Operations Associate

We are building a growth engine for Independent food.

We’re on a mission to change the landscape of our food system by removing the limits of previous big food manufacturing and distribution by leveraging a lean, digitally native marketplace in order to improve both shopper and new brand experiences. Bubble Goods shoppers have access to 2000 independent and diverse food brands from across the USA.

Our team prides itself on providing an environment that encourages growth, giving you the opportunity to lead projects and own the work you do. We like to think of ourselves as being as analytical as we are creative. There is a method to deliver the deliciousness. We are driven by our principles rooted in quality and committed to providing the best consumer experience. We're constantly looking for chances to create a more inclusive, fun, collaborative, and effective work environment. 

The team at Bubble Goods has deep industry knowledge and experience in the food, wellness, technology, and media space, hailing from notable companies: Daily Harvest, Poshmark, Wish, DoorDash, Gust, and Hu Kitchen.

More on the Bubble Goods team and culture on our Careers page or on LinkedIn. 

We need a builder to transform messy, manual workflows into scalable systems. You’ll balance two speeds: executing today’s critical work while dedicating 30-40% of your time to building the automation that prevents future fires. On Monday, you might be troubleshooting a single seller’s inventory syncing issues; by Tuesday, you’re shipping the workflow that ensures that issue never happens again for the next thousand sellers.

Speed 1 - Direct Execution, Ships Today (60-70%)

• You are on the front lines, ensuring the marketplace runs flawlessly while gathering the data we need to improve our platform at scale.
• Scale our Selection: Review and onboard new brands, ensuring every product rigorously meets our clean food standards before it reaches our shoppers.
• Convert Friction into Trust: Resolve customer fulfillment issues (like delayed orders or damaged goods), turning logistical hurdles into loyalty building moments 
• Bridge The Technical Gap: Act as the first line of defense for technical hurdles blocking sellers. Whether it's a broken integration or a reporting error, you troubleshoot and resolve the specific issue in real-time so our makers can stay focused on their craft.
• Champion Seller Success: Directly enable seller success by leading workshops, optimizing product listings, and supporting high-impact promotional campaigns.
• Preempt Fulfillment Delays: Monitor pending orders and intervene with sellers before delays happen, protecting the customer experience through proactive communication.

Speed 2: Build for Tomorrow (30-40%)

• You’ll take the lessons from daily execution to build the foundations for tomorrow. You are here to make sure we can scale 10x by working smarter, not just by hiring more people.
• Build the Early Warning System: Use SQL and BI tools to stay two steps ahead. You’ll design dashboards that surface and size hidden issues, giving us the lead time to intervene before a problem ever reaches a customer.
• Remove Friction (Systemic Fixes): You don't just put out fires; you build the automation that ensures they never start again. You’ll analyze recurring patterns in "what breaks" to design and ship the workflow changes that stop issues at the source.
• Author the Playbooks: Transform manual, repetitive effort into scalable workflows. You’ll document and standardize our operations, turning institutional knowledge into a repeatable engine for growth.
• Accelerate the Funnel: Re-design our onboarding workflows to drastically reduce seller activation time. You will be responsible for moving makers from "approved" to "active" in days rather than months.

• You own problems the moment you see them. You’re driven by a genuine empathy for the user (when they struggle, you feel it) and you refuse to settle for "good enough" or temporary band-aids. Your standards remain high whether you’re closing out a support ticket or preparing a presentation for a top seller; you’re here to build things the right way, not the easy way.
• Experience: 0-3 years in operations, account management, supply chain, hospitality, retail management, or customer-facing roles. Recent grads and career pivots encouraged to apply.
• Builder Mindset: You've launched something from scratch and can show tangible impact: a side project, student organization, or new process at work. You ship solutions, not slide decks. You think in systems, not tasks.
• Mission-Driven: You've made personal choices around food quality (reading labels, shopping farmers markets, questioning ingredients) OR you're motivated by helping small businesses compete against corporate giants.
• High EQ & Clear Communicator: You balance empathy with execution. You can explain Shopify inventory settings to a small business owner and a technical bug to executive leadership with equal clarity.
• Comfort with Unglamorous Work: You volunteer for the foundational work because you know that mastering the "nuts and bolts" is the only way to build for scale. To you, no task is too small to be done exceptionally well.
• Data Fluency: You use data to act, not to delay. You are a spreadsheet power user (Vlookups and pivots are second nature). SQL is a plus.
• Learning Velocity: You learn by doing, not by waiting for formal training. Self-taught technical skills are a major plus.

This role isn't right if you:

1. If you need guaranteed “9-5” hours - some weeks require working evenings and weekends
2. Feel that troubleshooting technical bugs or answering "where's my order?" support tickets is a chore, rather than a valuable clue to how we can build a better system
3. Want established processes handed to you, instead of building them yourself
4. Require a pre-defined daily roadmap; we collaborate on the "what," but we expect you to independently navigate the "how" and set your own priorities to reach our goals

Nice to Have:

• E-commerce / Platform Knowledge: Experience with Shopify, Metabase, Zendesk, Retool, Zapier, Slack, or similar platforms.
• Operational Foundations: A background in supply chain coordination, B2B account management, or restaurant/retail operations.
• Industry Context: Experience in the food industry or CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods), particularly with small business owners.
• Technical Curiosity: Self-taught technical skills or an interest in SQL, Python, LLMs, or no-code automation tools.

$70K early-stage equity. We want someone who is energized by the chance to own a piece of what they build. As you expand your scope and drive outsized impact, your compensation will evolve to reflect the value you’ve created.

• Equity & Scale: Early-stage stake in a company disrupting a $1.5T industry.
• Low Ego, High Agency: We prioritize the best idea over the highest title and give you the autonomy to ship the solutions you propose.
• Unmatched Learning Velocity: This is a front-row seat to building a company, designed to turn entry-level talent into elite operators through direct mentorship from industry veterans and hands-on ownership.
• Master the Modern Stack: Gain a massive career edge by integrating LLMs and No-Code automation into your daily workflow to turn manual tasks into scalable engines.
• Hybrid Work: 2 days in-person (NYC/NJ) for purposeful collaboration; 3 days remote for focused execution.

• Step 1: 30-Minute Hiring Screen (Virtual) Behavioral interview focused on builder mentality and mission alignment. Be prepared to discuss times you've built something new, acted on user feedback, and juggled competing urgent priorities.
• Step 2: Take-Home Assessment (2 hour maximum) You'll work with data to identify problems, advocate for solutions, and demonstrate how you'd collaborate cross-functionally to implement them. This simulates the day-to-day problem-solving and systems thinking the role requires.
• Step 3: In-Person Presentation (30 minutes, NYC/NJ) Present your take-home assessment to the team. You'll defend your recommendations, iterate based on feedback, and work through a live troubleshooting scenario. This is collaborative, not adversarial: we want to see how you think and build alongside the team.
• Step 4: Leadership Conversation (30-45 minutes) Final conversations with company leadership to discuss mission alignment, career goals, and how this role fits your longer-term trajectory. You'll also have time to ask questions about company strategy and culture.
• Timeline: Expect 2-3 weeks from application to offer for strong candidates.
  

Bubble Goods is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.