PPK - Operations Manager, Private Equity Practice

ABOUT US

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future. Across 61 offices in 38 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest $2 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1 percent among other consulting firms. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry.

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

You’ll join the Product, Practice and Knowledge (PPK) group in one of our practices. “Practices” are how we group and organize our solutions and products based on our clients’ industry or business function. They’re integral to how we win and deliver results to our clients and are a key strategic priority within our firm. Operations roles are critical in helping to drive and measure the strategic direction and operations of a practice.

Bain & Company is the leading consulting partner to the private equity (PE) industry and its stakeholders. PE consulting at Bain has grown eightfold over the past 15 years and now represents about one-third of the firm’s global business. We maintain a global network of more than 2,000 experienced professionals serving PE clients. Our practice is more than triple the size of the next-largest consulting company serving PE firms.

WHERE YOU’LL FIT WITHIN THE TEAM

The Operations Manager (OM) independently manages global practice operations and collaborates with senior practice leadership to support the execution of strategy. Managers provide insights and recommendations to leadership, derived from high quality analysis and synthesis of data, and ensure progress against initiatives.

Responsibilities may include supporting strategic plan development and driving practice reporting, budget planning/execution, and KPI setting. The Operations Manager may also play a role in the tracking and effective deployment of practice affiliates/experts/advisors, as well as commercial support. Managers support the content and planning for practice meetings, trainings, and calls.

They oversee consistency and standards across practice, understanding senior leadership’s needs, taking advantages of economies of scale and innovations to create ‘one single source of truth’ for practice leadership decision-making.

Practice planning and strategy execution

• Works with senior team members to enable Practice leadership to implement and evaluate the global strategy and additional initiatives
• Works as a thought-partner with regional and solution leaders to set KPIs for the practice, drives the practice planning process, integrating and synthesizing elements (e.g., solution, sector, region, revenue, client accounts) into the full plan; adds and balances inputs from stakeholders such as Finance and Partners
• Manages the solution/sector/region input process and aggregation for annual budget submission and reforecasts, including realignment/trade-offs; monitors progress
• Interprets trends and highlight issues requiring intervention, e.g. cost recovery or commercial initiatives
• Proactively flags gaps and opportunities; recommends in-year tradeoffs

Practice operations and reporting (may include select Solutions/Commercial/Regional operations)

• Drives the design and execution of practice reporting and metrics (revenue, commercial pipeline, Partner and ringfence utilization, price realization, post-acquisition); build or maintain models/databases; ensure data integrity and drill down to resolve discrepancies
• Oversees data and extracts insights used to inform practice decision-making, e.g., post-acquisition, select PE case data, cost recovery
• Implements repeatable models; use the latest technology including automation, visualization, data and AI tools to work more effectively and drive efficiency in processes
• Supports preparation of senior leadership meetings with key stakeholders; including client-ready materials on practice performance
• Ensures solution/sector/regional teams are aware of and adopt KPI definitions established by global practice team, Finance, and others
• Optimizes intra-practice operational work through best practice sharing, centralization, automation or zero-basing; champions consistency in reporting standards

Affiliate management and meetings (may be within specific domain or across practice)

• Owns affiliate administration (may be within specific domain or across practice), may include support to the HLA process and/or recommendations on resourcing/staffing decisions
• Drives talent tracking and projects, e.g. expert and advisor staffing tracking, outside hiring, capability building, team surveys, internal staffing allocations, engagement
• Supports leadership on practice meetings and calls; oversees operations-related content; coordinates on meeting logistics with Events team

Commercial Operations

Practice communications and teaming

• Effectively manages the PD of juniors on team through coaching and performance feedback (1 direct report)
• Oversees the production and drafts copy of newsletters
• Drives internal PPK team management, e.g. coordinates practice-wide NPS monitoring, ombudsperson role
• Ensures high quality results, may oversee analysis done by junior(s) within or outside of the Operations team
• Onboards and apprentice team members
• Administers BCN & Persistent IP resources
• Works seamlessly across Bain functions to share information and create alignment

ABOUT YOU

• Bachelor of Arts, Engineering, Science, or equivalent undergraduate degree with strong academic credentials; Statistics, Business, or Economics concentrations also applicable; MBA is a plus
• 8-13 years of experience in a professional services firm environment

• You are intellectually curious and have a positive mindset

• You have a consistent track record of delivering strong results, including the ability to execute multiple projects at once using strong work planning skills
  • You have strong problem-solving and analytical abilities; you drive experimentation and innovation
  • You have a command over Microsoft and automation applications (Excel, PowerPoint, PowerApps, Python) and skilled with data modelling, analysis and other tools (e.g., Alteryx, Tableau, AI/GBTs/prompt engineering)

• You are known for your high-quality work, attentive to detail and very organized

• You have strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to establish credibility with senior business executives
• You are a strong team player with a demonstrated ability to motivate team members and a willingness to be flexible in meeting the needs of the practice and stakeholders
• You can operate independently (comfortable with a remote supervisor, juniors, and wider team) and manage competing priorities with minimal supervision
• You have the maturity and integrity to manage confidential information and use technology in a responsible way (e.g. AI)
• You have experience with business and performance measurement, strategic planning, finance/budget management, project management. You may also be familiar with consulting, recruiting/talent management, or business development

WHAT MAKES US A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

We are proud to be consistently recognized as one of the world's best places to work, a champion of diversity and a model of social responsibility. We are currently ranked the #1 consulting firm on Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work list, and we have maintained a spot in the top four on Glassdoor's list for the last 12 years. We believe that diversity, inclusion and collaboration is key to building extraordinary teams. We hire people with exceptional talents, abilities and potential, then create an environment where you can become the best version of yourself and thrive both professionally and personally. We are publicly recognized by external parties such as Fortune, Vault, Mogul, Working Mother, Glassdoor and the Human Rights Campaign for being a great place to work for diversity and inclusion, women, LGBTQ and parents.