Founding Operations Lead
causewayBel Air (MD)
Founding Operations Lead
Posted 4 days ago
causewayBel Air (MD)
SENIORITY
Director
About the role
ABOUT US:
From acceptance letter to offer letter, Causeway Careers helps college students find and land the work they want. Entry-level hiring has changed. There are fewer openings, 3 times as many applicants per opening as in 2021, and AI is erasing the jobs that used to be the way in. Employers have stopped doing the teaching, so it has to happen earlier. Generic career advice cannot clear a bar that is moving quickly and differently in every industry. Every student we enroll gets three things: One Textbook for their field, kept current by Mentors who work in it; One Coach, twice a month, for four years; and One Mentor Network that opens doors a student cannot open alone. We are enrolling our founding class now, with service starting in January, at a premium standard of care.
THE ROLE:
We are hiring our first operations person: the one who builds and runs everything behind the scenes so the Founder can sell, coach, and recruit the Mentor Network. You will stand up the systems that let a family enroll and pay, quarterback the referral pipeline to our founding class, and build the delivery operations that keep coaches focused on students. This is a build, not a run, and it grows into a head-of-operations / GM seat as we scale. WHAT YOU’LL OWN
- Enrollment operations. Own the CRM and pipeline: move families from counselor referral to signed and paid, and make sure nothing slips.
- Referral tracking. Build what we do not have yet: per-counselor referral links, automatic lead capture, and a clean way to correct who gets credit. Today it is a spreadsheet that is not working.
- Enrollment infrastructure. Run the enrollment package and signing flow, and stand up contracts, e-sign, insurance, and the entity rails alongside our counsel.
- Operating cadence. Run our planning system, track priorities, and keep decisions moving.
- Onboarding and delivery. Student intake, scheduling, and coach matching, and, as we grow, coordinating Mentors with students.
- Back office and finance. Own the finance operation day to day: payroll, bookkeeping, billing and collections, the monthly close, vendor and software spend, and the reporting the Founder and the board rely on.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
- Exceptional attention to detail. You catch what others miss; nothing sloppy leaves your hands.
- High agency. You take an ambiguous goal and make it real without being managed.
- Systems-minded. You build repeatable processes, not one-off fixes.
- Poised and trustworthy. You will be an operational face to premium families and handle sensitive information with care.
- Patience with a startup. Priorities move and tools break. You adapt in the moment and do not dwell on it afterward.
- Hungry to grow. You want to grow into a head-of-operations / GM role, not just execute a fixed lane.
- A plus: early-stage startup or services-business experience.
WHY THIS SEATYou will be the first operations hire at a company built by experienced operators, with a warm pipeline of families already waiting. Ground-floor scope, real ownership, a pathway to equity, and a clear path to run operations as we grow.
Before you apply
Applying takes about a minute. These four things decide how fast it moves after that.
Your profile is current
It's what we read first. Occupations, seniority and locations matter more than a long history.
Two examples you can talk through
Not a portfolio — just two pieces of work where you can explain the decisions and what you'd change.
A number in mind
What you're on now and what would make you move. We negotiate better when we know both.
Your notice period
Employers plan around it, and it's the question that stalls offers most often.
Once you apply, someone reads it and calls you before anything reaches the employer — usually within two working days.