant operational changes while earning the trust of an established team.

• Build management systems that allow problems to be solved at the appropriate level.

• Help prioritize competing initiatives and prevent organizational overload.

• Know when to dive into the details and when to step back and look across the entire firm.

• Build an organization that becomes progressively less dependent on the Managing Partner for routine operational decisions.

Success does not mean becoming the person who personally solves every problem. It means building an organization increasingly capable of solving problems without depending on any one person.

Additional Areas of Responsibility

• The Director of Operations will also have responsibility for or meaningful involvement in several other areas of firm operations, including:

• Recruiting, onboarding, HR administration, and workforce planning.

• Employee development and performance-management processes.

• Marketing planning, calendars, execution, vendors, and measurement.

• Client-experience systems and continuous improvement in partnership with the Client Care Director and practice-area leaders.

• Vendor and contract management.

• Facilities and administrative operations.

• Strategic projects and other operational priorities as the organization evolves.

• These responsibilities matter, but the Director's primary mandate is not to become the catch-all for everything without an owner.

The priority is to build the systems, management infrastructure, accountability, and financial visibility that allow the entire organization to perform at a higher level.

Qualifications: What We're Looking For

We are less concerned about whether you have worked in a law firm than whether you have successfully operated and improved a complex service organization.

The right candidate may come from professional services, healthcare, financial services, legal services, multi-location operations, or another organization where people, processes, technology, financial performance, and client experience must work together.

You should bring:

• Significant experience in operations leadership.

• A demonstrated bias toward hands-on execution. You don't just recommend solutions—you build, implement, troubleshoot, refine, and finish them.

• The ability to move between strategic thinking and tactical execution without becoming trapped at either level.

• Demonstrated success creating systems and structure in environments where they were incomplete or did not previously exist.

• Strong team-management skills and experience developing managers.

• Experience creating accountability through clear expectations, measurable outcomes, coaching, and disciplined follow-through.

• Familiarity with LDM, tiered accountability, EOS, daily management systems, or similar frameworks is valuable but not required.

• Strong financial acumen, including comfort with P&Ls, budgeting, forecasting, job costing, margins, ROI, and business metrics.

• Strong analytical skills and experience building useful KPIs, dashboards, and management reporting.

• Excellent project-management skills and a track record of driving initiatives all the way through implementation.

• Strong technology fluency and genuine curiosity about automation, integrations, and emerging AI capabilities.

• Experience with recruiting, HR, performance management, and team development.

• High emotional intelligence and the ability to build trust while maintaining accountability.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong judgment about when to act independently, when to involve others, and when to escalate.

• Low-ego leadership, intellectual curiosity, ownership, and exceptional follow-through.

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience preferred.

• Law firm experience is helpful but not required.

About Company

Bixler Moore LLC is an established Northeast Ohio law firm focused on Estate Planning, Elder Care Planning, and Estate Administration since 1979.

Clients come to us during some of the most important moments in their lives: planning for their families' futures, protecting assets, navigating the challenges of aging, and administering the affairs of someone they have lost.

We believe caring for families with exceptional legal work requires more than talented attorneys. It requires an exceptional organization behind them.

We are entering an important stage of growth and are investing in the leadership, systems, technology, data, management practices, and people necessary to build a stronger and more scalable organization.

The Director of Operations will have a seat at the leadership table and the opportunity to help shape how Bixler Moore operates for years to come.

You will not be stepping into a finished system and maintaining it. You will help build what comes next—and make sure it works.