Director, Client Operations at Kepler Group

<p>Kepler executes engineered marketing, where every message and ad delivered helps create a more personalized and productive relationship between brands and their consumers. We do this by acting as clients’ agency of record, as their in-house team, or some hybrid of the two – and by harnessing data and technology across all paid digital media and data-driven CRM channels.</p> <p>Kepler prides itself on being a great place to work.&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>We're&nbsp;<strong>transparent</strong>&nbsp;with our employees. You'll hear updates on company financials, how we're performing against bonus goals, and how we're responding to challenges we face.&nbsp;</li> <li>We're<strong>&nbsp;growing</strong>. For you, that means unparalleled growth opportunities and a role in shaping the direction of the company.&nbsp;</li> <li>We're&nbsp;<strong>fun</strong>. You'll work with and learn from the smartest people in the industry and have a blast doing it.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Position Overview</strong></h3> <p>We are looking for a strategic and highly organized <strong>Director of Operations</strong> to serve as the heartbeat of our agency’s operating system. You will sit at the intersection of <strong>Resource Management</strong>, <strong>Account Health</strong>, and <strong>Business Profitability</strong>, ensuring that our global digital media agency operates like a well-oiled machine.</p> <p>In this role, you aren’t just managing spreadsheets; you are optimizing the way our team works, ensuring our accounts are structured for success, our processes are clear and practical, and we are meeting our account-level financial targets. You will support our team’s ability to deliver great work while delivering on our bottom-line business goals.</p> <h3><strong>Core Responsibilities</strong></h3> <h4><strong>1. Contract &amp; Scope Development (The Foundation)</strong></h4> <ul> <li><strong>SOW Architecture:</strong> Partner with Account, Legal, Finance&nbsp; and Business Development teams to draft, review, and approve Statements of Work (SOWs), ensuring deliverables are clearly defined and risks are mitigated.</li> <li><strong>Pricing Strategy:</strong> In partnership with finance, develop and maintain standardized pricing models and rate cards that reflect the agency's value while protecting profit margins.</li> <li><strong>Contractual Guardrails:</strong> Collaborate with legal and finance to ensure contracts include realistic timelines, clear out-of-scope triggers, and favorable commercial&nbsp; terms.</li> <li><strong>Change Management:</strong> Establish the formal process for identifying and documenting "scope creep," working with relevant Account, Legal and Finance teams to address out-of-scope requests without negative impact on client relationships.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <h4><strong>2. Resource Operations (The Talent Engine)</strong></h4> <ul> <li><strong>Capacity Planning:</strong> Manage agency-wide bandwidth. Forecast hiring needs based on the BD pipeline and expected revenue trajectory.</li> <li><strong>Utilization Management:</strong> Track and optimize billable versus non-billable hours to ensure our "human capital" is deployed efficiently. Proactively ensure department &amp; account leaders are aware of utilization issues within teams and collaborate on resolution.</li> <li><strong>Consultation: </strong>consult with department and account leaders on staffing solutions, including internal capacity, external options, and intercompany working arrangements.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <h4><strong>3. Account Operations (The Delivery Framework)</strong></h4> <ul> <li><strong>Process Architecture:</strong> Support standardization of "How We Work" across the agency, from initial employee onboarding to new tool deployment, delivering large-scale change management support and cross-functional project management.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Tech Stack Ownership:</strong> Oversee the implementation and adoption of project management, profitability, resource management and time-tracking tools (e.g., Planful, Paycom, Asana).</li> <li><strong>Onboarding:</strong> Lead the operational setup for new, high-value clients to ensure seamless integration into the agency workflow.</li> <li><strong>Compliance:</strong> Lead tracking for compliance with key processes, including time card completion, billing &amp; financial processes, certifications, and others as needed within the team.</li> <li><strong>Intercompany Alignment</strong>: support discussions of shared delivery models, initiatives &amp; projects between Kepler and our kyu sister companies.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <h4><strong>4. Business Operations (The Financial Guardrails)</strong></h4> <ul> <li><strong>Profitability Tracking:</strong> Monitor account-level P&amp;Ls. Identify margin erosion early and work with Account or department leads to course-correct.</li> <li><strong>Commercial Support:</strong> Partner with the Finance team on revenue recognition, billing accuracy, and contract renewals to ensure strong operational ways of working.</li> <li><strong>Operational Reporting:</strong> Deliver executive-level reporting regarding topics such as resource utilization, margin trends, project status, and more.</li> <li><strong>Legal:</strong> act as key business liaison between client-facing teams and Kepler’s legal team, submitting contract requests according to Legal team requirements and helping to prioritize competing requests.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <h3><strong>Required Qualifications</strong></h3> <ul> <li><strong>Experience:</strong> 8+ years in agency operations, project management, or account leadership, specifically within the <strong>digital media or advertising</strong> space.</li> <li><strong>Contractual Expertise:</strong> Experience in scoping complex digital projects, ranging from performance media buys to consulting engagements. Knowledge of standard media agency contractual structure &amp; terms is a big plus.</li> <li><strong>Analytical Rigor:</strong> You should be a "data storyteller"—someone who can look at a utilization report and immediately identify the underlying staffing issue.</li> <li><strong>Leadership:</strong> Proven ability to manage a team of junior Operations associates, in addition to being a strong cross-functional operator, capable of building consensus across stakeholders of different backgrounds.&nbsp;</li> <li><strong>Solutions-Oriented</strong>: Demonstrated track record of developing solutions to complex organizational problems or bottlenecks and helping to bring them to life in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.</li> <li><strong>Technical Savvy:</strong> Expert-level knowledge of ERP/SaaS tools and advanced Excel/BI reporting. Demonstrated AI knowledge &amp; integration is strongly preferred.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><strong>Total Compensation:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Base Salary: $140,000 - $160,000</li> <li>Target Annualized Discretionary Bonus: 10% ($14,000 - $16,000)</li> <li>Target Total Cash: $154,000- $176,000</li> </ul> <p><strong>Benefits:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Healthcare/Dental/Vision</li> <li>Unlimited PTO</li> <li>401k Contributions</li> <li>$75/mo Wellness Stipend</li> <li>$100/mo Mobile Phone Stipend</li> <li>$50/mo Internet Stipend</li> <li>$500/yr Annual Learning Stipend</li> <li>$2,000/yr Annual Tuition Stipend</li> <li>One-time $200 New Hire Home Office Equipment Stipend</li> <li>Parental Leave - 16 week primary caregiver / 6 week secondary caregiver leave</li> <li>Annual Work From Anywhere 4 weeks per year</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p>