Director of Operations Property Management

Gordon Property Management

Director of Operations - Property Management

Position: Director of Operations

Start Date: ASAP

Location: Central Illinois

Reports To: Leadership Team

Employment Status: Full-Time, exempt leadership position

Compensation: Salary negotiable, paid weekly

Benefits: 2 weeks vacation, 8 PTO days, holidays, 50% health insurance, vision, dental, life insurance, gas card or mileage reimbursement, 401(k), and profit sharing after 2 years

Position Overview

Gordon Property Management is redesigning the environment for housing and is in full growth mode. We love people and strive to make good decisions for our owners, our residents, our team, and the properties entrusted to us. We partner with owners, meet regularly to review portfolios, identify areas for improvement, and make sure each property is performing in line with each owner’s unique goals. We also train residents to be responsible stewards of the homes they live in and, when possible, coach them toward home ownership of their own.

The Director of Operations is the senior day-to-day operator for Gordon Property Management’s residential portfolio in Central Illinois. This person owns operational execution across leasing, maintenance coordination, resident relations, owner experience, accounting workflows, compliance, software systems, staff performance, process improvement, and cross-department accountability. The right candidate is a strong leader, a problem solver, a systems thinker, and a steady communicator who can keep people, properties, projects, and priorities moving forward.

Primary Mission of the Role

· Build, lead, and improve the operating systems that allow GPM to grow without losing service quality, compliance, profitability, or team accountability.

· Create a consistent, organized, and professional experience for owners, residents, vendors, and employees.

· Translate Leadership Team goals into clear projects, process flows, metrics, training, and follow-through.

· Identify bottlenecks, solve recurring problems at the root, and make sure the right person owns the right task at the right time.

Key ResponsibilitiesOperations & Property Management

· Oversee daily operations of residential rental properties and ensure compliance with company standards, local ordinances, Fair Housing expectations, and Illinois landlord-tenant requirements.

· Monitor property performance, occupancy, delinquency, turn times, leasing velocity, maintenance responsiveness, resident satisfaction, and owner satisfaction.

· Own and improve front office process flows, onboarding workflows, maintenance process flows, accounting handoffs, inventory systems, documentation standards, and internal checklists.

· Manage and prioritize company projects, special initiatives, marketing support, vendor coordination, insurance-related operational items, gas card usage controls, and cross-department follow-up.

· Make sure recurring issues are documented, assigned, resolved, and converted into improved processes or training.

Owner Relations & Portfolio Performance

· Serve as a key point of accountability for owner experience, owner communication standards, and escalated owner inquiries.

· Prepare for and support regular owner portfolio reviews, including property performance, maintenance trends, rent readiness, lease-up status, capital needs, and improvement opportunities.

· Track portfolio goals by owner and property, ensuring operational decisions support each owner’s stated goals while protecting GPM standards.

· Help identify underperforming properties, recommend corrective actions, and coordinate with leasing, maintenance, and accounting teams to improve outcomes.

Leasing, Marketing & Resident Relations

· Oversee leasing activity, rental pricing strategy support, listing accuracy, showings process, application standards, leasing deadlines, renewal workflows, and marketing coordination.

· Ensure prompt, professional, and consistent communication with residents and prospects.

· Handle escalated resident concerns, lease violations, payment plans, non-payment issues, neighbor complaints, habitability concerns, and difficult conversations with professionalism.

· Partner with the team to reduce vacancy loss, improve resident retention, and maintain clear move-in, move-out, renewal, and deposit workflows.

Maintenance, Turns & Vendor Oversight

· Oversee maintenance department workflow in partnership with maintenance leadership, including work order triage, emergency response expectations, vendor dispatch, resident communication, and completion follow-up.

· Monitor turn process flows, make-ready timelines, inspections, inventory, key control, materials, and quality standards.

· Ensure Maintenance portal is used consistently for maintenance communication, documentation, updates, vendor notes, owner approvals, and resident expectations.

· Support vendor relationships, bid collection, scope clarity, approval tracking, invoice handoff, warranty follow-up, and quality control.

Software, Systems & Documentation

· Utilize Buildium for rent management, owner and resident communication, accounting coordination, reporting, lease and document management, task tracking, and recordkeeping.

· Utilize maintenance portal for maintenance workflow, resident communication, scheduling, vendor coordination, and work order documentation.

· Ensure timely and accurate documentation across Buildium, maintenance portal, shared drives, checklists, project trackers, policy manuals, and communication channels.

· Create, audit, and improve standard operating procedures for onboarding, leasing, maintenance, accounting handoffs, evictions, payment plans, inventory, marketing, HR-related insurance items, and office workflows.

Accounting, Financial Controls & Reporting

· Partner with accounting to support clean workflows for rent collection, delinquency tracking, owner statement questions, deposits, refunds, invoices, approvals, reimbursements, gas card use, and budget-sensitive decisions.

· Review operational reports regularly and alert the Leadership Team to trends, risks, cash-flow concerns, high-cost properties, repeated maintenance issues, or process gaps.

· Approve or escalate payment plans, exceptions, credits, vendor charges, owner approvals, and resident balances according to company policy and authority limits.

· Support profitability by managing labor efficiency, vendor performance, vacancy loss, maintenance costs, resident retention, and operational waste.

Compliance, Risk Management & Legal Coordination

· Maintain operational compliance with company policies, lease terms, Fair Housing requirements, Illinois landlord-tenant laws, local ordinances, safety expectations, and documentation standards.

· Coordinate eviction workflows, notices, payment plans, attorney communication, court-related preparation, and post-judgment follow-up as directed by Leadership Team and legal counsel.

· Ensure incident reports, insurance-related items, property damage, resident disputes, and safety concerns are documented and escalated appropriately.

· Protect the company by creating consistent documentation, clear approvals, timely communication, and defensible processes.

Team Leadership, HR Support & Accountability

· Supervise and support leasing agents, front office staff, maintenance coordination, and other operations team members as assigned.

· Partner with the Leadership Team on staffing plans, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, training, performance management, disciplinary action, terminations, and culture-building.

· Schedule, assign, and prioritize workloads so the team knows what matters most each day and each week.

· Create accountability rhythms, including check-ins, scorecards, task reviews, training plans, process audits, and follow-up on missed expectations.

· Model GPM values through calm leadership, service-minded communication, ownership, urgency, and fairness.

Training, Process Improvement & Growth

· Build and maintain training materials, SOPs, checklists, templates, scripts, escalation paths, and process maps for each major function.

· Train team members on company standards, software systems, communication expectations, owner/resident service standards, compliance basics, and role-specific workflows.

· Lead continuous improvement initiatives that simplify work, reduce mistakes, increase accountability, and support scalable growth.

· Support change management by rolling out new processes clearly, measuring adoption, and correcting drift quickly.

Required Qualifications

· 3-5 years of operations, property management, real estate, housing, maintenance coordination, or comparable leadership experience; property management leadership experience strongly preferred.

· Proven ability to supervise staff, manage priorities, lead difficult conversations, and hold people accountable with professionalism.

· Strong understanding of residential leasing, resident relations, maintenance workflows, vendor coordination, delinquency, evictions, and owner communication.

· Working knowledge of Illinois landlord-tenant practices, Fair Housing principles, lease compliance, and documentation standards.

· Proficiency with property management software; Buildium and maintenance portal experience preferred.

· Strong computer skills, including email, shared documents, spreadsheets, reporting, task tracking, and process documentation.

· Excellent written and verbal communication skills with owners, residents, vendors, attorneys, employees, and leadership.

· Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, sound judgment, discretion, and follow-through.

· Valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, and ability to travel locally to properties, meetings, vendors, and company needs as required.

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience leading a growing team or scaling operations in a fast-paced service business.

· Experience with portfolio reviews, owner reporting, rent-ready processes, inspections, turns, renewals, and maintenance cost controls.

· Experience building SOPs, training manuals, checklists, scorecards, or process maps.

· Familiarity with marketing workflows, website/listing coordination, lead response, resident education, and reputation management.

· Comfort reviewing operational financial information, invoices, reports, budgets, and performance metrics.

Key Competencies

· Leadership with accountability: sets clear expectations, follows up, and develops people.

· Operational discipline: creates order, improves systems, and keeps details from falling through the cracks.

· Service mindset: protects owner interests while treating residents, vendors, and team members professionally.

· Sound judgment: knows when to decide, when to escalate, and when to slow down for risk or compliance.

· Problem solving: identifies root causes instead of repeatedly patching the same issues.

· Communication: clear, timely, calm, direct, and documented.

· Growth orientation: comfortable with change, process building, and measurable improvement.

Success Metrics / Performance Indicators

· Occupancy, vacancy loss, lease-up time, renewal completion, and turn time performance.

· Maintenance response time, completion time, resident updates, vendor follow-through, and repeat issue reduction.

· Delinquency trends, payment plan compliance, eviction workflow timeliness, and clean accounting handoffs.

· Owner satisfaction, resident satisfaction, communication timeliness, and escalated issue resolution.

· SOP completion, training adoption, documentation accuracy, staff accountability, and project completion.

· Operational profitability, cost awareness, reduction of avoidable errors, and scalable systems implementation.

Decision-Making Authority

· May make day-to-day operational decisions within company policy and budget/approval limits set by the Leadership Team.

· May approve payment plans, maintenance escalations, staffing priorities, vendor follow-up, process changes, and resident/owner communication approaches within established guidelines.

· Must escalate legal risks, high-dollar expenses, owner-sensitive decisions, fair housing concerns, employee discipline/termination, insurance matters, policy exceptions, and reputational risks to the Leadership Team.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

· Primarily office-based with regular local travel to properties, vendor meetings, owner meetings, inspections, and operational needs.

· Must be able to sit, stand, walk properties, climb stairs as needed, use a computer and phone for extended periods, and occasionally lift or move light office or property-related items.

· Must be available for urgent operational issues, escalations, emergencies, weather events, or resident/property matters outside standard business hours when necessary.

Schedule Expectations

· Full-time leadership role with regular business hours and flexibility for occasional early morning, evening, weekend, emergency, owner, resident, or property needs.

· Attendance at leadership meetings, team meetings, owner meetings, training sessions, inspections, and project reviews is required as scheduled.

Company Values & Culture Fit

· Loves people but is not afraid to make hard decisions.

· Believes housing should be handled with responsibility, respect, and strong follow-through.

· Takes ownership instead of blaming others or waiting to be told what to do.

· Can bring order to chaos without losing warmth, humor, or professionalism.

· Wants to help owners succeed, residents grow, properties improve, and the GPM team win together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Gordon Property Management is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, qualifications, and applicable law.

Pay: $55,554.66 - $72,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• Do you have experience managing general maintenance?
• Do you have experience overseeing Accounting?
• Do you have experience with Process or Project Management?

Experience:

• Property management: 3 years (Required)

License/Certification:

• Real Estate Broker (Required)
• CAM (Certified Association Manager) (Preferred)

Location:

• Champaign, IL 61820 (Preferred)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $55,555 - $72,000