VP of Operations or COO
The VP Operations will build the systems, processes, and organizational capacity to execute our growth plan. This role owns Sales, Client Services, Operations, and the enterprise account management team that serves our external partners. This is not a pure internal ops role. You will directly manage teams that interface with external clients—specifically the client services organization that supports our partners, as well as the events team that hosts events of all sizes and types for our members. You must have built and led customer-facing service operations, not just partnered with them. Growth trajectory: The right candidate will earn the opportunity to grow from VP Ops into COO as the business scales.
What You'll Do
- Strategic Execution
- Translate strategic vision into executable plans with clear milestones and accountability
- Own operational readiness for market expansion initiatives
- Manage the shift to subscription model while protecting existing revenue
- Drive operational planning, KPIs, and performance metrics across functions
- Operations & Scale
- Run day-to-day operations across Sales, Client Services, and Operations with full P&L accountability
- Build systems and infrastructure to support rapid scale (> 1M+ users)
- Implement AI, automation, and analytics to reduce cost-to-serve
- Architect processes that eliminate operational debt and enable growth
- Client Services & Partnerships
- Lead the team managing relationships with external partners
- Understand ‘partner health’ and design scalable solutions to improve it
- Manage the team designing and delivering in-person and online events to activate the membership
- Ensure client-facing operations deliver results: retention, satisfaction, expansion
- Drive partnership growth and optimize recurring revenue streams
- Build scalable client service operations that maintain quality at 3-5x current volume
- Team & Culture
- Develop high-performing operational leaders with clear KPIs
- Foster accountability, transparency, and metrics-driven decision-making
- Guide teams through organizational change while maintaining execution
- Technology Integration
- Integrate AI (agentic and gen ai) and digital platforms into operations and program delivery
- Ensure systems scale with growth objectives
- Drive data-informed decisions and continuous improvement
What You Bring
- Required:
- 10+ years in operations leadership; 5+ years managing $25M+ P&L
- Direct experience building and leading externally-facing client services/support teams (not just internal ops or partnering with CS teams)
- Experience scaling companies through 50-250+ employees, maintaining 2+ year tenure
- Track record with subscription/recurring revenue business models
- Experience implementing automation, AI, or analytics to improve operations
- Comfort in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where you build systems while the business evolves
- Preferred:
- EdTech or education sector experience
- Experience with digital platform or SaaS transitions
- Event planning and management experience
- We need someone who has:
- Built client-facing service operations from scratch or through major scale
- Managed teams that directly serve external customers/partners/institutions
- Led both internal operations AND revenue-generating service delivery
- Experience in the "murky middle"—building structure without waiting for perfect clarity
- We don't need:
- Pure internal operations leaders who only optimized back-office functions
- Rev ops consultants who advised sales teams but didn't manage external clients
- Leaders who need clear 3-year roadmaps before taking action