Job description

About the Company Our client is a seed-stage AI startup in San Francisco building an agentic geospatial intelligence engine that lets anyone quickly and cheaply answer any question about the physical world: a powerful search and reasoning layer over physical-world data. The company is at an early, high-momentum stage. About the Role The company is hiring its first Head of Operations to free up the founder for high-leverage, needle-moving work. This person will own two broad buckets: the traditional operational foundation (insurance, office, compliance, payroll, accounting, contracts, and legal) and the business-facing work (building talent pipelines, producing customer materials, and supporting fundraising decks). The right person is a trusted generalist who can absorb both without needing detailed direction, someone who can reason about the product independently and get things done with high reliability. What You'll Own • Own the full operational backbone: insurance, office management, compliance, payroll, accounting, contracts, and legal coordination • Build and maintain talent pipelines and support recruiting operations as the team scales • Produce customer-facing materials and one-pagers, synthesizing the product and use cases without detailed direction from the founder • Support fundraising processes by creating decks, data rooms, and investor materials • Design internal systems and processes from scratch as the company scales, setting the operational foundation for the next stage of growth • Act as a trusted generalist who keeps everything running well so the founder can focus on high-leverage decisions Requirements Must-Have • 2–5 years of experience in an operational, business operations, or closely adjacent role at a startup • Has seen what executional excellence looks like at a later-stage startup (Series A, B, or C), with an understanding of strong internal systems and processes • Extremely reliable, trustworthy, and not sloppy; operates as a mini owner rather than an employee clocking in • Strong generalist communication skills: able to coordinate with vendors, candidates, customers, and internal stakeholders without a script • Comfortable doing both foundational operational work (compliance, payroll, contracts) and higher-order business-facing tasks (customer materials, fundraising support) in the same week • Thrives in ambiguity and figures things out independently without a detailed playbook Nice-to-Have • Background in investment banking, private equity, or management consulting with a desire to move into building at a startup • MBA (Stanford GSB or equivalent) with a track record of execution, not just analysis • Venture analyst or investor background, wanting to switch from evaluating startups to building one • Sales background with strong operator instincts, particularly someone who has moved from closing into an operational or generalist role • Product background with demonstrated operational range • Competitive or athletic background (D1 athlete or equivalent) that signals the drive to grind in a fast-moving environment Key Details • Location: San Francisco, CA (in-person) • Employment: Full-time • Experience: 2–5 years • Salary: $150,000 – $200,000 USD per year • Equity: 0.5% – 0.75% • Visa Sponsorship: Not available Benefits & Perks • 0.5% – 0.75% equity • In-office meals included Interview Process • Intro screen with the founder • Take-home case study • Advisor interview • Offer

Requirements

Must-haves

What You'll Own
Own the full operational backbone: insurance, office management, compliance, payroll, accounting, contracts, and legal coordination
Build and maintain talent pipelines and support recruiting operations as the team scales
Produce customer-facing materials and one-pagers, synthesizing the product and use cases without detailed direction from the founder
Support fundraising processes by creating decks, data rooms, and investor materials
Design internal systems and processes from scratch as the company scales, setting the operational foundation for the next stage of growth
Act as a trusted generalist who keeps everything running well so the founder can focus on high-leverage decisions
2–5 years of experience in an operational, business operations, or closely adjacent role at a startup
Has seen what executional excellence looks like at a later-stage startup (Series A, B, or C), with an understanding of strong internal systems and processes
Extremely reliable, trustworthy, and not sloppy; operates as a mini owner rather than an employee clocking in
Strong generalist communication skills: able to coordinate with vendors, candidates, customers, and internal stakeholders without a script
Comfortable doing both foundational operational work (compliance, payroll, contracts) and higher-order business-facing tasks (customer materials, fundraising support) in the same week
Thrives in ambiguity and figures things out independently without a detailed playbook

Nice-to-haves

Background in investment banking, private equity, or management consulting with a desire to move into building at a startup
MBA (Stanford GSB or equivalent) with a track record of execution, not just analysis
Venture analyst or investor background, wanting to switch from evaluating startups to building one
Sales background with strong operator instincts, particularly someone who has moved from closing into an operational or generalist role
Product background with demonstrated operational range
Competitive or athletic background (D1 athlete or equivalent) that signals the drive to grind in a fast-moving environment
Location: San Francisco, CA (in-person)
Employment: Full-time
Salary: $150,000 – $200,000 USD per year
Equity: 0.5% – 0.75%
Visa Sponsorship: Not available

Application prep

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Keywords to mirror

Platform: manatal
Effort: medium