Director, Turnaround and Restructuring, Performance Improvement

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth.

This position sits within Ankura’s Performance Improvement team is part of our Turnaround and Restructuring Practice which is a core component of our client service offerings across the Firm.

Our Performance Improvement team helps clients unlock competitive advantage and drive sustainable growth by diagnosing performance gaps, identifying value opportunities, and executing transformation initiatives that deliver measurable results.

When organisations are under pressure to adapt, improve efficiency, or drive growth, our team partners with executive leadership to design and deliver solutions that transform performance. Whether accelerating operational excellence, optimising financial and operational metrics, or reshaping ways of working, we bring analytical rigour, proven methodologies, and bespoke execution support to drive outcomes that matter.

Ankura’s EMEA Performance Improvement practice complements our global restructuring expertise and broader consultancy capabilities, with experienced professionals dedicated to operational excellence, value creation and rapid yet sustainable performance uplift.

The Role:

We are seeking an entrepreneurial, performance-driven Manager level candidates based in Germany, who thrive on solving complex business challenges and delivering impact at pace.

The difference you will make:

• Lead client engagements that identify and unlock performance improvement opportunities — from cost optimisation to operational transformation, commercial excellence to working capital enhancement.

• Work alongside respected industry specialists and senior leaders, with ongoing exposure to advanced analytics, benchmark tools, and hands-on implementation experience.

• Influence and enable executive decisions, translating insights into actionable strategies that deliver quantifiable benefits.

• Drive delivery excellence, ensuring projects are executed to high quality, on time, and aligned with client objectives.

• Contribute to building Ankura’s performance improvement practice, including thought leadership, methodologies, solutions, and business development.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage performance improvement workstreams across strategic, operational, financial, and organisational areas.

• Conduct diagnostics to identify improvement levers and quantify value opportunities.

• Translate complex data and insights into clear, actionable recommendations focused on efficiency, growth, profit enhancement, and operational excellence.

• Develop and track KPIs, performance dashboards, 13-week forecasts, sensitivity analyses, and other performance measurement tools.

• Support implementation and change activities with clients, including process redesign, capability uplift, and leadership enablement.

Value Creation & Transformation

• Deliver measurable value through cost optimisation, supply chain and procurement performance, commercial margin uplift, working capital enhancement, organisational design, and operational effectiveness.

• Apply performance improvement methodologies (Lean, benchmarking, continuous improvement frameworks) to drive systematic and sustainable change.

Client Engagement & Business Development

• Build trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders, understanding their challenges and shaping the performance improvement agenda.

• Contribute to proposals, thought leadership, point-of-view pieces, and industry insights that elevate the firm’s performance improvement credentials.

Team Leadership

• Mentor and coach project teams, fostering high performance, analytical excellence, and collaborative delivery.

• Promote knowledge sharing and best-practice dissemination across the wider Ankura network.

Requirements

• Experience in performance improvement, operational transformation, or value creation roles, ideally within top-tier consultancies, corporate strategy, private equity value creation teams or operational performance practices.

• Strong financial, analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience translating insights into impactful strategies.

• Demonstrable experience managing complex engagements with multiple stakeholders and delivering measurable client outcomes.

• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, capable of engaging with executive leadership and driving shared ownership of performance objectives.

• Desire to innovate and contribute new performance improvement tools, frameworks, and methodologies.

• Relevant qualifications (e.g., Business, Finance, Engineering, MBA, Lean/Continuous Improvement certifications) are advantageous but not essential.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English in addition to a strong presence and leadership skills.

• Powerful interpersonal skills and high level of emotional intelligence to partner with executive management teams and passion for enabling leaders to drive change within organisations.

• Relevant experience in a Big 4 firm, investment banking, restructuring consultancy or relevant industry experience would be highly beneficial.

• Willingness to travel nationally and internationally and work overtime as needed.

• Due the nature of our client work it is essential that candidates are fluent in both German and English.

Ankura is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Posters, if you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, submit an online application, or participate in an interview/assessment, please email [email protected] or call toll-free +1.312-583-2122. This email and phone number are created exclusively to assist disabled job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned. Messages left for other purposes, such as following up on an application or technical issues unrelated to a disability, will not receive a response.