Director, Delivery Excellence – Value Delivery Operations

Cognite•Phoenix, AZ

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Cognite operates at the forefront of industrial digitalization, building AI and data solutions that solve some of the world’s hardest, highest-impact problems. With unmatched industrial heritage and a comprehensive suite of AI capabilities, including low-code AI agents, Cognite accelerates the digital transformation to drive operational improvements. Our moonshot is bold: unlock $100B in customer value by 2035 and redefine how global industry works. What Cognite is Relentless to achieve We thrive in challenges. We challenge assumptions. We execute with speed and ownership. If you view obstacles as signals to step forward - not step back - you’ll feel at home here. Join us in this venture where AI and data meet ingenuity, and together, we forge the path to a smarter, more connected industrial future. We are looking for a Director, Delivery Excellence based at Global HQ in Tempe, AZ who treats the professional services arm as a strategic value‑creation engine—not a project factory. You bring a top‑tier management consulting toolkit (MBB or equivalent), pattern‑recognition from complex transformations, and the ability to turn insight into operating mechanisms that scale across a global, multi‑region services business. You are the person executives trust to frame the hardest questions, structure the analysis, and turn decisions into crisp narratives and repeatable practices. You are equally comfortable in an executive strategy session, a board prep meeting, or a working session with regional delivery leaders dissecting margins, outcomes, and ways of working. You lead through structured thinking, data, and narrative, and you influence through clarity, trust, and cross‑functional alignment. You see every engagement, playbook, and review as a chance to raise the bar on how Cognite delivers value: sharper scoping, cleaner execution, stronger commercial discipline, and clearer proof of impact. How you’ll demonstrate Ownership We’re seeking a Director, Delivery Excellence – Value Delivery Operations who owns the backbone of delivery excellence: frameworks, reviews, narratives, and strategic work that keep the services organization focused, aligned, and performing. You will be a primary strategic partner to the VP, Operations – Value Delivery, the Chief Services Officer, and regional delivery leadership. Your success will be measured by your ability to: Elevate delivery standards and ways of working globally, while enabling regional nuance. Shape and drive the services operating calendar, materials, and forums that move the business. Produce crisp, insight‑rich narratives and “future‑back” views (e.g., 2‑year roadmaps) that guide investment and focus. Orchestrate how operations (finance architecture, analytics/capacity, and delivery excellence) show up as a single, integrated team.

Requirements

8+ years in top‑tier management consulting (MBB or equivalent) and/or strategy and operations roles in high‑growth SaaS, enterprise software, or industrial technology.
Proven track record leading complex, multi‑stakeholder strategy, transformation, or operating model projects with C‑level visibility and measurable impact.
Strong understanding of professional services and/or consulting business models, including utilization, portfolio management, and delivery economics.
Demonstrated experience building executive‑ready materials (board decks, QBRs, strategy narratives) that combine data, insight, and clear recommendations.
Exceptional analytical and structured problem‑solving skills; comfortable working with imperfect data to drive prioritization and decisions.
Experience in global or multi‑region organizations and navigating different commercial and cultural contexts.
Structured thinker who can turn ambiguity into clear problem statements, options, and recommendations.
Strong communicator with outstanding written and verbal skills; able to craft concise, compelling narratives for senior audiences.
Data‑driven and hypothesis‑led, using metrics and analysis to prioritize, decide, and track impact across multiple initiatives.
Highly collaborative, able to build trust with regional leaders, executives, Service Offerings, and technical/analytics partners.
Bias for action and outcomes; comfortable balancing strategic work with hands‑on delivery to get critical initiatives over the line.
Thrives in a fast‑changing environment, continuously refining frameworks and approaches as the business scales.

Responsibilities

Delivery excellence & operating model Design, refine, and codify the end‑to‑end delivery excellence framework for Value Delivery, from opportunity shaping and scoping through delivery, value realization, and renewals.
Partner with regional Value Delivery leaders and the PMO to hard‑wire standards, playbooks, and rituals that drive consistent, repeatable success across regions and industries.
Own the ProServe delivery “playbook library” (methodologies, templates, checklists, decision‑rights) and keep it current with best practices and field lessons.
Clarify roles and operating mechanisms across the Operations team (VP Ops, this role, Technical/Analytics) and Service Offerings so all aspects of operations are fully accounted for.
Partner to Regional Delivery Leadership Act as a key strategic partner to regional Value Delivery leaders, helping them interrogate their business (pipeline, utilization, margin, outcomes) and translate insight into action.
Prepare and facilitate performance reviews and forums where regions compare results, share playbooks, and align on global improvements—focused on decisions and follow‑through, not status.
Support regional leaders in framing and pitching investment cases (capacity, partners, new offerings) with data, scenarios, and narratives that resonate with the executive team.
Apply global standards pragmatically, respecting local commercial and talent dynamics while maintaining a consistent customer experience.
Strategic planning and executive materials Lead the collaboration consolidation of ideas that lead to the creation of strategic “manifestos” for Value Delivery operations and delivery excellence Translate strategy into clear roadmaps, milestones, and metrics that can be executed and inspected across regions and functions.
Own key executive and board‑level materials for Value Delivery performance and strategy, including QBRs, board decks, and deep‑dive analyses.
Synthesize complex data, regional input, and market signals into concise storylines that clarify trade‑offs, surface risks, and inform decisions.
Insights, analytics and metrics reporting Partner with the Technical/Analytics lead for capacity planning and modeling to ensure analytics are tied to delivery excellence decisions, not just reporting.
Help define the core metrics and views that matter for delivery excellence (e.g., project success, time‑to‑value, margin by offering, timecard compliance, forecast accuracy, CSAT).
Identify and prioritize “hotspots” and opportunities in the portfolio, surfacing insights and shaping actions across regions (e.g., playbook refresh, partner use, staffing model adjustments).
Ensure time tracking, utilization, and project data is accurate, timely, and usable for decision‑making.
Strategic partners and ecosystem Collaborate with Service Offerings to ensure new offerings and delivery models are operationally sound, implementable at scale, and embedded into delivery standards and playbooks.
Work with partner managers and regional leaders to ensure partner‑delivered work meets Cognite’s standards for delivery excellence, customer outcomes, and data quality.
Help define partner selection criteria, engagement models, and performance views that tie partners into the delivery excellence framework and overall operations engine.
Contribute to thought leadership (case studies, narratives, conference content) that showcases Cognite’s delivery excellence and quantified impact.
Operating cadence and internal enablement Shape and coordinate the Value Delivery operating calendar (QBRs, business reviews, delivery councils, planning offsites) with the VP, Operations – Value Delivery.
Ensure each forum has clear inputs, outputs, and owners, and that insights and decisions flow back into regional plans, playbooks, and dashboards.
Partner with People and Enablement to design and run delivery excellence enablement (leader onboarding, delivery manager communities, methodology and tools training).
Continuously improve documentation and knowledge‑sharing for Value Delivery operations.

Benefits

401(k) with employer matching
Competitive health, dental, vision & disability coverages for employees and all dependents
Unlimited PTO
Paid mobile phone and WiFi
Lunch of your choice at our offices
Paid Parental Leave Program
Employee Referral Program
Join a team of 60+ different nationalities 🌐 with Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) in focus 🤝.
A highly modern and fun working environment with sublime culture across the organization, follow us on Instagram @ cognitedata 📷 to know more
Opportunity to work with and learn from some of the best people on some of the most ambitious projects found anywhere, across industries
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