Director Operations- Commercial Landscaping

Overview

We are partnered with a well-established, growing commercial landscape services company in the Greater Detroit market seeking a Director of Operations to lead and scale their field operations. This is a senior leadership role with full responsibility for operational performance across multiple branches, people leadership, service quality, and margin execution.

The Director of Operations will oversee several Branch Managers and serve as a key partner to ownership and senior leadership. We are specifically targeting candidates with deep commercial landscaping experience who understand the realities of large-scale maintenance operations, client expectations, labor management, and financial performance. Experience supporting or integrating acquisitions and exposure to sales or client development in landscaping is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Strategy:

• Provide day-to-day leadership and long-term operational strategy for all branches, ensuring consistent execution, service quality, and profitability.
• Translate company goals into clear operational plans, KPIs, and accountability across branches.
• Standardize processes, best practices, and performance expectations across locations.

Branch & People Leadership:

• Directly manage and develop three Branch Managers, holding them accountable for safety, quality, labor efficiency, and financial results.
• Build strong leadership benches by coaching operations managers, account managers, and field leadership.
• Foster a culture of ownership, safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Financial & P&L Management:

• Own operational performance against budgets, forecasts, and margin targets.
• Partner with branch leaders on labor planning, equipment utilization, pricing discipline, and cost controls.
• Review and improve job costing, route density, and operational efficiency.

Client Experience & Retention:

• Act as an executive sponsor for key commercial clients, ensuring service excellence and issue resolution.
• Support account teams with client retention strategies, contract renewals, and service expansion opportunities.
• Maintain high standards for communication, responsiveness, and professionalism.

Growth, Sales & Acquisitions (Preferred Experience):

• Collaborate with sales leadership on operational readiness, onboarding new work, and scalable growth.
• Support pre-sale planning, estimating alignment, and post-sale execution.
• Play a leadership role in acquisition integration, including process alignment, team transitions, and cultural integration.

Safety, Quality & Compliance:

• Champion safety programs, training, and compliance across all branches.
• Ensure consistent quality standards through site audits, inspections, and performance reviews.
• Uphold all regulatory, environmental, and equipment safety standards.

Qualifications & Background

• 7-10+ years of experience in commercial landscaping or closely related field services operations.
• Senior operations leadership experience, ideally overseeing multiple branches or large geographic territories.
• Strong understanding of commercial landscape maintenance operations, labor management, routing, equipment, and seasonal planning.
• Proven success managing P&L responsibility and driving operational profitability.
• Experience supporting acquisitions, integrations, or rapid growth environments is a strong plus.
• Exposure to sales, estimating, or client development within a landscaping organization is highly valued.
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Landscape Management, Horticulture, or equivalent experience.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365; experience with landscape management software (e.g., Aspire or similar) is a plus.