Chief Delivery Officer in Edinburgh

About the Company: Alysian is a high-performing, boutique advisory firm specializing in delivering tailored strategic and technological solutions for leading private equity firms and their portfolio companies. With decades of combined cross-sector expertise, Alysian excels in bridging commercial vision to reality with technology execution — enabling rapid value creation at enterprise scale. We operate with a uniquely agile delivery model, combining deep domain expertise in digital strategy, transformation, and technology innovation. Our entrepreneurial culture and speed-to-impact approach have earned us repeated impact recognition from leading PE firms. At Alysian, we build long-term partnerships grounded in trust, performance, and a relentless drive for client success.

Core values:

• Data Driven – Strategic advisory based on a depth of relevant data.
• Speed & Precision – Agile delivery with tangible results.
• Impact-Driven – Measurable outcomes aligned to strategy.
• Expertise & Trusted Advisor – Deep domain knowledge with integrity.
• Entrepreneurial – Proactive problem-solving and ownership mentality.

Overview of the role: The Chief Delivery Officer (CDO) leads Alysian’s global delivery engine, ensuring complex programs and advisory engagements are executed with high quality, strong margin discipline, and measurable client impact. Reporting to the CEO and part of the Leadership Team, the role owns the end-to-end delivery model, including delivery quality, client outcomes, margin performance, delivery hubs, and resourcing. The CDO ensures Alysian’s engagements—ERP transformations, carve-outs, technology modernisation, private equity value creation, and pre-transaction tech diligence—are delivered with consistent excellence.

Working closely with Delivery and Account Leads, the role ensures what Alysian sells is delivered successfully at scale, while continuously improving delivery methodology, standards, staffing models, and quality frameworks. This role is critical in scaling Alysian’s global delivery capability, including hubs in Poland and India.

1. Global Delivery Leadership
Own the global delivery model, ensuring consistent, high-quality execution across all engagements. Responsibilities include: leading delivery execution across all consulting engagements; ensuring delivery quality, margin performance, and client outcomes; supporting complex transformation programs (ERP, carve-outs, tech modernisation); driving consistent delivery methodologies; partnering with the Chief Client Officer to ensure smooth sales-to-delivery transition.

2. Delivery Governance & Standards
Own and enforce the operational framework for consistent, high-quality delivery. Responsibilities include: enforcing Alysian Delivery Excellence standards; establishing strong governance routines across engagements; maintaining consistent delivery structures, reporting, and documentation.

3. Portfolio Quality & Risk Oversight
Provide leadership oversight of the delivery portfolio to ensure execution quality and risk transparency. Responsibilities include: conducting monthly QA reviews; assessing delivery health, RAG status, risks, and scope discipline; monitoring financial performance and margin integrity; ensuring governance and reporting standards; providing leadership with clear portfolio visibility and early risk signals.

4. Delivery Performance & Margin Ownership
Own measurement frameworks tracking delivery quality, outcomes, and operational health. Key metrics include AIR (value realisation), CSAP (client feedback), Pulse (team sentiment and early risk detection), and Gross Margin/DCM (financial performance). Translate these into leadership dashboards and actionable insights.

5. Delivery Hubs & Resourcing
Lead global delivery capacity and resourcing. Responsibilities include: oversight of hubs in Warsaw and India; managing staffing, utilisation, and resource allocation; ensuring effective talent deployment; supporting scaling of global delivery capability.

6. At-Risk Engagement Intervention
Lead structured recovery of at-risk engagements. Responsibilities include: validating project status with Delivery and Account Leads; diagnosing root causes; developing and executing “Get-to-Green” plans; supporting teams through recovery; escalating to the CEO when required. Requires calm, solution-oriented leadership.

7. Delivery Lifecycle Oversight
Pre-Kickoff: SOW review, readiness validation, QA checklist, approval to proceed. In-Flight: midpoint QA review, delivery health and RAG assessment, CSAP and Pulse monitoring, financial review. Closure: final CSAP and AIR scoring, retrospective and lessons learned, financial validation.

8. Continuous Improvement & Delivery Enablement
Drive continuous improvement of delivery capabilities and infrastructure. Responsibilities include: enhancing QA workflows and automation (Zoho); strengthening AIR dashboards and analytics; identifying bottlenecks and governance gaps; evolving the Delivery Excellence Manual; ensuring governance enables execution.

Tools Environment
Zoho Projects (governance, RAID logs, dashboards), Zoho Contracts (SOW validation), Zoho Surveys (CSAP and Pulse), and internal documentation systems.

Success Indicators
≥95% compliance with delivery standards; predictable recovery of at-risk engagements; improved AIR scores; strong CSAP outcomes; reduced margin erosion; governance seen as enabling execution.

Required Profile
Established experience in consulting across strategy and transformation delivery. Combination of strategy consulting (e.g., MBB) and large-scale delivery (e.g., Accenture). Experience leading complex programs (ERP, carve-outs, large technology initiatives). Strong understanding of private equity value creation environments. Proven experience managing global delivery teams. Strong commercial and financial acumen. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Benefits
Why Join Alysian Consulting? Our vision is to become the leading independent boutique tech advisory firm, transforming value creation in private equity through technology and data. We partner with top-tier PE firms (mega-funds in Europe & the US) to drive sustainable growth for portfolio companies and communities.

At Alysian, you’ll work at the intersection of technology, strategy, and investment—where every project has a measurable impact on business performance. We partner with top-tier private equity firms, giving you access to high-profile transformations, boardroom conversations, and some of the most exciting portfolio companies in the market.

We offer:

• Frontline PE exposure, from day one.
• Client-facing work with US/EU Mega and Large Cap deal teams and PortCo CXOs; you lead modules that move EBITDA, not just make slides.
• Outcome ownership in small strike teams.
• Leadership access, clear mandates, and the autonomy to design and ship cost-out / value-creation plays in weeks.
• Remote-first with limited travel.
• Builder’s seat in a scaling CoE.
• Meritocracy with real velocity.

Join Alysian Consulting to build value beyond the deal. Help our clients leverage technology to reimagine businesses, transform operations, and unlock sustainable growth across industries, continents.