Senior Director of Operations​/Chief Operating Officer; COO

About Us: At Relational Estate & Elder Law, we believe the most meaningful work happens when professional excellence and genuine care come together. Every day, we have the privilege of helping individuals and families throughout Winchester, Northern Virginia, and the Shenandoah Valley to navigate important life decisions, protect the people they love, and plan confidently for the future.

Our team is driven by a simple but powerful belief: people matter. Whether we are guiding a family through estate planning, supporting a loved one during a difficult season, or helping clients navigate the complexities of aging, we strive to bring clarity, compassion, and peace to every interaction.

We are also deeply committed to the people who make this work possible. We are building a culture where team members are valued, encouraged to grow, and empowered to make a meaningful impact. We love what we do because it matters. Every member of our team has the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our clients, while being part of a workplace where people are known, valued, and invested in as individuals and professionals.

As our firm continues to grow, we are seeking leaders who share and consistently model our passion for serving others, developing people, and building something that matters. If you are energized by the opportunity to lead with purpose, invest in a thriving team, and help shape the future of a mission-driven organization, you may have found the right place.

About the Role: We are seeking a Senior Director of Operations/Chief Operating Officer to lead the Firm’s day-to-day operations, build a scalable operating organization, and support healthy, sustainable growth. This leader will direct operational execution across people, processes, systems, vendors, facilities, and the client experience while strengthening accountability and preserving the Firm’s relational culture.

The Senior Director/COO will serve as an increasingly trusted operational partner to the Owner/CEO, translating vision and strategic priorities into operating plans, identifying risks and opportunities, making well-reasoned recommendations, and progressively assuming responsibility for day-to-day organizational leadership.

The role will operate within clearly defined decision rights that expand as trust, judgment, and organizational needs develop. The Senior Director/COO will be expected to make sound operating decisions within delegated authority, elevate matters requiring Owner/CEO involvement, and bring well-reasoned recommendations rather than simply presenting problems.

This role is designed for a strategic, relational, and highly organized operations leader who can move comfortably between enterprise-level planning and detailed execution. The right person will professionalize without corporatizing, combining business discipline, leadership capability, empathy, and stewardship.

This role is part of the Firm’s long-term leadership strategy. Exceptional candidates with significant operational and executive leadership experience may be hired directly into the Chief Operating Officer (COO) position. However, the expectation is that the candidate will be hired into the Senior Director level and expected to develop into the COO role, with a target promotion timeline of 12 to 24 months based on demonstrated success, cultural alignment, and readiness for executive leadership responsibilities.

What Success Looks Like: Within the first 12 to 24 months, the successful Senior Director/COO will have strengthened operational discipline, developed management capability, established useful performance measures, improved cross-functional workflows, and increased organizational capacity while protecting the Firm’s distinctive culture and client experience. Over time, the Firm will operate effectively with less day-to-day operational dependence on the Owner/CEO.

• A proactive operations leader who canidentifybottlenecks,establish operating priorities,improve processes, and lead teams to execute well.
• A relational manager who can coach, mentor, develop, and hold team members accountable with clarity and…