Manager of Business Operations

POSITION SUMMARY: The person in this position is instrumental in assisting the Company to provide a productive and engaging workplace culture for employees and ensuring its clients receive quality planning and consulting services for the creation of timeless and inspiring places.
This position directs, administers, and manages the operational activities of a people-focused, exciting and growing landscape architecture company in support of the policies, goals and objectives established by the Owner.  Company growth in sales and staff is a key objective.
In order to be considered for this position, an applicant must be a licensed landscape architect with Project Management (PM) experience, possess a strong managerial and leadership presence, not be averse to taking calculated risks, and not only be able to follow direction from the Owner, but confront the Owner in a constructive way for the betterment of the company. In addition, this person must understand and be enthusiastic about the Owner’s vision and the opportunity it provides and have a longer-term interest in moving more into overall company management.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Directly supervises Project Managers and Production staff.

VALUES: This person assumes operational duties of running the Company to free up the Owner to better drive the direction and success of the business.  This person brings strong business and operational expertise to help improve processes, capacity, and productivity in support of business growth, and brings consistent managerial oversight to the Project Managers and Production personnel to solidify employee satisfaction and retention by focusing on the business aspects of the Company, along with the production of client deliverables.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following:

For the Business 
– Helps drive the Company toward its sales goals and constantly looks for opportunities to increase sales and customer base.
– Develops and implements programs that meet business and financial goals and objectives.
– Works in conjunction with the Owner to prepare annual financial plans and track Company performance against these plans.
– Knows the status of every job and can quickly be brought up to speed if needed to sit in on meetings when a PM is unavailable.
– Provides leadership to ensure a sound organizational structure and processes necessary to achieve current and future business goals and objectives.
– Stays current with industry trends in planning, design, production, and best business practices.
– Serves as back-up to the Owner during her absence.
– Monitors and evaluates the results of overall operations on a scheduled basis and reports these results to the Owner.
– Believes in the Company mission and Owner’s vision for the Company and reports progress toward reaching established goals.

For the Employees
– A work environment that fosters teamwork, creates challenges, and heightens motivation while providing a feeling of satisfaction for all employees.
– In conjunction with the Owner, hires, trains, and develops employees to meet future business requirements.
– Ensures that the responsibilities, authorities and accountabilities of all employees are defined and understood.
– Conducts employee performance reviews, reviewing with the Owner before meeting with each employee.
– Oversees workload schedules to ensure that employees are fully utilized and that commitments to clients are met while being mindful of existing workload commitments.
– Develops and oversees peer reviews to ensure high quality designs are produced.
– Provides leadership/mentorship to employees.
– Reviews major contracts with project managers and submits to owner for approval.

For the Projects 
– Ensures proper design and technical quality control are in place for assigned projects.
– Remains capable of managing projects as interest and opportunity allows.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in landscape architecture.  A complimentary degree might be considered in combination with relevant work experience.

EXPERIENCE: Must have at least five years’ experience in business management and personnel supervision along with at least 5 years in landscape architecture or related design profession.

KNOWLEDGE: Must be thoroughly familiar with business management principles and techniques as they relate to the design professions.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Must be able to speak, hear, write and read English and apply this skill to interacting with clients and employees.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: Must be proficient in using databases and spreadsheets to capture and analyze data; be proficient in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Professional writing skills and the ability to proofread is required.

REASONING ABILITY: Must have good organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks of varying size, to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form, and the ability to deal with problems involving several variables.

PERSONALITY TRAITS: Must be a self-starter with a positive outlook, a good listener and communicator, goal oriented, attentive to detail, able to work independently, possess strong interpersonal skills and value other people. Must be able to assume responsibility and delegate tasks as required. Must be able to prioritize and organize multiple tasks and work collaboratively with Owner and employees to achieve goals. Must possess managerial capabilities. Leadership skills are required.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS: Must possess a valid driver’s license. A professional license in landscape architecture is a strong plus.