Strategic Initiatives Lead

Overview

Ranked among the largest accounting and consulting firms in the country and consistently recognized as a Great Place to Work (), Cherry Bekaert is also the US’s fastest growing accounting firm, transforming from a regional tax and audit services provider to a national firm advising the CFOs of mid-market organizations on how to modernize and operate their finance functions effectively.

We have recently refined our strategy to have greater focus. To help us implement our strategy, we are building a strategy and change leadership capability and are looking for a highly skilled, motivated individual to join our team as a Strategic Initiatives Lead
, reporting to the Director of Strategic Planning and Initiatives. Our ideal candidate will have a proven track record of leading and managing successful strategy and transformation initiatives in medium to large organizations, translating firm level strategy into actionable, high impact initiatives.

In this role, you will design, manage, and execute strategic programs that balance near term results with long term scalability. Working closely with senior leaders across the firm, you will help activate our strategy in a way that is aligned, collaborative, and deeply embedded in how we operate. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys solving complex business challenges, and will provide the flexibility to work in a hybrid/remote capacity.

As a Strategic Initiatives Lead, you will:

• Be responsible for translating strategy priorities into well-defined strategic initiatives that balance short-term impact with setting the business up for scalable, long-term success. You will be part of a team whose mandate is to help the organization activate its strategy in a way that is aligned across the organization and encourages collaboration and cross-functional engagement. Some examples of initiatives you might lead include:

• Establishment of a new function, capability, or set of operating best practices to support our strategy

• Creation of internal programs that drive mindset and behavior change in alignment with our strategy

• Development of client-facing solutions or experiences to build lasting relationships and serve the needs of our target clients

• Deployment of a new digital tool that changes the way our teams do their work in service of improving efficiency and client service outcomes

• Development and execution of an acquisition integration strategy and plan, balancing business needs with employee experience

• Design and leadership of an annual strategic planning process that drives alignment of activities with strategy, and encourages collaboration and accountability

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience in two or more of the following areas:

• Leading the implementation of strategic initiatives
  , including development of initiative goals, key activities, workplan and milestones; taking intellectual leadership of the solution while engaging the input of key stakeholders; managing and influencing resources across the firm to ensure smooth implementation; building behavior change and change management plans that drive adoption

• Overseeing the development and launch of new digital tools or platforms and ensuring strong implementation and change planning (similar to above)

• Leading the design and market launch of new offerings or services
  ; especially using a user-centered design / design thinking toolkit to develop compelling offerings

• Leading a strategic consulting engagement
  ; working with clients to frame and solve a strategic business challenges, including development and oversight of the implementation roadmap to execute the solution.

• Leading the integration of a merger or acquisition
  , including contribution to the development of the integration strategy and oversight of the commercial and internal work streams required to execute the integration.

• Leading an annual strategic planning process across a medium or large sized organization; especially engaging stakeholders collaboratively in a matrixed organization, synthesizing business unit and function inputs into executive summaries and dashboards for tracking, designing and running quarterly review meetings that facilitate cross-functional collaboration and drive accountability

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

• 10+ years of progressive experience with a minimum of 5 years at the manager+ level

• Experience with the professional services industry is a strong plus

• Ability to translate business strategy into focused initiatives that drive successful activation of the strategy

• Project, process and people management skills to lead and manage the detailed work required to produce high-quality outcomes

• Strong user-centered / stakeholder engagement and change management skills to ensure buy-in and drive adoption of new ideas

• Intellectual curiosity/horsepower, problem-solving orientation and business acumen to assess current state and develop creative,…