Part-time operational leadership for companies that have outgrown their operating model but cannot yet justify a full-time director of operations. Kamyar Shah owns the daily execution layer: cross-functional coordination, accountability, and the operating systems that turn strategy into delivered results. 650+ engagements through World Consulting Group.
Book a Free Operations ReviewA fractional director of operations provides part-time senior ownership of a company's daily execution layer: cross-functional coordination, departmental accountability, process design, and operational reporting. The role turns strategy into delivered results without the cost of a full-time hire. Most companies between $2M and $30M in revenue need this leadership before they can justify a full-time director of operations.
Engagements are structured to address the specific challenges of your organization. Scope is defined collaboratively at the outset and adjusted as priorities evolve.
A director of operations owns the daily execution layer of the business. They manage cross-functional coordination, hold department heads accountable to deliverables, identify operational bottlenecks before they become revenue problems, and translate strategic priorities into operational plans that actually get executed.
Most companies between $2M and $30M in revenue need this function but cannot justify a full-time hire at $120,000 to $180,000 in salary plus benefits. A fractional director of operations delivers the same leadership engaged at the level the business actually requires, typically 10 to 20 hours per week. At this stage the fractional model is not a compromise; it is the correct structure.
This is an active operational leadership role, not a consulting engagement that ends in a report. Kamyar Shah attends leadership meetings, reviews operational performance metrics, drives cross-functional coordination, and holds team members accountable to their commitments.
On the design side, the engagement builds process documentation, workflow optimization, KPI development, and the management infrastructure that makes daily operations visible and correctable without constant CEO involvement. On the execution side, the director actively manages projects, removes blockers, and ensures the operational plans that get built actually get implemented. The gap between strategy and execution closes because someone is accountable for closing it.
Three signals indicate it is time. First, the CEO is spending more than half of their time on operational coordination instead of strategic priorities. When the CEO is the de facto operations leader, the business has a structural problem, not a personnel problem.
Second, cross-functional coordination is failing: projects miss deadlines not because individual contributors underperform but because handoffs between departments are unclear and unowned. Third, the company is preparing for a transition such as a new market, a major hire, an acquisition, or a funding round. Each of those events requires operational infrastructure most companies at this stage have not built, and the right time to build it is before the transition, not during it.
A fractional COO operates at the executive level, owning the full operational function and sitting in on board-level strategy. A fractional director of operations sits one level into the execution layer: owning cross-functional delivery, departmental accountability, and the day-to-day operating rhythm rather than the company's overall operating model.
The distinction is mostly scope. A company whose entire operating model is fragmented needs a COO. A company whose strategy is sound but whose execution keeps breaking needs a director of operations. Companies weighing a narrower, hands-on remit often compare this role with a fractional operations manager; the director role carries broader cross-functional authority.
The execution layer is where most strategies fail. Analyses summarized by Harvard Business Review and others put the share of well-formulated strategies that fail at the execution stage at roughly two-thirds, and McKinsey has repeatedly found that about 70 percent of large-scale change programs fall short of their goals. The constraint is rarely the plan; it is the absence of someone accountable for daily execution.
The fractional model that fills that gap has moved mainstream. Industry analyses put the global fractional executive market above $5 billion in 2025 and growing at roughly 14 percent a year, with about 25 percent of U.S. businesses now using some form of fractional hiring. For a company between $2M and $30M in revenue, a fractional director of operations supplies senior execution leadership at a fraction of the $120,000 to $180,000 cost of a full-time hire.
Kamyar Shah joins your leadership team as an active operator: attending key meetings, reviewing performance data, and driving the cross-functional coordination that keeps execution aligned with strategy.
LEARN MORE →The meeting cadences, reporting structures, and accountability mechanisms that make cross-functional delivery reliable across departments.
GET STARTED →Documented workflows, operational dashboards, and review cadences that give leadership accurate, real-time situational awareness.
BOOK A CALL →Engagements typically run 10 to 20 hours per week on a monthly retainer, scaled to the company stage and needs. A short conversation is the fastest way to determine fit and scope before any commitment.
Most engagements run three to six months at minimum, and many extend as the scope shifts from fixing coordination problems to scaling what works. There is no long-term lock-in.
Companies between $2M and $30M in revenue that have outgrown informal coordination but cannot yet justify a full-time director of operations are the best fit.
Most clients see quick wins within the first 30 days through the diagnostic, with measurable improvements in cross-functional delivery and less firefighting within 60 to 90 days.
A fractional COO owns the entire operational function at the executive level. A fractional director of operations owns the daily execution and cross-functional coordination layer. Engagements that start at the director level sometimes expand to COO scope as the structural dimension becomes clear.
Most growth-stage companies do not have a strategy problem; they have an execution problem. A short conversation will identify where cross-functional delivery is breaking down and whether a fractional director of operations is the right fit.
Book a Free Operations ReviewBringing Consulting to You — Where Strategy Meets Execution — Kamyar Shah