Durham School Services · 9 hours ago
Vice President Operations (Pacific Northwest)
Warrenville, IL
Full-time
Onsite
Director/Executive
$200K/yr - $200K/yrDurham School Services is committed to providing high-quality transportation services, and they are seeking a Vice President of Operations to ensure operational excellence across a diverse portfolio. The VP will standardize best practices, drive performance, and develop leadership while ensuring compliance and supporting scalable growth across regions.
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad
Responsibilities
Driving overall operational performance across regions, ensuring results meet or exceed standards for safety, service delivery, labor stability, cost controls, and profitability
Establishing consistency by standardizing operational processes and ensuring best practices are implemented and sustained across every location
Preparing regions for scale—ensuring readiness for new contracts, expansions, and customer‑driven growth by proactively addressing operational gaps and resource needs
Leading stabilization and turnaround efforts in underperforming regions, deploying targeted remediation plans, and ensuring accountability for rapid improvement
Develop a growth-mindset with General Managers and teams to ensure local opportunities are identified and implemented
Coaching and developing Region Managers through structured performance expectations, regular 1:1 engagement, and clear feedback mechanisms
Fostering a culture rooted in people‑first leadership, safety, customer service, performance excellence, and continuous improvement
Holding Region Managers accountable for developing General Managers and CSC leadership, ensuring capable pipelines
Leading succession planning for Region Manager and General Manager roles, identifying high‑potential leaders and supporting their development
Partnering with HR to assess leadership bench strength, identify skills gaps, and implement development plans that support organizational growth
Converting the Company’s direction, policies and processes into clear regional action plans with measurable objectives and execution milestones
Ensuring initiatives and standards are deployed consistently with strong change‑management support and follow‑through
Serving as the escalation leader for complex operational, labor, safety, or service issues, enabling rapid resolution and protecting the customer experience
Prioritizing and filtering issues to shield the SVP from unnecessary operational noise, elevating only high‑impact concerns
Conducting regular site visits to assess operational health, engage teams, and reinforce performance expectations
Building trust‑based relationships with customers to exceed expectations and identify opportunities for additional business growth
Strengthening credibility with location leaders and frontline supervisors through transparent communication and partnership
Qualification
Required
Extensive experience leading multi‑site, field‑based operations with full accountability for safety, service, and financial performance
Demonstrated success coaching and developing experienced leaders, with a strong track record of building bench strength
Deep operational judgment, particularly in safety, labor relations, and risk mitigation within complex, regulated, or service‑intensive environments
Ability to travel extensively across the assigned geography to maintain strong field engagement
Field‑first mindset with strong operational credibility and hands‑on leadership style
Direct, fair, and decisive, capable of holding leaders accountable while building trust and partnership
Strategic thinker with disciplined execution skills, capable of balancing long‑term vision with immediate operational needs
Calm under pressure, able to navigate crises and high‑stakes issues while maintaining alignment and focus
Must reside in CA, WA ID, OR or AK
Benefits
Medical
Dental
Vision
Basic life insurance coverage
Holiday pay
PTO accrual
Retirement savings plan
Company
Durham School Services
Durham School Services provides transportation and special needs transportation services to students.
Founded in 1917Warrenville, Illinois, USA
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Durham School Services has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2024 (2)
2021 (3)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageLeadership Team
John Kirkpatrick
DRIVER TRAINER/CLASSROOM INSYTRUCTOR
Recent News
2026-01-14
2025-12-03
Company data provided by crunchbase