About the Role:

Elance Learning is looking for an experienced and highly execution-oriented Vice President - Operations to lead the organization's end-to-end operational and business performance across its branches, centers and business verticals. The VP Operations will be responsible not only for operational excellence but also for Admissions, Center Operations, P&L Management, Marketing Execution, Manpower Planning and Productivity. The role will act as a key bridge between Business, Admissions, Marketing, Academics, HR and Finance, ensuring that organizational strategy is translated into measurable execution and sustainable growth. The ideal candidate should have strong experience in managing multi-location businesses, large teams, revenue targets, P&L, customer experience and high-growth environments.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Overall Business & Operations Leadership:

- Lead the overall operations of Elance across all centers, branches and business verticals.

- Translate the organization's strategic objectives into clear operational plans, targets and execution mechanisms.

- Establish a strong culture of ownership, accountability, productivity and performance.

- Ensure consistency in operational standards, processes and customer experience across all locations.

- Identify operational bottlenecks and drive timely corrective actions.

2. Admissions & Revenue Operations:

- Lead and oversee the overall Admissions function and admission performance across centers.

- Set admission targets, conversion benchmarks and productivity metrics for teams.

- Monitor the complete admission funnel - leads, follow-ups, counselling, conversions, collections and closures.

- Work closely with Marketing to ensure adequate lead generation and optimize Lead-to-Admission conversion.

- Develop sales and admission strategies based on market trends, branch performance and program demand.

- Drive branch-wise revenue performance and ensure achievement of monthly, quarterly and annual targets.

- Establish strong review mechanisms for admissions and revenue teams.

3. Center & Branch Operations:

- Take ownership of the day-to-day operational performance of all Elance centers.

- Ensure centers operate efficiently with appropriate manpower, infrastructure, systems and resources.

- Establish standardized SOPs and operating standards across all locations.

- Monitor center-level KPIs including admissions, revenue, collections, utilization, student experience, manpower productivity and operational costs.

- Conduct regular branch performance reviews and implement improvement plans for underperforming centers.

- Ensure smooth coordination between front office, admissions, academics, administration and support functions.

4. P&L & Financial Performance:

- Take ownership of operational P&L performance across the organization.

- Work closely with Finance to monitor revenue, expenses, margins, profitability and cost efficiency.

- Develop branch and business-unit budgets and monitor performance against budgets.

- Identify opportunities to improve revenue, reduce unnecessary costs and increase contribution margins.

- Establish clear financial accountability for business heads and center leaders.

- Track key financial metrics including revenue, collections, operating expenses, manpower cost, center profitability and EBITDA contribution.

- Support the CEO and senior leadership in strategic financial and business decisions.

5. Marketing & Business Growth:

- Work closely with the Marketing leadership team to develop and execute center-wise and organization-wide marketing plans.

- Align marketing campaigns with admission targets, program launches, seasonal demand and business priorities.

- Ensure marketing spends are linked to measurable business outcomes.

- Review lead quality, acquisition cost, conversion rates and campaign performance.

- Identify new market opportunities and support expansion into new locations and business segments.

- Ensure close alignment between Marketing, Admissions and Operations.

6. HR, Manpower Planning & Productivity:

- Partner closely with HR to develop annual and quarterly manpower plans based on business requirements.

- Ensure the right number of people are deployed at the right locations and functions.

- Establish productivity benchmarks for admissions, operations, academics and support teams.

- Monitor manpower cost as a percentage of revenue and optimize workforce deployment.

- Identify capability gaps and work with HR to develop hiring, training and performance-improvement plans.

- Support succession planning and development of future operational leaders.

- Build a high-performance culture with clear KRAs, KPIs and accountability.

7. Academic & Student Experience Alignment:

- Work closely with the Academic leadership team to ensure operational and academic plans are aligned.

- Coordinate batch planning, faculty utilization, classroom utilization and academic resource requirements.

- Ensure academic delivery standards are consistently maintained across centers.

- Identify operational issues affecting student experience and work with Academics to resolve them.

- Track student satisfaction, retention, complaints and service-quality indicators.

8. Performance Management & MIS:

- Establish a comprehensive Operations Dashboard covering: Admissions Revenue & collections, Lead conversion, Marketing performance, Center profitability, Manpower productivity, Faculty utilization, Student experience, Operational costs, Attrition and retention.

- Conduct structured daily, weekly and monthly performance reviews.

- Ensure decisions are driven by accurate and timely data.

- Establish escalation mechanisms for critical operational and business issues.

9. Process Excellence & Scalability:

- Design and implement scalable operating systems, SOPs and governance mechanisms.

- Continuously identify opportunities for automation and process improvement.

- Reduce dependency on individuals by building strong systems and processes.

- Develop operating frameworks that can be replicated across new branches and markets.

- Ensure new centers achieve operational readiness within defined timelines.

10. Leadership & Cross-functional Coordination:

- Lead, mentor and develop senior operations and center leadership teams.

- Create a strong leadership pipeline for future business expansion.

- Work closely with CEO, Finance, HR, Marketing, Admissions, Academics and Expansion teams.

- Resolve cross-functional dependencies and ensure organizational priorities are executed without delays.

- Act as the central owner for operational alignment across departments.

Key Performance Indicators:

The VP Operations will be evaluated on measurable business and operational outcomes, including:

- Revenue achievement

- Admissions achievement and conversion rate

- Lead-to-admission conversion

- Collection performance

- Center-level profitability / P&L

- EBITDA contribution

- Marketing ROI and cost per acquisition

- Manpower productivity

- Employee utilization

- Faculty and infrastructure utilization

- Student retention and experience

- Operational cost efficiency

- Branch performance and turnaround of underperforming centers

- Successful launch and stabilization of new centers

- Process compliance and operational standardization

Candidate Profile:

1. Experience:

- 15+ years of experience in Operations, Business Operations, P&L Management, Sales Operations or Multi-location Management.

2. Team Management:

- Proven experience managing large teams and geographically distributed operations.

3. Business Performance:

- Strong track record of managing revenue, P&L and business performance.

4. Scaling:

- Experience in scaling a multi-location organization in a high-growth environment.

5. Domain Knowledge:

- Strong understanding of Admissions/Sales, Marketing, Operations, HR and Business Finance.

6. Cross-functional Skills:

- Experience working across multiple functions and managing cross functional teams.

7. Analytical Skills:

- Strong analytical and data-driven approach to decision-making.

8. Leadership:

- Excellent leadership, negotiation, communication and stakeholder management skills.

- Strong understanding of process design, SOPs, governance and performance management.

9. Industry Background:

- Experience in Education/EdTech, Retail, BFSI, Hospitality, Healthcare or other customer-facing service industries is preferred.

10. Education:

- MBA / Master's degree in Business, Operations, Management or a related discipline preferred.

What We Are Looking For:

We are looking for a business leader, not just an operations manager.

The ideal VP Operations should be capable of looking at Elance as a complete business - understanding where revenue comes from, what drives admissions, how centers perform, how people contribute, where costs are increasing and what needs to change to improve profitability and scale.

The person should be a strong operator, people leader, P&L owner and execution driver who can convert Elance's growth strategy into a disciplined, scalable and high-performing operating system.