Director, Professional Services

Description

At CDW, we make it happen, together. Trust, connection, and commitment are at the heart of how we work together to deliver for our customers. It's why we're coworkers, not just employees. Coworkers who genuinely believe in supporting our customers and one another. We collectively forge our path forward with a level of commitment that speaks to who we are and where we're headed. We're proud to share our story and Make Amazing Happen at CDW.

The Director, Professional Services is accountable for the day-to-day execution of Mission's Professional Services delivery organization. This leader runs the weekly operating rhythm, owns delivery escalations, drives utilization and gross margin performance, and ensures predictable conversion of backlog into successful customer outcomes.

This role directly manages the Professional Services leadership team and ensures tight coordination across Cloud delivery, AI delivery, the PMO, Professional Services Customer Success/Onboarding, and Professional Services operations and tooling. The Director is the primary Professional Services leadership presence for customers when delivery issues arise and leadership engagement is required.

This position is 100% remote with up to 10% travel.

Within 90 days of starting, the Director, Professional Services will:

Own day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-over-month delivery operations across the Professional Services organization with minimal escalation to the Practice VP.

Assume ownership of Director-level escalations and triage, serving as the leadership face for customers when needed and resolving edge-case delivery problems.

Assume ownership of the existing monthly capacity planning process and ensure it runs consistently every month with a rolling 3-month outlook for capacity, demand, target utilization, and target revenue-driving clear actions when gaps or constraints are identified.

Take ownership of utilization and gross margin performance by applying consistent operating levers, enforcing accountability, and driving corrective actions.

Maintain and enforce the Professional Services operating cadence (meetings, reporting, communications) to keep teams aligned, accountable, and executing.

• Professional Services Delivery Operations & Execution

• Professional Services Backlog Conversion

• Professional Services Utilization

• Professional Services Gross Margin Performance

• Professional Services Customer Satisfaction & Escalation Management

• Capacity Planning Ownership and 3-Month Outlook Discipline

• Cross-Team Coordination (Cloud, AI, PMO, ProServe Ops)

• Own the day-to-day execution of Professional Services delivery across multiple teams and active customer engagements.

• Ensure predictable delivery performance through consistent visibility into project health, milestones, staffing, risks, and outcomes.

• Drive operating discipline across delivery: clear ownership, fast issue resolution, and consistent follow-through.

• Serve as the primary escalation point for Professional Services delivery issues and customer concerns requiring leadership engagement.

• Lead triage and resolution for complex and edge-case delivery problems (scope ambiguity, priority conflicts, resourcing constraints, delivery risk).

• Act as the Professional Services leadership representative in customer conversations when customers request escalation to a PS leader.

• Ensure escalations are documented, tracked to closure, and used to drive systemic improvement-not just one-off fixes.

• Own monthly utilization targets and gross margin performance for Professional Services; proactively identify gaps and drive corrective actions.

• Improve delivery economics through effective staffing decisions, resource optimization, scope/change control, and write-off prevention.

• Partner with Finance and PS Operations to ensure accurate measurement, reporting, and accountability for delivery performance.

• Own and maintain the existing monthly capacity planning process with a rolling 3-month outlook covering capacity, demand, target utilization, and target revenue.

• Ensure inputs are collected on time, forecasts are accurate, and decisions translate into staffing actions (re-assignments, hiring signals, subcontractor use, schedule adjustments).

• Partner with Sales and Pre-Sales counterparts to align near-term demand with delivery readiness and improve forecast reliability.

• Directly manage Professional Services leaders; coach, develop, and hold them accountable for results and execution.

• Maintain and continuously improve the department's meeting cadence and communication systems to keep work organized and teams coordinated.

• Foster coordination and collaboration between Cloud and AI delivery teams, the PMO, and ProServe operations to ensure consistent execution and customer experience.

• Identify operational gaps and implement repeatable delivery processes that increase predictability, quality, and scalability.

• Define and improve metrics that measure delivery performance, utilization, margin, backlog conversion, and customer satisfaction.

• Drive adoption and improvement of Professional Services tooling and reporting to support transparency and execution.

• The Director, Professional Services owns execution of Professional Services delivery and is accountable for delivery performance, escalations, utilization, and margin outcomes.

• The Practice VP, Professional Services retains ownership of Professional Services strategy and overall leadership, and separately leads Pre-Sales Engineering and the Services & Solutions Innovation (AI R&D) team. The Director partners closely with those groups to ensure delivery readiness and strong handoffs, but does not manage those organizations.

• Utilization vs target (monthly)

• Gross margin vs target (monthly/quarterly)

• Backlog conversion (aging, start rate, completion rate)

• Delivery predictability (on-time milestones, schedule adherence)

• Escalation volume and time-to-resolution

• Customer satisfaction trend (CSAT/NPS or internal proxy)

• Forecast accuracy (capacity plan vs actuals)

• 10+ years in professional services delivery (cloud/software/technical consulting), including 5+ years leading managers and multi-team delivery.

• Proven ability to run operational cadence and drive predictable delivery outcomes across multiple concurrent engagements.

• Demonstrated ownership of delivery escalations and executive-level customer conversations.

• Strong experience managing utilization, margin, and delivery performance metrics.

• Experience owning and operating a capacity planning cadence and short-range forecasting in a services organization.

• Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills (written, verbal, executive presence).

• Cloud experience strongly preferred; AWS experience a plus.

• AWS Cloud Practitioner certification (required within 1 year of employment).

• Ability to travel up to 10%.

We make technology work so people can do great things.

CDW is a leading multi-brand provider of information technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. A Fortune 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Index, CDW helps its customers to navigate an increasingly complex IT market and maximize return on their technology investments. Together, we unite. Together, we win. Together, we thrive.

CDW is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by state and local law.

CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, CDW's goal is to get to know you as an applicant and understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. While AI can help you present yourself more clearly and effectively, the essence of your application should be authentically yours. To learn more, please review CDW's AI Applicant Notice.