Senior Director, Business Operations

RAPP; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 165,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

401(k)

Stock options

Vacation days

Parental leave

Job summary

RAPP Chicago is seeking a Senior Director, Business Operations to join our award-winning Program Management team. You will lead a team of operations and finance professionals, partner with Domain Leads, and act as the voice of the client across internal initiatives to sync Finance, Resourcing, Recruiting and HR.

This role drives governance, delivery excellence, and organizational alignment for government projects.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in business/financial operations with 6+ years leading in a manager role.
• Proven ability to lead and influence large cross-functional teams across multiple departments and the executive level without explicit authority.
• Finance background or equivalent professional experience.
• Change management expertise in leading organizational transformation with confidence and handles conflict constructively.
• Strong executive presence; builds solid relationships across the organization and with external stakeholders.
• Expert at process improvement and driving operational improvements company-wide.
• Owns P&L and budget management across multiple departments.
• Connects day-to-day operations to the bigger company strategy and goals.
• Builds and develops high-performing teams; comfortable restructuring departments when needed.
• Deep expertise in Quality Assurance, financial operations, compliance, and internal controls.
• Strong analytical skills; turns data into solid business recommendations and strategic plans.
• Proficient with enterprise tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, JIRA, Workfront, Smartsheets)
• Skilled negotiator with experience managing vendors and third-party relationships; handles conflict well and leads organizational change

Responsibilities

• Oversee financial controls, budget allocation, compliance frameworks across the account.
• Establish governance standards, audit processes, and financial policies for government billing and accounting.
• Build, coach, and develop operations and finance teams.
• Drive talent management, succession planning, and organizational restructuring.
• Create a culture of operational excellence and accountability within teams.
• Break down silos, establish integrated processes across IAT/TEAM ONE structure.
• Influence across government agencies, internal stakeholders, and vendors.
• Identify operational and financial gaps and connect day-to-day operations to strategic goals.
• Ensure processes support compliance and delivery standards for the government client.

Skills

Ops leadership

Cross-functional leadership

Finance background

Change management

Executive presence

Process improvement

P&L ownership

Strategy alignment

Team development

Quality assurance

Analytical skills

Enterprise tools

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

JIRA

Workfront

Smartsheets

Tools

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

JIRA

Workfront

Smartsheets

Job description

Job Description

RAPP Chicago is looking for a Senior Director, BusinessOperations to join our award-winning Program Management team.

Who We Are

We are RAPP – world leaders in activating growth with precision and empathy at scale.

Agency

RAPP

Job Function

Projects and Performance Improvement

Job Subfunction

Project and Program Management

Job Description

RAPP Chicago is looking for a Senior Director, BusinessOperations to join our award-winning Program Management team.

Who We Are

We are RAPP – world leaders in activating growth with precision and empathy at scale.

As a global, next-generation precision marketing agency we leverage data, creativity, technology, and empathy to foster client growth. We champion individuality in the marketing solutions we create, and in our workplace. We fight for solutions that adapt to the individual’s needs, beliefs, behaviors, and aspirations.

We foster an inclusive workplace that emphasizes personal well-being.

How We Do It

At RAPP, our fearless superconnectors help to create value from personal brand experiences by focusing on three key areas: connected data, connected content and connected decisioning. Our data analysts identify who that person is, our strategists understand what they want, and our award-winning technologists and creatives know how to deliver it – ensuring we’re able to activate authentic customer connections for our clients.

Part of Omnicom’s Precision Marketing Group, RAPP is comprised of 2,000+ creatives, technologists, strategists, and data and marketing scientists across 15+ global markets

Your Role

As the Sr Director of Strategic Operations, you'll report to the SVP of Project Management and Operations and own the overall health of our portfolio from an operational standpoint. You'll lead a team of business and project operations professionals who handle all the operational work needed to successfully serve our government service client—everything from coordinating portfolio-wide training to managing internal systems and keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly.

This is a strategic role that requires close collaboration with our Domain Leads and positions you as the voice of the client across all internal OMC initiatives. A big part of your job is building and maintaining strong relationships across the organization—whether that's Finance, Resourcing, Recruiting, or HR. You'll work to identify gaps and create the processes and partnerships that keep everyone aligned and working together effectively within the IAT/ TEAM ONE structure. Essentially, you're the connector who breaks down silos and ensures our organization moves cohesively as one team to support the client.

Your Responsibilities

Financial Operations & Account Governance:

• Managing financial controls, budget allocation, compliance frameworks, and internal controls across the account.
• You'll establish governance standards, audit processes, and financial policies that ensure accuracy, compliance, and transparency for all government billing and accounting requirements.

People Management & Team Development

• Building, coaching, and developing high-performing operations and finance teams.
• You'll drive talent management, succession planning, and organizational restructuring as needed.
• You're responsible for creating a culture of operational excellence and accountability within your teams while mentoring managers across the portfolio.

Cross-Agency & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• You'll break down silos, establish integrated processes, and ensure seamless alignment across IAT/TEAM ONE structure.
• Your ability to influence without authority—across government agencies, internal stakeholders, and external vendors is critical to moving the organization cohesively.

Delivery Excellence

• Identifying operational and financial gaps.
• You’ll connect day-to-day operations to strategic goals, ensuring processes support both compliance and efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of delivery to our government client.

Required Skills

• 8+ years in business/financial operations with 6+ years leading in a manager role
• Proven ability to lead and influence large cross-functional teams across multiple departments and the executive level without explicit authority
• Finance background or equivalent professional experience
• Change management expertise in leading organizational transformation with confidence and handles conflict constructively
• Strong executive presence; builds solid relationships across the organization and with external stakeholders
• Expert at process improvement and driving operational improvements company-wide
• Owns P&L and budget management across multiple departments
• Connects day-to-day operations to the bigger company strategy and goals
• Builds and develops high-performing teams; comfortable restructuring departments when needed
• Deep expertise in Quality Assurance, financial operations, compliance, and internal controls
• Strong analytical skills; turns data into solid business recommendations and strategic plans
• Proficient with enterprise tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, JIRA, Workfront, Smartsheets)
• Skilled negotiator with experience managing vendors and third-party relationships; handles conflict well and leads organizational change

Our Hybrid Work Model

RAPP's current hybrid model is designed to enable in-person connections and collaboration that is core to our culture, while also supporting flexibility for all employees. As such, we have the option to work from home two days per week.

RAPP provides a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits plan. Benefits for this role include health/vision/dental insurance, 401(k), stock options, Healthcare & Dependent Flexible Spending Accounts, vacation, sick, and personal days and positive activism days, paid parental leave and disability benefits. For more information regarding Omnicom benefits, please visit www.omnicombenefits.com. A reasonable estimate of the salary for this role, at the time of posting, is $165,000 - $185,000. This range is specific to Chicago and multiple factors are considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to: skill set, experience and training, certifications; etc. This is an exempt position. If your requirements fall outside of this range, you are still welcome to apply.

NOTE: This job description is not intended to be all-inclusive. Employee may perform other related duties as negotiated to meet the ongoing needs of the organization.

$165,000-$185,000

Omnicom’s policy requires employees to work in the office for a minimum of three days a week, unless additional in-office days are directed by their agency or manager. Our objective is to increase this requirement over time, and many of our agencies as well as Omnicom’s corporate group already require five days of in-office attendance.

Omnicom is committed to hiring and developing exceptional talent. We agree that talent is uniquely distributed, and we’re focused on developing inclusive teams that can bring the best solutions to everything we do. We strongly believe that celebrating what makes us different makes us better together. Join us—we look forward to getting to know you. We will process your personal data in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice.

Link to Recruitment Privacy Notice: https://www.omc.com/privacy-notice

For US Job Seekers

It is the policy of Omnicom and any of its affiliates to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability, or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, or local law. EOE/AA/M/D/V/F.

$165,000-$185,000