Operations Manager

About Us

We are a private design studio that builds and supports a portfolio of companies and projects across software, hardware, hospitality, and more. Some of what we build stays in house; some spins out. We also run an early-stage investment fund and an accompanying cohort program for founders. This company is not Expa, but is an affiliate of Expa's.

The Role

We are looking for an Operations Manager who treats operations as a product rather than a back office — someone who builds the infrastructure that lets a small team and a changing set of projects move quickly without breaking things.

The role is weighted toward our fund and cohort program, which will take roughly 60% of your time. The other 40% supports the rest of the portfolio: reviewing the monthly financials, keeping budgets honest, handling insurance and registrations, routing work between legal, finance, and engineering, and making sure each project gets set up properly and stays ahead of what it owes. Most of our project leads are engineers, and designers focused on their product. You are the person who notices the insurance renewal, the registration deadline, or the contract that never got countersigned — and gets it handled.

This is a mid-senior, self-directed seat. You will own the operations function rather than staff it. We are a small team and we are not going to hand you a queue — we are looking for someone who sets the priorities, makes most of the calls themselves, and has the judgment to know which decisions to make and move on, which to make and then tell us about, and which to bring to us first.

What You’ll Do

• Fund and program operations: Support the fundraising process operationally, maintain investor tracking and the program budget, and manage payment milestones for participating companies.

• Founder support: Help early-stage companies get spun up and hold them accountable to their timelines and milestones.

• Financial review and budget: Review monthly financials with our outside accountants and keep budgets current across the studio and each project — flagging variances early rather than at quarter end. Update opex based on monthly trends.

• Insurance: Own insurance end to end for each new project and entity — applications, quote review, underwriting, renewals, and certificates — working directly with our broker.

• Operating rhythm: Own agendas, inputs, and follow-ups for the weekly operations meeting, pipeline review, and monthly business review.

• Project onboarding and offboarding: Get new teams set up with the tools, accounts, and administrative support they need on day one, and support clean close-outs when a project ends.

• Legal coordination: Coordinate between project teams and outside counsel on trademarks, patents, terms and privacy policies, consulting agreements, and NDAs — and track each to completion.

• Entity and vendor setup: Registrations, compliance agents, and third-party services across entities and project websites.

• Check-ins and escalation: Meet regularly with each project lead, track open threads to closure, and surface to leadership what they need to see with enough context to act on.

• First point of contact: Be the default person teams come to — answering, or pointing to the right owner.

• Events and programming: Plan and run events and professional development programming.

What We’re Looking For

• 4-8+ years of experience in operations, chief of staff, or program management roles, with meaningful time inside a venture fund, private equity firm, accelerator, or startup. We care more about how you operate than about the number — what matters is having built the judgment to move things forward without being told to.

• Independent operator: You run your own function. You do not need a queue handed to you, and you are comfortable being the one who decides when nobody else is going to.

• Good judgment about the decision ladder: You can tell the difference between a call to make and move on, a call to make and then tell us about, and a call to bring to us first — and you get that right most of the time.

• Thrives in ambiguity: Comfortable starting before the process exists, writing the manual rather than waiting for one, and rewriting it when the portfolio changes shape.

• Financial fluency: You can read a monthly P&L, hold outside accountants to a close calendar, build and maintain budgets, and spot the number that looks wrong.

• Fund and entity administration: Comfort with entity setup, insurance, registrations, and working alongside outside counsel and accountants.

• An instinct for other people’s blind spots: You notice what is about to be missed, what is coming around the corner, and raise it early.

• Tech savvy and fluent in Mac OS and Google Suite (Calendar/Drive/Sheets/Docs).

• Trustworthy and discreet: A clear understanding of confidentiality and how to carry it in every setting. This matters to us more than most things.

• Professional and personable: Excellent verbal communication and the ability to build relationships across very different teams.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: The anticipated base salary range for this position is $170,000-$225,000. Actual compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, level, and location.

• Benefits: Generous benefits package including medical, dental, and vision, 401(k) matching

• Location: Can be remote in the US, with significant travel to Los Angeles