What is the best time to contact a director of operations hiring manager?

Early morning or late afternoon, when owners are in the office between site visits. Avoid month-end if the owner still handles payroll and invoicing.

Founder hiring a director of operations: what is the biggest objection?

The founder's own hesitation about giving up control. Answer it with candidates who have earned a team's trust at a similar-size company, a clear first-ninety-days plan, and references from people who reported to them.

What is the difference between a director and a VP of operations?

A VP of operations typically sets operating strategy across functions or sites and often has directors reporting in. A director of operations at a smaller company runs the daily business directly. Match candidates to the scope the owner describes, not the title.

Roles we cover › Director of Operations

Who Hires a Director of Operations: Usually the Owner Letting Go

Ad Call reads the live director of operations ads in your market and returns, for each company, the owner, president or COO most likely making the call, with name, title, email and office line, graded by confidence and marked with how long the search has been visible. At a founder-led company, that is the person handing over the keys.

Hiring a director of operations is the founder admitting they can't be everywhere. Treat it like the big decision it is.

Find the director of operations hiring managers in my market — free

Who is the hiring manager for a director of operations job

This req sits at the top of the company, so the ladder is short. At a founder-led or family-owned company, the owner or president hires the director of operations personally, because the job is the one they have been doing themselves. At a larger company with a COO, the director of operations usually reports to the COO, and the COO owns the req. A general manager hires one only in a multi-unit business where the GM runs a site. HR, if it exists, schedules. Nobody in this ladder delegates the final decision.

Owner / Founderusually owns the reqOwns the req at founder-led companies. Has run daily operations personally and is deciding who to trust with them. The only call that matters.
PresidentSame seat in many privately held companies; sometimes the founder's successor or a family member. Pitch the same way.
Chief Executive OfficerOwns the req at mid-size companies without a COO. Cares about scale and execution more than about letting go.
Chief Operating OfficerOwns the req when the company has one; the director of operations will run what the COO designs.
General ManagerHires a director of operations only in multi-site businesses where the GM runs a location or division.

What Ad Call gives you for a director of operations ad

For this role Ad Call leads with the owner, president or COO and puts a second senior name beside them, often a family member or the CFO. The signals that matter: how long the ad has been live, whether the company has run this ad before, and whether the ad describes building systems and processes, which is the tell of an owner handoff.

jobadcall.com — Director of Operations · Nashville, TN

Ad CallDeskFollow-upsCompaniesGuide

Calloway Mechanical Services

Director of Operations · Nashville, TN

52 days open

live 52 daysad: 'build scalable processes so the owner can focus on growth'similar ad ran earlier this year

Likely managers

Ray Calloway Owner & President

high

ray@callowaymechanical.com✓ verified✉ draft email

Lisa Calloway-Burke Chief Financial Officer

medium

lisa@callowaymechanical.comunconfirmed✉ draft email

Office line

(615) 555-0148 from the company's own site

Why call today

The ad spells out the handoff: the owner wants out of daily operations.
A second attempt at the same search suggests the first hire did not earn the owner's trust or did not stay.
Seven weeks open at the top of a small company means the owner is still dispatching, approving and firefighting personally.

Illustrative sample — the layout and labels are the real console's; the company and people are fictional.

What a director of operations req really means at a founder-led company

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook describes general and operations managers as directing daily operations and planning the use of materials and human resources, and notes that in small organizations an owner or manager is often responsible for hiring, training, quality control and day-to-day supervision. A director of operations ad at a founder-led company is the moment those two descriptions separate: the owner has decided that someone else should run the day.

That is a big decision, and the timing is rarely an accident. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index for Q2 2026, based on 1,351 small and midsize business CEOs, found 50% planned to expand their workforce and said hiring had shifted toward selective hires tied directly to revenue growth or delivery capacity. A director of operations is exactly that kind of hire: the owner cannot grow while they are the bottleneck on delivery.

So your pitch is not a résumé. It is an answer to three questions the owner is asking privately: Can I trust this person with my customers and my people? Will they build systems, or just take orders? Will they still be here in three years?

The owner who hired twice

The owner of a commercial HVAC and plumbing contractor, about 90 employees, finally posts for a director of operations after years of running dispatch, estimating reviews and every customer escalation herself. She hires a polished candidate from a national firm, with a big-company title and a big-company approach. Within four months he has asked for a new software platform, two coordinators and a quarterly planning offsite. He has not been to a job site. The field supervisors still call the owner. He leaves before the year is out, and the ad goes back up.

The second time, a recruiter asks her a different question before sending anyone: what are the three decisions you make every week that you most want to stop making? Her answer is dispatch priorities, overtime approvals, and which customer gets the crew when two emergencies land at once. The recruiter presents a candidate who ran operations at a smaller regional contractor, spent his first ninety days there riding along with crews, and built a simple dispatch and escalation playbook the owner could read in ten minutes. He stays. She starts taking Fridays off.

The lesson: owners do not buy pedigree for this seat. They buy someone who will earn trust from their people and hand back their time in ways they can see.

The owner's hesitation, myth by myth

The real objection in a director of operations search is rarely the candidate. It is the owner's fear of letting go. Name it gently and answer it with specifics.

MythThe owner wants the most impressive résumé.

RealityThe owner wants someone their team will follow and customers will accept. A candidate from a company of similar size and culture often beats a bigger title.

MythOnce the ad is posted, the owner has decided to delegate.

RealityMany owners post and then hesitate. A long-running ad often means they are still deciding whether anyone can do it. Your job is to make the handoff feel safe, not to push.

MythA systems-builder and a doer are different people.

RealityAt this size the owner needs both: someone who will work the floor in month one and write the playbook by month six. Pitch candidates who have done both in sequence.

MythA director of operations is a junior VP of operations.

RealityThe scope differs. A VP usually sets strategy across functions or sites and often has directors reporting in. A director at a founder-led company runs the daily business directly, with the owner still setting direction. Match candidates to the scope, not the title.

MythStaying power is a nice-to-have.

RealityFor the owner it is the whole point. A director who leaves in a year puts the owner back in the chair. Ask candidates about their longest tenure and why they left each role.

The call: reaching the owner through the front office

At a founder-led company, the office manager or executive assistant protects the owner's day. Be brief, respectful and specific about why this call deserves ten minutes.

Office managerCalloway Mechanical, this is Tammy.

YouHi Tammy, it's Jordan Keel with Ridgeway Executive Search. I'm calling Ray about the director of operations role. Is he around, or is there a better time?

Office managerHe's out at a job. What's it regarding exactly?

YouI'm working with an operations leader who ran a mechanical contractor about your size and built their dispatch and escalation process from scratch. I'd like to ask Ray two questions before I send anything, so I don't waste his time. When does he usually get back to the office?

Office managerUsually around four. Try then.

OwnerThis is Ray.

YouRay, thanks for taking this. Two quick questions. What are the decisions you're still making every day that you'd most like to hand off? And what happened with the last person in the role, if you don't mind me asking?

OwnerDispatch and customer escalations. The last guy was a good talker but my foremen never bought in.

YouThat's helpful. The person I'm thinking of started by riding with crews for his first months before changing anything. I'll send a one-page summary tonight with two references from his foremen. If it's a fit, would you meet him on a job site rather than in the office?

What worked: you respected the gatekeeper, asked the owner about the handoff and the failed hire instead of pitching, and proposed a meeting on the owner's turf. The owner's name and the company's office line are on the Ad Call result, so you know who you're asking for before anyone answers.

Director of operations recruiter tips and best time to call

Call late in the day or early morning. Owner-operators spend the middle of the day on job sites, in the plant or with customers. Early morning before the crews roll and late afternoon when they are back in the office are when owners pick up. Avoid month-end if the owner still approves invoices and payroll personally.

Watch for repeat ads. A director of operations ad that reappears within the same year usually means a failed hire. The owner is more motivated and more skeptical at the same time. Lead with tenure and references from people who reported to the candidate.

Bring references from below, not just above. Owners care what a previous team thought. A reference from a foreman, a shift lead or a dispatcher is more persuasive here than one from a former CEO.

Respect the family. In family businesses, the second name in the results may be a spouse, sibling or next-generation owner. Include them in the process rather than pitching around them.

Ad Call shows how long each director of operations search has been visible and puts the owner's name at the top, so you spend your calls where the handoff is actually happening. Run your market free.

Questions recruiters ask about director of operations reqs

Who hires a director of operations?: At founder-led and family businesses, the owner or president. At larger companies, the COO if there is one, otherwise the CEO. HR schedules; it does not decide.
What is the best time to contact a director of operations hiring manager?: Early morning or late afternoon, when owners are in the office between site visits. Avoid month-end if the owner still handles payroll and invoicing.
Founder hiring a director of operations: what is the biggest objection?: The founder's own hesitation about giving up control. Answer it with candidates who have earned a team's trust at a similar-size company, a clear first-ninety-days plan, and references from people who reported to them.
What is the difference between a director and a VP of operations?: A VP of operations typically sets operating strategy across functions or sites and often has directors reporting in. A director of operations at a smaller company runs the daily business directly. Match candidates to the scope the owner describes, not the title.

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