Operating Director

Position Description

This is a senior, high‑impact role at the centre of Eurazeo’s value creation model, offering the opportunity to drive transformation across a portfolio of high‑quality, mid‑ to large‑cap businesses. The Operating Director will partner closely with deal teams and portfolio CEOs, combining strategic judgement with hands‑on execution to deliver measurable performance improvement.

The role is fully embedded across the investment lifecycle, from pre‑deal engagement and operational due diligence through to post‑acquisition transformation and exit. The Operating Director will play a key role in underwriting, challenging assumptions and defining robust, actionable value creation plans from the outset.

Post‑investment, the focus shifts to execution. Working alongside management teams, the Operating Director will set clear priorities, translate strategy into deliverable plans and drive disciplined implementation. This includes leading complex transformation programmes across commercial, operational, digital and organisational levers, ensuring delivery at pace and converting initiatives into tangible EBITDA impact.

The role operates through influence rather than authority, shaping decisions at CEO and board level, aligning stakeholders and driving accountability. It combines supportive partnership with constructive challenge, alongside active involvement in strengthening leadership teams, including senior assessment and hiring where needed.

Given the breadth of activity, the position requires the ability to quickly diagnose issues, prioritise high‑value opportunities and deploy resources effectively across multiple assets. Engagement will span both strategic oversight and targeted deep dives where intervention can unlock disproportionate value. In parallel, the role contributes to the ongoing development of Eurazeo’s value creation approach, refining playbooks, sharing best practice and strengthening a more institutionalised, repeatable operating model.

Overall, this is a highly visible position requiring strong judgement, operational credibility and a sharp delivery focus, with significant influence over outcomes across an international portfolio.

The role can be based in Paris or in London, with frequent travels across Europe.

End to end lifecycle involvement

• Partner with deal teams from origination through diligence and execution
• Lead operational diligence, assessing business quality / scalability, value creation opportunities
• Define robust, quantified value creation plans with clear ownership and delivery milestones
  Post acquisition:
• Lead development and execution of first 100 days plans
• Drive implementation of value creation initiatives with management teams
• Ensure alignment between strategy, operations and financial outcomes

Exit

• Prepare businesses for successful exit
• Ensure operational robustness and scalability
• Support articulation of the equity story

Driving value creation and transformation

• Identify and execute value creation initiatives across:
• Commercial excellence, pricing and revenue growth
• Operational efficiency and cost transformation
• Digital transformation and data enablement
• Organisation design and capability building
• M&A, buy and build and international expansion
• Translate operational initiatives into measurable EBITDA impact
• Lead complex transformation programs across multiple workstreams, ensuring delivery at pace

Coordinating AI across the portfolio

• Define and drive the fund's AI strategy across the portfolio, setting a shared playbook and roadmap for value creation
• Work hands-on with portfolio company management teams to identify AI opportunities and translate them into prioritized, actionable plans
• Serve as the fund's internal AI reference, tracking market developments and distilling them into clear guidance for both the investment team and portfolio companies
  
  

Portfolio leadership and governance

• Act as a trusted partner to CEOs and senior leadership teams
• Challenge and refine strategy, ensuring clarity of priorities and execution focus
• Work through boards to drive performance and governance standards
• Assess management teams and support senior hiring where required
• In selected situations, act as board member or observer
  

Collaboration and influence

• Act as the primary operational counterpart to investment teams
• Participate actively in investment committee discussions
• Mobilise internal and external resources to accelerate delivery
• Build strong relationships with:
• Portfolio company leadership teams
• Industry experts and advisors
• Broader Eurazeo network
  

Firm contribution

• Contribute to the evolution of Eurazeo’s value creation playbook
• Share best practices across the portfolio
• Support development of the firm’s operational capabilities.

Eurazeo’s Portfolio Operations team is a fully embedded, strategically critical function within the investment platform. The team operates as a core value creation partner to deal teams and portfolio company leadership, working across the full investment lifecycle from diligence through exit.

This reflects a deliberate shift towards a more institutionalised, repeatable and operationally‑led value creation model, consistent with leading global private equity firms.

Candidate Profile

The successful Candidate will ideally have ideally between 12 and 15 years of experience combining a Tier-1 Strategy Consulting firm experience with operational P&L responsibility, ideally in in a C-level position.

Key experience and qualifications include:

• High‑credibility operator with the gravitas to influence CEOs, boards and investors, while maintaining a collaborative, low‑ego approach
• Strong emotional intelligence, able to flex between supportive partnership and constructive challenge depending on context
• Highly hands‑on and delivery‑focused, with a bias for action and a willingness to engage at the detail required to drive outcomes
• Resilient and comfortable operating in high‑pace, ambiguous environments, with the ability to prioritise effectively and maintain momentum
• Commercially astute and analytically rigorous, with strong problem‑solving capability and sound judgement
• Intellectually agile, able to rapidly understand new sectors, business models and strategic challenges
• Influential communicator and relationship builder, capable of aligning diverse stakeholders around a clear agenda
• Trusted partner to management teams, able to drive accountability and performance through engagement rather than authority
• Entrepreneurial mindset, with a clear focus on value creation, growth and long‑term impact
• International outlook, culturally adaptable and comfortable operating across geographies 

Eurazeo