[Hiring] Director, Client Delivery @Somewhere

Role Description

You will own client delivery across the firm. You are accountable for ensuring every active client engagement lands on scope, on margin, and with the client wanting more. You know our deliverables inside and out, hold our consultants accountable to those standards, and lead the response whenever an account or a consultant gets off track.

This is a senior leadership role focused entirely on overseeing client delivery— you will not carry your own client caseload. Your time goes toward setting the quality standard for every deliverable, leading and developing our consultant bench, managing engagement economics, and expanding our existing accounts.

You will work directly with our CEO, with clear ownership of scope, delivery standards, and the consultant experience inside our engagements, supported by decision rights defined in writing from day one.

What You Will Do

• Delivery Quality and Standards
  • Own the quality bar for every deliverable, from handbooks and compliance reviews to job architecture, compensation, and org design.
  • Build a clear project plan for every engagement, featuring defined deliverables and target dates, working alongside the assigned consultant.
  • Review work before it reaches the client and hold consultants to the established standard, on time and as scoped.
  • Serve as the primary resource when consultants (especially mid-level team members) have questions on approach, judgment, or complex client situations.
• Engagement P&L and Scope Management
  • Own gross margin across every client engagement: track hours against budget monthly and act on overruns before they impact profitability.
  • Help consultants recognize when a client request falls outside the agreed scope, deciding how to respond: absorb, rescope, or propose a change in deliverables.
  • Immediately surface the operational impact whenever a consultant shifts focus to an urgent client issue and planned work slips.
  • Recommend pricing and staffing changes when an engagement proves structurally unprofitable.
• Account Health and Escalations
  • Act as the primary escalation point when a client raises a concern about a consultant or a deliverable: gather facts within 24 hours, recommend a solution to the CEO, and execute the resolution.
  • Identify patterns rather than isolated incidents. If a deliverable or consultant repeatedly slips, refine the process, update QA steps, or recommend a staffing adjustment.
  • Maintain a clear health dashboard across all accounts so potential issues are visible before clients raise them.
• Consultant Leadership and Coaching
  • Provide consultants with direct, constructive feedback on their work quality and client communication.
  • Lead our consultant bench: manage assignments, availability, and readiness for incoming work.
  • As new clients onboard, utilize our assignment board to select the right fit, confirm skills and availability, and present a recommended match to the CEO.
  • Help onboard and evaluate new consultants before they take on active accounts.
• Account Growth
  • Identify consulting upsells and expansion opportunities inside existing accounts based on project insights.
  • Shape expansion proposals alongside the CEO and help present them to clients.
• Workflows, SOPs and AI Automation
  • Build out our delivery SOPs and playbook detailing how core deliverables are scoped, built, reviewed, and handed off.
  • Own AI automation for client delivery: identify where automation can support project plans, deliverable tracking, reminders, scoping, and consultant matching, collaborating with our CIO/Co-founder on implementation.
  • Connect those automations to existing tools, including HubSpot, Slack, Asana, and Claude.

How Success Is Measured

• Engagement Margin: Every engagement meets or exceeds its target gross margin, reviewed monthly.
• Retention & Expansion: Strong client renewals paired with identified upsell opportunities inside the existing book of business.
• Delivery Quality: Deliverables delivered on time and on scope; escalations resolved within one week.
• Bench Readiness: Consultants effectively utilized, matched quickly to new work, and receiving regular performance feedback.
• Delivery Playbook: Documented SOPs for each core service established after your first 90 days.

In Your First 90 Days

• Master every active engagement, its scope, assigned consultant, and financial margin.
• Implement a structured project plan with clear dates for every account.
• Conduct a formal feedback session with every active consultant.
• Take full ownership as the primary escalation point for consultant and deliverable issues, bringing clear facts and proposed solutions to the CEO.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of HR experience with broad generalist depth across employee relations, compliance, compensation, policies, and organizational design.
• 3+ years leading consultants, client engagements, or HR teams, ideally within a consultancy, fractional firm, or agency setting.
• Commercial instinct: Experience managing a budget or project P&L, with a sharp eye for alignment between billed hours and project scope.
• Direct communication style: Comfort giving constructive feedback to consultants and establishing clear scope boundaries with clients.
• Executive presence: Exceptional communication skills suitable for working with founders, CEOs, and COOs.
• Project management focus: Proven track record of building specific, actionable project plans that teams follow.
• AI Fluency: Active experience using AI tools in daily workflows, paired with enthusiasm for driving operational AI automation.
• Software proficiency: Hands-on experience with tools like HubSpot, Slack, and Asana.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience supporting media, publishing, or technology companies.
• Senior HR certifications (SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or equivalent).
• Background building operational automations or AI-driven workflows.