WDA Careers / Industry Experience / Professional Services
Professional Services Executive Search
Chiefs of Staff, Business Operations and Executive Operations leaders for consulting, advisory and other expertise-led firms.
Operating leadership across a multidisciplinary firm
An advisory firm can bring together very different practices, client relationships and delivery models. Its leadership still needs a shared view of priorities, accountable owners and a reliable way to move decisions into action. WDA Careers recruits Chiefs of Staff and operations leaders to support that work.
The brief starts with the firm as it operates today: its practices, partner relationships, geographic reach and central functions. We consider where an operator needs influence across the business and where authority should remain within a practice.
A mandate that works across practices
A Chief of Staff may support a CEO or managing partner with leadership priorities, meeting preparation and cross-practice initiatives. A Business Operations leader may own internal processes, operating reviews and projects spanning teams. Executive Operations may involve the leadership office, senior relationships and commitments that cut across service lines.
We clarify the boundaries with practice management, finance, people and client delivery. The aim is to create useful coordination without adding a second layer of approval to work that already has an owner.
Judgment in an expertise-led environment
Subject-matter authority and organizational authority do not always sit with the same person. An operating leader needs to understand that distinction, communicate precisely and earn the confidence of people with different priorities.
We explore how candidates have built agreement, handled confidential matters and delivered work across specialist teams. We assess their actual responsibilities and results against the mandate, rather than relying on a familiar consulting title.
When the firm needs a dedicated operator
A new practice, an integration, a leadership transition or a more complex operating structure can create work that nobody fully owns. The first question is whether a permanent role has enough scope and authority to solve that problem.
Our search process defines that scope before approaching candidates. For law firms and legal businesses, our separate Legal Services page explains the operating context in more detail.
Define the role with WDA Careers.
Tell us what the leader and business need the hire to own.
We conduct searches across Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, NYC Metro and Boston.
Explore our search practices
Chief of Staff Search · Founder & Executive Search · Family Office Search