Advisory Director

The role leads delivery across Business Process Solutions (BPS)—including Outsourced Accounting & Financial Services and Internal Audit & Controls—as well as broader transformation and operational excellence services. The ideal candidate brings deep cross-functional advisory experience across operating model design, business transformation, transition and operational excellence, professional services, shared services, outsourcing, and process improvement, combined with strong leadership, commercial, and stakeholder management skills.
Scope & Success Measures: Success in this role will be measured through (1) growth in Advisory demand and satisfaction of member firms (2) delivery quality and adherence to practice, risk, and quality standards, (3) service line economics (budget attainment, utilization oversight, and effective capacity), and (4) team health (hiring progress, capability development, and retention).
This role will be fundamental in shaping GT’s Advisory footprint in the Philippines, ensuring exceptional delivery quality, driving growth, and building a robust, engaged team.

Why This Role Is Critical
This Director position is a foundational leadership role to:
•    Establish GT Philippines as a global Advisory hub
•    Ensure Advisory becomes a high quality, scalable, exportable capability
•    Enable GT firms worldwide to leverage Philippines based expertise
•    Support the broader Advisory growth agenda of Grant Thornton globally

Key Responsibilities:
1. Advisory Leadership & Technical Excellence
•    Serve as the senior technical authority for the GCS Advisory service line, ensuring high-quality delivery across Business Process Solutions (BPS)—Outsourced Accounting & Financial Services and Internal Audit & Controls—as well as transformation, capability building, and operational excellence services.
•    Maintain and enforce Advisory frameworks, methodologies, quality standards, and risk controls.
•    Oversee solution design and provide expert input into proposals, delivery approaches, and methodologies.
•    Act as the escalation point for complex engagements.

2. Growth & Business Development
•    Lead the positioning and pitching of Advisory capabilities to GT member firms seeking support from the Philippines.
•    Collaborate with global teams on deal shaping, scoping, staffing, and pricing.
•    Contribute to the overall GCS growth agenda by identifying new Advisory offerings, capability areas, or market opportunities.

3. Global Stakeholder Engagement
•    Act as the primary interface to GT member firm, Platform, and Regional Advisory leadership stakeholders.
•    Ensure alignment with global Advisory strategy, methodologies, and service line priorities.
•    Strengthen relationships with GT firms to increase cross border collaboration and pipeline flow.

4. Service Line Operations & Management
•    Oversee the end to end management of the Advisory business within the GCS, including:
o    Lead workforce planning (demand forecasting, role design, hiring plans).
o    Build and evolve skills (learning pathways, complexity progression, and capacity building).
o    Own budgeting and forecasting for the service line (with clear assumptions and variance management).
o    Oversee utilization and delivery performance (ensure team members are engaged and enabled to deliver meaningful client outcomes).
o    Operate quality assurance and delivery governance in line with practice, risk, and quality standards.
o    Produce transparent service line reporting and action plans that highlight performance, risks, and improvement areas.
•    Ensure the GCS Advisory team meets client expectations across delivery excellence, timelines, and outcomes.

5. People Leadership & Culture
•    Build, lead, and inspire a high-performing Advisory team.
•    Drive a culture focused on motivation, high morale, development, and retention.
•    Provide coaching, mentoring, and career pathways for Advisory team members.
•    Own the development of leaders within the Advisory group in the GCS.
•    Ensure onboarding, capability development, and ongoing training commitment.

6. Capability Development
•    Identify skills and capability needs for Advisory (short- and long term).
•    Oversee training programs, technical learning, professional certifications, and knowledge sharing.
•    Maintain readiness for scaling into additional technical domains (e.g., Tech Modernization) as the GCS evolves.

Experience & Qualifications
Required
•    CPA
•    12+ years in Advisory, Professional Services, Global Capability services, or Consulting.
•    4+ years in Director or above role in Advisory, Professional Services, or Global Capability services.
•    Demonstrated expertise across:
o    Operating model and organizational design
o    Business transformation & transition
o    Global Capability, Professional Services / Shared Services design & optimization
o    Process redesign, automation, and operational improvement
o    Outsourcing or managed services models
•    Experience working with multinational clients or global delivery teams.
•    Proven ability to lead senior teams and manage large scale change.
•    Strong commercial acumen with a track record in proposal development, deal execution, and business growth.
•    Exceptional stakeholder management & communication skills—particularly with global or cross border leadership teams.

Highly Desirable
•    Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) designation 
•    Prior experience building capabilities or service lines in offshore/nearshore environments (e.g., Philippines, India, LATAM, NA, EMEA).
•    Experience in Consulting, Finance or Accounting services within a professional service Big Four, or global advisory environment.
•    Other certifications (Lean, Six Sigma, PMP, Prosci, etc.) – advantageous.

Key Attributes
•    Demonstrates strategic thinking with a strong execution focus.
•    Engages effectively and builds trusted relationships with senior global stakeholders.
•    Ability to work in an agile, start up like environment within a larger global ecosystem.
•    Passion for building teams and shaping culture.
•    Strong commitment and experience developing leadership talent 
•    Strong problem-solving skills and ability to operate on both strategic and detailed levels.
•    Executive-level communication and escalation judgment
•    Ability to build operating rhythm and ways of working in new environments