Search Operations Manager

10th St. Talent; Columbia Township (MO); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

401(k)

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

10th St. Talent is seeking a Search Operations Manager to own search-level project management, quality, and funnel health across 20+ concurrent searches. This internal role does not engage with clients, focusing on execution, margins, and process adherence.

The ideal candidate is data-literate, tracks metrics with CRM analytics and dashboards, and uses AI to analyze data and automate repetitive work while recruiters stay focused on candidates and growth.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in professional services delivery/project management or rev ops.
• Fluent in funnel math and pipeline analytics.
• Proficient with CRM analytics, dashboards, and using AI to analyze data.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and drive change.
• Comfortable with 20+ active searches and rapid context-switching.

Responsibilities

• Benchmark and track search funnel conversion against firm baselines.
• Run weekly search reviews with recruiters to monitor milestones and pipeline depth.
• Ensure client-ready deliverables and CRM hygiene before release.
• Manage analyst pool (5+ contractors); allocate resources across searches.

Skills

5+ years experience

Data-driven

CRM analytics

Dashboards

AI literacy

Stakeholder influence

Context-switching

Tools

Claude AI

Job description

We’re a fast-growth, highly agile shop looking for a generalist who is comfortable flexing without a playbook: priorities move, we build the process, use it, and adjust when it stops working.

10th St. Talent is a retained executive search firm backed by Permanent Equity, placing senior leaders in PE-backed and founder-led companies. The firm has seen steady and impressive growth over its three years, doubling in size each year. The growth has also added layers of scale complexity as the team and search count grows.

The Search Operations Manager will own search-level project management and quality across the firm’s active searches (20+ concurrent searches). This is not a recruiting role. It is an operational role focused on funnel health, execution quality, process adherence, and margin protection. The right person is deeply data-literate, catches blips in numbers before they become problems, and builds the rhythm that lets recruiters focus on candidates while the CEO focuses on growth.

How We Work

Each search is run by a Principal Recruiter who owns the client relationship, supported by one or more Analysts who source candidates and manage ATS hygiene. The Search Operations Manager sits alongside this structure as a purely internal role. They project-manage every active search with the Recruiter and Analysts but do not engage directly with clients.

Core Responsibilities

Search Funnel Analysis & Evaluation

• Benchmark stage-over-stage conversion rates against firm averages; identify which searches are healthy, thinning, or need intervention
• Pioneer the project of establishing firm-level search benchmarks by role seniority (conversion rates, time-in-stage, time-to-fill) so every search is measured against the right baseline
• Track leading indicators (outreach velocity, response rate, time-in-stage, pipeline depth) and produce a weekly search health dashboard for the CEO

Search Delivery & Pacing

• Run weekly search-level reviews with each recruiter: milestones on track, pipeline depth adequate, next bottleneck identified
• Identify blockers early and partner with the CEO and recruiter to unblock stalled searches
• Enforce tiered process cadence by contract value — right-sizing process depth/speed so lower-fee searches stay profitable without sacrificing quality
• Track time-to-fill, days-in-market, and aging metrics; elevate aging searches with a recommendation

Quality & Deliverable Review

• Ensure all deliverables are client-ready and meet 10th St.’s quality bar before they go out
• Audit CRM hygiene and process adherence: pipeline stages current, activities logged, pass reasons documented, candidate data complete

Capacity & Resource Management

• Monitor recruiter workload and flag imbalances; coordinate analyst/sourcer allocation across searches based on priority and pipeline needs
• Help define priorities for analysts with regard to workload distribution
• Manage the analyst pool (5+ contractors). Hold them accountable, coach and develop them, and help build systems that improve their efficiency

Profile

• 5+ years in professional services delivery project management or rev ops
• Fluent in funnel math — can look at a pipeline and immediately see where conversion is breaking down and why
• Comfortable in data & with new tools: CRM analytics, dashboards, and using AI to perform data analysis (Claude Code a plus). Doesn’t need a data team to pull their own numbers
• Operational mindset: builds systems, enforces standards, runs meetings with structure, follows up relentlessly. Organization + action + accountability
• Ability to influence stakeholders and empower change
• AI-fluent: uses AI tools as a daily part of the job to analyze data, build workflows, and automate repeatable work
• Concise communicator: gets to the point, gives the yes or no first, and doesn’t overcomplicate
• Comfortable with constant context-switching across 20+ active searches
• No recruiting background required; curiosity and openness to learning how search works matter more

Key Performance Indicators

• Margin per search by contract tier
• Average time-to-fill and days-in-market across portfolio
• Efficiency of analyst team (able to support effectively across more searches)
• Base Salary: Commensurate with experience
• Bonus: Tied to KPIs and up to 10% of base salary
• Health Insurance, 401(k), unlimited PTO

You’d be great for this role if you’ve come from:

• Program Manager, Project Manager (agency or consulting), Implementation Manager, or Delivery Manager
• Revenue Operations Manager, Sales Operations Manager, or Marketing Operations Manager
• Business Intelligence Analyst, Operations Analyst, Business Operations Manager, or Strategy & Operations