{"id":3279585,"url":"https://alion.io/job/cushman-wakefield-operations-director","title":"Operations Director","company":{"id":448742,"name":"Cushman & Wakefield","domain":"cushmanwakefield.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/cushmanwakefield-2","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":null},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Chicago, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":127500,"max":150000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":150000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Microsoft Office","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-19","last_verified_at":"2026-10-28T20:49:27Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":70,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":70},"description":"Job Title\nOperations DirectorJob Description Summary\nThe Operations Director is a strategic, hands-on operations leader responsible for the operational health, financial management, and service delivery of Cushman & Wakefield's Chicago market, which also serves as the corporate headquarters office. This is a high-impact role supporting 200+ employees and brokers across two office locations (downtown and suburban), requiring strong leadership presence, sound business judgment, and the ability to translate market priorities into reliable operational outcomes.This leader directly manages the Operations Manager and Facilities Manager, and provides oversight for operations support staff, while ensuring administrative and operational functions are delivered efficiently across the market. The Operations Director partners closely with the Market Leader, Director of Brokerage, and the Regional Director of Operations to implement strategic initiatives, develop the annual business plan and budget, and act as a steward for operational excellence across the sub-region.\nThis position reports directly to the Regional Director of Operations, Midwest.\nJob Description\nMarket Operations Leadership\nOwn the operational health and performance of the Chicago office and corporate headquarters; establish consistent routines, standards, and service expectations.\nServe as a strategic business partner to the Market Leader on operational priorities, planning, and execution.\nAct as the primary escalation point for operational & personnel issues; drive timely resolution and implement preventative controls to reduce recurring friction.\nDrive process improvement and operational efficiency across office functions; standardize best practices and ensure adoption.\nCollaborate with counterparts in other markets and sub-regions to learn and utilize best operational practices.\nDemonstrate expertise across all facets of the company's brokerage business, specifically services provided and clients served.\nPeople Leadership & Culture\nDirectly manage, mentor, and develop the Operations Manager, Facilities Manager, and operations support staff; set clear expectations, coach performance, and build a culture of accountability.\nPartner with HR to recruit, onboard, develop, and retain operations/support talent; own the full hiring lifecycle including job description development, interviewing, and Day 1 readiness coordination.\nPrepare and deliver annual performance reviews and KPIs; own the annual compensation review and reward processes for the market; and work in conjunction with HR on performance issues.\nCoordinate training and enablement for operational policies, procedures, and tools to ensure consistent service delivery.\nFoster an inclusive, high-engagement environment across the office and headquarters.\nFinancial & Business Management\nDirect all financial management for the market, including monthly and annual operating budgets, forecasts, pipeline, and reporting; assess variances for the market and service lines.\nSupport the Market Leader and Regional Director of Operations in developing the annual business plan and budget; solicit input from service lines and market leads at pre-budget meetings.\nReview and approve expense reports, T&E, commission documentation, payables, and resourcing needs at the local level, in accordance with policy.\nOversee deal documentation, Revenue Summary Document approval, and adherence to policy; work with Legal Counsel on standard contract/agreement changes as needed.\nOversee invoice processing and expense coding in Workday; review outstanding receivables and determine collection strategy with the Market Leader.\nPromote CRM compliance for pipeline and revenue reporting; communicate finalized pipeline to market and service line leadership.\nFacilities, Vendor & Office Services\nOversee facilities management including relocations, buildouts, lease management, vendor relations, and compliance/record retention, in partnership with the Facilities Manager.\nSolicit and negotiate vendor bids, contracts, and pricing; ensure vendor records are maintained in Workday Vendor Management.\nOversee the purchasing and maintenance of office supplies and equipment.\nMaintain and implement the business continuity and emergency preparedness plan.\nCoordinate office moves and space planning in conjunction with IT, Telecom, and Real Estate.\nSystems, Compliance & Administration\nEnsure full utilization of C&W tools and resources, including Workday, and the firm's CRM platform (Salesforce).\nTrack broker licenses, professional memberships, and continuing education requirements; follow up on delinquencies.\nEnsure compliance with company policies, record-keeping requirements, and industry/regulatory standards.\nCoordinate office events and conferences in partnership with Marketing and PR.\nBackground, Experience and Competencies\nBachelor's degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and professional experience, preferably in commercial real estate.\n8-10 years of progressively responsible experience in operations, business management, commercial real estate, human resources, finance, or a professional services environment, including direct people management experience.\n4+ years of experience managing a multi-functional team of 25+ direct/indirect reports (required).\nExperience supporting a commercial real estate brokerage platform and operating effectively within a matrixed organization preferred.\nDemonstrated ability to lead and develop high-performing teams while providing strategic direction, coaching, mentoring, and performance management.\nStrong financial acumen with experience in budgeting, forecasting, variance analysis, revenue reporting, expense management, and business planning.\nProven ability to build strong partnerships with Leadership, fee-earners, service line leaders, HR, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Research, IT, and other key stakeholders.\nDemonstrated success managing multiple priorities and urgent deliverables while balancing long-term strategic initiatives and operational excellence objectives.\nStrong written and verbal communication skills with the executive presence and business judgment necessary to interact effectively with leaders at all levels of the organization.\nAdvanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (especially Excel); experience with Workday, Salesforce, and financial reporting tools preferred.\nCushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.\nThe compensation that will be offered to the successful candidate will depend on factors such as whether the position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the geographic area in which the work will be performed, market pay rates in that area, and the candidate’s experience and qualifications.\nThe company will not pay less than minimum wage for this role.\nThe compensation for the position is: $ 127,500.00 - $150,000.00Cushman & Wakefield is an Equal Opportunity employer to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Discrimination of any type will not be tolerated.\nIn compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position at Cushman & Wakefield, please call the ADA line at 1-888-365-5406 or email . Please refer to the job title and job location when you contact us.\nINCO: “Cushman & Wakefield”","description_format":"text","description_chars":8067,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Dental insurance","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Commercial Real Estate","Property Management","Real Estate Brokerage","Facilities Management"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-26T15:49:34Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":9,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.313,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":70,"expected_fill_days":7,"reasons":["conf:0","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-28T05:59:10Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":150000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/cushman-wakefield-operations-director","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/cushman-wakefield-operations-director.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-28T21:05:20Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":29046,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-29T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":448742},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=448742"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcushman-wakefield-operations-director"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcushman-wakefield-operations-director"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcushman-wakefield-operations-director"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/cushman-wakefield-operations-director\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcushman-wakefield-operations-director"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3279585}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"cushmanwakefield.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3279585},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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