What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Operations—Executive in Training position at Vital Growth Management Ltd?
Our group of companies is looking to hire an unconventional Director of Operations position. This position will operate as a versatile executive in training. The Director of Operations will shadow the Founder/CEO, as well as certain calls for our organizations President, and Chief Science Officer. Occasionally, the Director of Operations will be expected to work as a driver for our Founder and CEO, located ~35 minutes east of Seattle, which will add useful in-person shadowing of how he operates and thinks.
The successful candidate will be tasked with understanding the organizational goals and strategies of these three executives, and ensuring plans and projects are being executed properly on a day to day basis. The successful candidate will work directly with the top executives, reporting progression, challenges, and ensuring overall strategy is aligned. Once the successful candidate is trained and proven, they will oversee a more traditional remote “executive assistant” to help support time consuming manual entry tasks, calendar coordinations, bookings, and so on.
The successful candidate should be highly ambitious, organized, with high cognitive capacity. It is strongly preferred that the candidate does not have formal business education, or experience in a large corporate or governmental role, as these work and educational histories are viewed as detractions by the founder, not assets. The ideal candidate will understand systems thinking, and be capable of logically, critically, and analytically assessing how various goals & projects, both short and long term, spanning multiple departments and companies, all intersect and support each other. Critically, the successful candidate must be able to operate outside of the rigid and “silo’d” type of thinking that dominates larger organizations and institutions.
The successful candidate will be generously compensated for their time, however, if successful will have a clear pathway towards career advancement, perhaps even taking the helm of current or future entities. As such, the successful candidate should consider the opportunity as something more than employment; it is a chance for mentorship, directly shadowing and learning from several self made founders and high functioning executives.
Finally, the successful candidate will need to be prepared to enter a blunt environment of dialogue. Our corporate culture, particularly at the executive level, embraces truth and directness first and foremost. Respect is always required, but every thought, position, or idea is expected to be challenged by any and all that see flaws, errors, or better alternatives. In this sense, input will always be rewarded, not punished or undermined, so long as it is helpful, aligned with the grander vision, and defended and articulated in a coherent and logical manner. Likewise, pointing out errors in executive thinking will always be thanked and rewarded, but again, must be defensible and demonstrable under the same criteria as suggestions.
The job will be demanding, but for the right candidate, rewarding. Do not apply if your expectations are a typical corporate environment, as you will not receive that and there will be no accommodations. If this challenge sparks intrigue and interest, we look forward to reviewing your application.