Senior Director of Professional Services Delivery - Remote

Unlock Learning For All

Here at Ellucian, we are motivated by a mission - power education so institutions can empower student success. We are the global market leader in EdTech for higher education, serving more than 2,900 customers and reaching over 22 million students in 50 countries. We are dedicated to helping higher education unlock learning for all by providing solutions that support the entire student lifecycle and deliver insights needed now and into the future.

We embrace the power to lead, the courage to innovate, and the determination to grow. At our core, we believe in humanizing our approach, recognizing that our people are our greatest strength. With a shared vision of transformation, we endeavor to shape a brighter future for higher education.

About The Opportunity

Ellucian is seeking a dynamic Senior Director of Professional Services Delivery to join our Professional Services organization. This role involves leading and overseeing the implementation of Ellucian solutions, supporting higher education institutions in the central and western United States. These strategic programs range from 1.5 to 2 years. Bring your strategic vision, enterprise program governance, execution, and leadership skills to Ellucian and make a significant impact! At Ellucian, we offer a comprehensive SaaS portfolio that helps higher education institutions navigate change, achieve transparency, and drive efficiency.

Where You Will Make an Impact

• Manage the Professional Services Field Delivery organization.
• Share responsibility for the North American Professional Services P&L (revenue and expenses of assigned projects) and Customer Satisfaction.
• Own financial forecasts related to delivery revenue and margin, collaborating closely with the Finance Business Partner.
• Identify business growth opportunities by leveraging knowledge of the Higher Education industry, business processes, and software products.
• Assist the Customer Success team in developing solutions and selling the value of project management services during the sales cycle.
• Drive consumption of PS orders (backlog) to accelerate time to value and maximize project profitability.
• Ensure effective execution of service delivery and achievement of customers’ desired outcomes.
• Implement project quality assurance by employing standardized processes and best practices.
• Assess risks, define mitigation plans, manage demand, and anticipate resource bottlenecks.
• Establish early-warning project management and risk management practices.
• Provide critical issue management and proactively lead project escalations, implementing measures to prevent future issues.
• Drive the vision and execution of Professional Services.
• Build strong, long-lasting relationships with customers, delivering high-value, outcome-based services that result in referenceable clients.
• Motivate, coach, and transform the Delivery team to an outcomes-based service model, delivering high NPS and project profitability.
• Promote the use of blended delivery (e.g., using Ellucian CoEs in India and Mexico or partners/subcontractors).
• Proactively engage with the North American Professional Services organization consulting practices to ensure timely delivery to contract and customer satisfaction/NPS.
• Resolve escalations by leading cross-functional team resolutions to mitigate project risks and issues.
• Monitor the health status of the Delivery region and ensure proactive risk management.
• Improve NA regional delivery team dynamics and performance through leadership, mentoring, and motivation.
• Ensure regions leverage repeatable, standard practices/processes.
• Understand the Professional Services marketplace and drive new implementation approaches throughout the organization.
• Work collaboratively with the Services team to develop and improve strategies, policies, and procedures; support and promote the use of delivery methodologies and best practices.
  
  

Developing Our Teams

• Lead change management activities within the Field Delivery organization to enable transformation and team growth.
• Address performance concerns with delivery leaders and provide timely performance evaluation input.
• Focus on proactive communications, cascading messages through regional leadership.
• Own the accuracy of the regional financial forecasting process (revenue, bookings, margins, expenditures, etc.).
• Monitor regional delivery KPIs (supply & demand, backlog, project profitability, PM utilization, and project health).
• Establish and monitor delivery compliance and assurance metrics underpinning project health.
• Foster a culture of skills development and employee career advancement.
• Build positive working relationships with Sales, Pre-sales, Customer Success & Support, Cloud Operations, Managed Services teams, and the Office of the COO, operating under the “One-team” approach motto across Ellucian to enhance customer service excellence.
  
  

What You Will Bring

• A minimum of 12 years of progressive professional experience, including personnel management, technical leadership, and P&L ownership.
• Demonstrable experience in resource planning and optimization; revenue recognition and EBITDA budgeting, and action planning resulting from actively managing budgets, costs, and performance.
• Consulting or leadership position in a Professional Service Organization of a SaaS software company is required, with specific experience in moving applications from on-prem to Cloud/SaaS.
• Project Management and Operations experience in running Professional Services in software companies.
• Demonstrable experience in interfacing commercially and technically with partner organizations, outsourcing companies, and global coordination of remote resources and contractors.
• Extensive experience in implementing large systems like ERPs, CRMs, Billing, HR, Logistics, or Custom Business Applications.
• Strong business acumen, with deep expertise in process improvement, negotiation, go-to-market strategies, financial management, data and analytics, driving transformation, and strategic change.
• Ability to work cross-functionally across a matrixed organization.
• Ability to quickly summarize and communicate complex information to multiple audiences.
• Highly effective interpersonal skills, bringing your authentic self to work, building trust and credibility with others.
• Ready for travel up to 50-75% (e.g., customer meetings, events, training, etc.).
• Demonstrates a clear ability to interact and influence management and contributors at all levels of the organization.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; ability to communicate and influence effectively with peers, direct reports, and other teams.
• Experience implementing PSA is a plus.
  
  

What makes #Ellucianlife

• Comprehensive health coverage: medical, dental, and vision
• Flexible time off
• Thrive Flex Lifestyle Account (LSA) that allows you to contribute towards your health, financial or learning interests
• 401k w/ match & BrightPlan - to help you save for the future
• Parental Leave
• 5 charitable days to support the community that supports us
• Telemedicine
• Wellness
• Headspace Care (mental health)
• Wellbeats (virtual fitness classes)
• RethinkCare & Wellthy- caregiver support
• Diversity and inclusion programs which provide access to internal employee resource groups
• Employee referral bonuses to encourage the addition of great new people to the team
• We Foster a learning culture with:
• Education Assistance Program
• Professional development opportunities