Head of Operations & Client Delivery

About the opportunity

A new U.S.-based advisory business is being established to help European companies enter, invest, and grow in the United States, while also supporting U.S. companies and investors pursuing opportunities in Italy and broader Europe.

The business will provide strategic advisory and project coordination across the full lifecycle of cross-border initiatives, including feasibility assessment, business planning, market entry, financing coordination, project execution, and ongoing monitoring.

We are seeking a senior, hands-on Head of Operations & Client Delivery to help establish the U.S. business and support its Managing Director and founders in translating the firm's strategy into a disciplined, scalable operation.

This is a highly visible leadership role for someone who can create structure in a new business, oversee day-to-day execution, and lead complex client engagements. The successful candidate will work closely with the Managing Director and serve as a key operational partner as the business is established and grows.

The successful candidate must be based within a reasonable commute of New York City by car or train to support at least 3 days a week in the BIP office in Midtown Manhattan.

The role

The Head of Operations & Client Delivery will coordinate the day-to-day operation of the business and ensure that strategic priorities are translated into clear plans, accountable execution, and high-quality client delivery.

During the launch and early growth phase, the successful candidate will assume broad operational responsibility, helping put in place the people, processes, controls, and management routines required to support the business.

As the company develops, the role will continue as a senior leadership position working alongside the Managing Director, with particular responsibility for:

• Business operations and execution
• Client engagement management
• Financial and commercial discipline
• Team and resource coordination
• Internal and external stakeholder management
• Development of scalable operating processes

This is not a traditional corporate operations role. The successful candidate must be able to move comfortably between business planning, financial management, client delivery, project leadership, and hands-on problem-solving.

Key responsibilities

Support the Managing Director and founders

• Work closely with the Managing Director and founders to translate the company's strategy into operating priorities, plans, budgets, and measurable objectives.
• Provide day-to-day leadership and coordination across the business, ensuring that decisions are implemented and followed through.
• Prepare management information, operating updates, financial reports, and decision materials for the Managing Director and founders.
• Act as a trusted operational partner, identifying issues early and bringing forward practical recommendations.
• Represent the business in internal, client, and partner discussions when appropriate.
• Ensure effective communication and coordination among the Managing Director, founders, employees, clients, professional partners, and external advisors.
• Provide continuity of leadership and execution during the company's launch and early development.

Establish and manage the operating platform

• Help establish the operating infrastructure, management routines, policies, controls, and performance measures required for a new professional-services business.
• Develop practical processes for proposals, client onboarding, project initiation, resource planning, contracting, billing, collections, expenses, and management reporting.
• Coordinate day-to-day operations across finance, administration, HR, technology, vendor management, compliance support, and office operations.
• Work effectively with shared-service teams and external legal, accounting, tax, insurance, and other professional advisors.
• Clarify responsibilities and handoffs among the company, professional partners, shared resources, and third-party providers.
• Create processes that provide appropriate discipline and risk management while remaining suited to a lean, entrepreneurial business.
• Maintain effective documentation, reporting, and follow-through across multiple workstreams.

Coordinate financial and commercial management

• Support the preparation and management of the annual operating plan, budget, cash-flow forecast, and financial performance reporting.
• Track revenue, project economics, utilization, costs, margins, billing, collections, and liquidity.
• Develop management dashboards that give the Managing Director and founders clear visibility into business performance.
• Support the development and review of client pricing structures, including fixed-fee, retainer, project-based, and appropriately structured performance-related arrangements.
• Coordinate the commercial review of proposals, engagement scopes, budgets, and client agreements.
• Monitor engagements against agreed scope, fees, resources, and delivery commitments.
• Identify financial, commercial, or operating risks and escalate them promptly.
• Coordinate with qualified legal or compliance professionals where proposed activities or compensation arrangements require specialist review.

Lead and support client delivery

• Serve as an engagement leader, project executive, or operational lead for selected client assignments.
• Translate client objectives into clearly defined scopes, workplans, deliverables, budgets, milestones, and governance structures.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams of internal professionals and external legal, tax, accounting, financial, technical, and other specialist advisors.
• Monitor delivery against agreed timelines, budgets, milestones, and client expectations.
• Identify project risks, delays, dependencies, and deviations, and coordinate appropriate corrective action.
• Maintain strong communication and information flow among clients, internal teams, counterparties, and external advisors.
• Review client deliverables for quality, clarity, consistency, and commercial relevance.
• Provide regular project reporting to clients and the Managing Director.
• Help establish consistent delivery standards across the firm.

Client assignments may include preliminary assessments, feasibility studies, business-plan development, cross-border project coordination, market-entry support, financing coordination, project launch and execution, post-closing monitoring, and ongoing advisory support.

Support growth and business development

• Support the Managing Director and founders in refining the company's positioning, service offering, target-client strategy, and go-to-market approach.
• Help evaluate and qualify prospective client opportunities.
• Assess whether potential engagements are strategically attractive, commercially viable, appropriately structured, and operationally deliverable.
• Lead or support the preparation of proposals, presentations, engagement scopes, budgets, and commercial terms.
• Participate in senior-level business-development meetings in the United States and Europe.
• Help convert founder-led opportunities into a repeatable and institutional business-development process.
• Coordinate cross-border opportunities and joint pursuits with professional partners and sector specialists.
• Support relationship management with executives, entrepreneurs, investors, financial institutions, and professional-services partners.
• Maintain visibility into the opportunity pipeline, proposal activity, expected revenue, and resource requirements.

Coordinate the team

• Help recruit, onboard, and coordinate the company's initial professional and administrative team.
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, decision rights, objectives, and ways of working.
• Allocate internal and external resources across client engagements and operating priorities.
• Create practical standards for project management, documentation, client communication, and quality control.
• Coach junior and mid-level professionals and support their development.
• Help determine when work should be performed internally, through shared resources, or by appropriately qualified external professionals.
• Promote a collaborative, accountable, commercially aware, and client-focused culture.

Candidate profile

Required experience

• Significant experience in management consulting, transaction advisory, professional services, corporate development, business transformation, or a comparable client-service environment.
• Experience operating at a senior level within a growing business, advisory practice, business unit, or entrepreneurial organization.
• Demonstrated ability to establish processes, management routines, and operating discipline in a developing organization.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow management, pricing, project economics, and management reporting.
• Experience leading complex client engagements involving multiple stakeholders and professional disciplines.
• Strong understanding of professional-services delivery, including scoping, resourcing, project governance, billing, collections, and quality assurance.
• Evidence of working effectively with founders, Managing Directors, Partners, or other senior business leaders.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and take ownership while operating within an agreed leadership and governance structure.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the executive presence to represent the business credibly with clients and partners.
• Proven ability to move between strategic priorities and detailed execution.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred experience

• Experience supporting the launch or expansion of a consulting, advisory, or professional-services business.
• Experience with cross-border U.S.-European business, particularly involving Italy.
• Exposure to market entry, business formation, operating-model design, corporate development, M&A, financing, or post-transaction implementation.
• Experience coordinating legal, tax, accounting, financial, and other specialist advisors.
• Familiarity with the regulatory boundaries affecting business advisory, financing, investment, and transaction-related activities.
• Experience working with both entrepreneurial businesses and larger international organizations.
• MBA, finance, accounting, legal, or another relevant advanced qualification.
• Italian-language capability is advantageous but not required.

What will make someone successful

The strongest candidate will be:

• A genuine operating partner: Comfortable supporting a Managing Director while taking clear ownership of day-to-day execution.
• Entrepreneurial: Energized by building a new business rather than inheriting a mature operating platform.
• Hands-on: Willing to create a project plan, review a client deliverable, resolve a billing issue, and participate in an executive meeting.
• Commercially disciplined: Able to balance growth with sound pricing, capacity planning, cash management, and risk awareness.
• Client-oriented: Credible with founders, senior executives, investors, and professional advisors.
• Highly organized: Able to create clarity across multiple projects, stakeholders, and jurisdictions.
• Collaborative: Effective in a structure involving a Managing Director, founders, shared-service teams, strategic partners, and external professionals.
• Comfortable with evolving responsibilities: Able to take broad ownership during the launch phase and adapt as the leadership team and organization develop.
• Accountable: Motivated by building a successful business rather than by title or hierarchy.
• Pragmatic: Able to make progress despite ambiguity while recognizing when specialist advice or senior approval is required.

Location and working model

This position is based in New York, New York , with regular in-person engagement and periodic domestic and international travel expected. The final working model will be discussed during the selection process.

Compensation and benefits

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $200,000-$225,000 plus eligibility for 20% bonus and company benefits.

Final compensation will depend on the successful candidate's experience, qualifications, and the agreed scope of responsibilities.

The company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities. Employment decisions will be based on business needs, role requirements, qualifications, and merit without unlawful discrimination.