Business Operations Senior Associate / Manager Alvarez & Marsal France

About Alvarez & Marsal

Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is a global consulting firm with entrepreneurial, action- and results-oriented professionals. We take a hands-on approach to solving our clients' problems and helping them reach their potential. A&M is different by design: we give people ownership and impact from day one, fuel development through real opportunity, and provide direct access to leaders who invest in our growth. Our culture celebrates independent thinkers and doers who positively impact clients and shape our industry. Guided by A&M's core values of Integrity, Quality, Objectivity, Fun, Personal Reward, and Inclusive Diversity, our collaborative, globally minded environment is why our people love working at A&M.

The Team

Today, with significant ambition to build on the successes in the European market, A&M Europe is looking to hire a Senior Associate / Manager – Business Operations to ensure client facing staff and Senior Management get the support needed to help them win in the market. This role will be supporting the Private Equity Performance Improvement (PEPI) practice.

The successful candidate will need to work closely with established functions such as Business Development, Marketing, Finance, HR, Talent Acquisition, Resourcing and Legal. The role is execution-centric and commercially focused and will report to the PEPI COO.

Specifically, the candidate will be partnering with the SBU Heads and pillar / sector / geography leads to define, refine and implement the growth strategy for the practice across its pillars (Operational Due Diligence, Commercial Due Diligence, Carve-out / Merger Integration and Transformation), sectors and geographies – and to provide the pipeline, coverage and capacity insight that leadership needs to prioritise business development effort and investment.

The key reporting, growth and support processes would be:

• Pipeline management and business development reporting – tracking opportunities from origination through proposal to win / loss, and reporting conversion and pipeline coverage against plan at the pillar / sector / geography level;
• Client and relationship coverage – tracking private equity sponsor and portfolio company relationships by MD, pillar and sector to identify gaps and cross-pillar opportunities;
• Financial control to track and report on financial progress at the pillar / sector / geography level;
• Ad hoc reviews to support leadership meetings and decision making;
• Financial planning / forecasting against pillar / sector / geography targets

How you will contribute

1) Growth, Business Development & Pipeline Management 

• Pipeline management: Support a single, accurate view of opportunities by pillar, sector, geography and MD in the firm’s CRM; set and enforce data standards; and run the regular pipeline review cadence with SBU Heads and pillar / sector / geography leads;
• Pipeline analytics: Report on pipeline coverage against revenue plan, conversion rates by stage, win / loss, average engagement size and time-to-close, highlighting where pipeline is thin or concentrated and recommending where leadership attention is needed;
• Win / loss reviews: Run structured post-decision reviews on significant pursuits, capturing client feedback, competitor and pricing insight, and feeding lessons back into pursuit approach and positioning;
• Client and relationship coverage: Maintain coverage maps of private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies by MD, pillar and sector; track relationship activity and cross-pillar referrals; and identify under-covered sponsors, sectors and geographies;
• Pillar, sector and geography growth plans: Support leads to build go-to-market plans with clear targets (priority sponsors, sectors, events and thought leadership) and track activity, pipeline generated and return on business development investment against those plans;

2) People, Capacity & Resourcing 

• Staffing support: Work with the Resourcing function and MDs to align skill mix and availability to won and expected work, including cross-pillar and cross-border deployment;
• Headcount and recruitment planning: Translate the business plan and pipeline into a hiring plan by grade, pillar and geography; track hiring, attrition and onboarding against budget with Talent Acquisition and HR;

3) Financial Analyses & Reporting, including Management Information Packs 

• Tracking the financial progress and near-term expectations on sector / pillar / geography
• Working directly with leaders to drive an efficient WIP & AR book to ensure cash collections are within acceptable norms/in accordance with engagement rules
• Provide financial support for key annual processes such as business planning and budget reviews;
• Be responsible for increased usage of financial systems such as Agresso, PowerBI dashboards, and Salesforce;
• Ad-hoc reporting and in-depth reviews (e.g. quarterly business reviews).

4) Strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting and business oversight 

• SBU, Pillar, Sector, Geography, MD Business Plans: Ensure business plans are created, validated and monitored. Throughout the year will monitor progress against both the overall plan and individual MD plans, providing insight/assistance to leadership on progress, required corrective actions & responsible for the monitoring of progress on agreed corrective actions; and ensure each plan sets explicit revenue, pipeline and business development targets, and track performance against them;

5) Leadership Cadence & Meeting Support 

• Be responsible for the co-ordination of leadership meeting support material and applying due care to ensure it is accurate;Prepare integrated pipeline for leadership meetings, so that growth, staffing and investment decisions are taken from a single fact base;Support the organisation and meeting material creation for team meetings, off-sites and practice-wide business development sessions.

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level likely, but not essential with the right experience
• Must have experience in financial reporting and consolidating multiple financial sources into single views. A strong financial competency overall is essential.
• Understanding of how professional services firms win work – pipeline stages, pursuit processes, pricing and conversion metrics. Exposure to private equity, transaction advisory or consulting is highly desirable
• Experience of using a CRM system to manage pipeline data, and of driving data quality and process discipline across senior stakeholders;
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint. PowerBI) & MS Outlook;
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Prior experience in a similar operations role, ideally but not necessarily a professional services organisation.
• Capacity to thrive in a fast-paced, challenging, and changing environment.
• Passionate about perfect execution and detail-oriented.
• Objective, fact-based approach to problem solving.
• Strong organisational and communications skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Self-starter; “Let’s Get it Done” attitude - willing to pitch in where needed.

 
Your journey at A&M

At A&M, professional growth is tied directly to performance, not tenure. Our people take on meaningful, hands-on work supported by a performance development process that rewards contribution and fosters a culture of meritocracy. Stretch roles, evolving business needs, and firm growth create ongoing opportunities for ownership and building new skills, while direct access to senior leaders provides mentorship and real-time coaching along the way. We also prioritize your wellbeing through comprehensive benefits and resources. Together, these elements create an environment where high-performing professionals can continue to grow and advance from day one.