Head of Operations (Startup Marketplace) – 5 Hours/Week

About Us We're building Nesavelle, an international online marketplace designed to connect people, products, cultures, and businesses from around the world. Our mission is to build a thoughtfully curated marketplace that emphasizes quality, uniqueness, and long-term relationships over simply becoming the biggest marketplace. We're currently in the MVP stage and are looking for an exceptional Head of Operations to help us build the operational foundation for a successful launch and long-term growth. This is not a role for someone who simply manages tasks or attends meetings. We're looking for a leader who takes ownership, builds systems, drives execution, solves problems, removes bottlenecks, communicates proactively, and consistently delivers measurable results. This position begins as a 5-hour-per-week engagement, with the opportunity to grow into a significantly larger role as the company expands. You will not be working alone. Our team currently includes: - A software developer building the marketplace. - An Operations Assistant who will support you with research, documentation, administrative work, follow-up, and other execution tasks under your leadership. Your role is to organize the work, establish priorities, delegate effectively, and ensure the business continues moving forward every week. --- Responsibilities - Lead the day-to-day operations of Nesavelle and help transform our MVP into a scalable, launch-ready marketplace. - Coordinate closely with our software developer to ensure projects stay on schedule and blockers are resolved quickly. - Lead and prioritize the work of our Operations Assistant by delegating appropriate tasks and ensuring they are completed effectively. - Build SOPs, workflows, documentation, and operational systems that allow the company to scale. - Create project plans with clear priorities, owners, deadlines, milestones, and accountability. - Develop KPIs, dashboards, and reporting systems that provide visibility into business performance. - Identify operational risks early and recommend practical solutions before they become larger problems. - Oversee quality assurance and launch readiness. - Help identify, evaluate, and prioritize vendors that align with Nesavelle's mission and long-term vision. - Help us intentionally launch with a carefully selected group of vendors that offer unique products, strengthen our brand, create an outstanding customer experience, and provide healthy profit margins, rather than simply onboarding as many vendors as possible. - Develop efficient vendor onboarding processes and build strong long-term vendor relationships. - Hold team members accountable for agreed-upon deliverables while maintaining a collaborative and positive working environment. - Continuously recommend improvements that strengthen operations, customer experience, marketplace quality, and long-term profitability. - Keep leadership informed with proactive communication and provide measurable progress throughout the week—not just during scheduled meetings. --- Communication & Accountability Expectations One of the most important responsibilities in this role is proactive communication. Leadership should never have to wonder what you're working on or chase you for updates. We expect you to communicate as work progresses, not only during weekly reports or scheduled meetings. You should: - Share meaningful progress as it happens. - Communicate promptly if you encounter a blocker or need a decision. - Raise concerns, risks, and opportunities early. - Submit completed deliverables as soon as they are finished. - Keep leadership informed so there is always visibility into the project's status. - Be responsive and engaged throughout the week. If several days pass without communication, leadership should already understand why and know the plan moving forward. --- What Success Looks Like We evaluate success based on execution, ownership, communication, and measurable progress—not simply hours worked. Examples of weekly deliverables include: - SOPs - Process documentation - QA checklists - KPI dashboards - Project plans - Risk assessments - Vendor evaluations - Vendor onboarding improvements - Weekly operational reports - Launch readiness recommendations - Process improvements - Strategic operational recommendations Every week should produce tangible, measurable results. --- Required Qualifications - 5+ years of operations leadership experience. - Experience working with startups or rapidly growing companies. - Experience managing remote teams. - Strong written and verbal English communication. - Excellent organizational and project management skills. - Experience creating SOPs, workflows, and operational documentation. - Experience coordinating software development projects. - Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities. - Self-motivated with excellent follow-through. - Highly proactive communicator who keeps stakeholders informed without being asked. - Comfortable making recommendations and taking ownership of operational decisions. --- Preferred Qualifications - Marketplace or e-commerce experience. - WooCommerce experience. - Dokan Marketplace experience. - Google Workspace. - Trello, ClickUp, Asana, Jira, or similar project management platforms. - Experience using AI tools to improve productivity and operations. --- Weekly Expectations You'll provide a weekly report that includes: - Work completed - Work currently in progress - Upcoming priorities - Risks or blockers - Decisions needed from leadership - Estimated completion dates - Links to all SOPs, documentation, dashboards, reports, and other deliverables completed during the week --- Application Questions Please answer the following: 1. Tell us about the most complex startup you've helped operate. 2. Describe a major operational problem you identified before anyone else noticed it and how you solved it. 3. How do you keep software developers and remote teams accountable without micromanaging them? 4. How would you effectively utilize an Operations Assistant to maximize your team's productivity? 5. Describe how you would evaluate and select the first vendors for a new online marketplace. What factors would you consider most important? 6. Please share examples of SOPs, dashboards, workflows, operational documents, or other systems you've created. 7. What operational achievement are you most proud of? 8. Please include a 2–5 minute Loom (or similar) video introducing yourself and explaining why you're the right fit for this role. --- Trial Period The selected candidate will begin with a paid trial engagement. During the trial, we'll evaluate: - Execution - Communication - Leadership - Initiative - Problem-solving - Organization - Documentation quality - Reliability - Deliverables - Strategic thinking Our goal is to build a long-term relationship with an exceptional operations leader who will help shape the future of Nesavelle and build a world-class marketplace from the ground up.