Director of Professional Services

About the role

As the Director of Professional Services , you will lead the strategy, growth, and delivery excellence of our Services practice at Celonis. You will manage a sub-regional portfolio of customers and lead a high-performing team of 10+ Consultants and Project Managers. In this leadership role, you are not just managing projects; you are running a business unit. You will own the services delivery and sales strategy for your vertical, ensuring the successful deployment of the Celonis Platform to drive tangible value for our customers. You will partner closely with Sales leadership and Value Engineering teams to define the Go-To-Market approach, ensuring customer satisfaction, loyalty, and long-term adoption of the platform. The Work You'll Do: Strategic Practice Leadership Business Planning: Create and execute short-term (0-6 month) and mid-term (1-2 year) strategic plans for the High Tech services practice, representing your sub-region in QBRs and strategic management forums. Forecasting & Operations: Maintain accountability for the Services resource forecast, balancing cost, quality, and speed to ensure a highly efficient and healthy business unit. Vertical Innovation: Drive the development of Celonis delivery assets and solutions. Define service delivery strategies for new products in your area and act as a sub-regional sponsor for Global Programs. Delivery Excellence & Value Realization Executive Sponsorship: Serve as the Services Project Sponsor for your portfolio, performing ongoing health checks to govern scope, schedule, and budget. Act as the primary point of escalation for critical project issues. Business Critical Value Creation: Drive a value-focused mindset across the team, ensuring that every implementation delivers rapid, measurable ROI to solve for the most business or mission critical challenges facing our customers. Collaborate with the Customer Organization teams to ensure comprehensive adoption plans (onboarding, training) are incorporated into every project. Customer Impact: Own customer health and engage directly with customer stakeholders (CoE Leads/Middle Management) to mitigate risks and drive success initiatives like "Go to Green". Services Sales & Growth Commercial Ownership: Own the scoping and selling of Services deals, including complex or strategic engagements. Act as a trusted advisor to the High Tech Go-To-Market team to position the right service offerings. Portfolio Expansion: Proactively review your customer portfolio with peers in the Go-To-Market and Customer Organization to identify opportunities for Services that drive further value and user adoption, aligning with Account Executives and Value Engineers. Partner Ecosystem: Build strategic relationships with key partners in the region to support co-delivery models and scaling modalities to ensure the best delivery approach for our most strategic customers. People & Team Development Talent Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and develop a diverse, high-performing team. Provide expanded career mentorship with a focus on core consulting competencies (e.g., stakeholder management, advanced business acumen). Performance Management: Identify high potential individual contributors and effectively manage team performance. Ensure the optimal mix of skills and talent is available to meet the specific needs of our customers. Culture: Role model the "Best Team Wins" mindset. Foster an inclusive environment that encourages open feedback, resilience during change, and continuous professional growth The qualifications you need: 7+ years of experience in Management Consulting, Professional Services, or SaaS Implementation, with relevant experience working in the SaaS industry. Proven Leadership: 5+ years of leadership experience managing teams, with a track record of recruiting, motivating, developing, and retaining top talent in high performing teams. Strategic Vision: Experience creating and executing business plans (1-2 year horizon) and managing a P&L or services forecast. Commercial Acumen: Strong experience leading services sales cycles, including scoping, pricing, and contract negotiation for complex software implementations. Delivery Expertise: Deep understanding of managing professional services teams and software implementation methodologies, preferably in enterprise SaaS or adjacent consulting industries. T