Operations Manager — Lead a Small Government Sales & Procurement Team (Remote)

# Operations Manager — Lead a Small Government Sales & Procurement Team (Part-Time, Remote) **Type:** Contract · Full-time (32–40 hrs/week) · 90-day trial, long-term for the right person **Category:** Operations / Sales Management --- ## The role in one sentence Take over day-to-day management of a two-person government bidding team — while carrying your own quotes alongside them — and make the operation measurably more productive and more profitable within 90 days. **This is a working manager role.** We believe leaders should be in the game with their team, not coaching from the sideline. You'll be submitting bids and owning awards yourself, which is also the fastest way to learn our business and earn the team's respect. ## About us We're a nine-year-old procurement and supply company. We source products — safety and facility equipment, industrial supplies, grounds and institutional goods — and sell them to government agencies and large industrial customers across several states. Two segments: a large, stable relationship account, and a government bidding operation. This role runs the government side. We are not a startup and not a bureaucracy. We run a purpose-built quote management system, we have complete win/loss and margin data going back years, and we've already done the analysis that tells us where the money is. What we need is someone to run the operation day to day and hold it to the plan. ## What you'll manage - **Two experienced reps** who source products, price and submit bids, then own their awards end to end — purchasing, delivery, invoicing, and collections. - **A pipeline** of roughly 40–50 bids per month across state and municipal agencies. - **A defined playbook**: which customers to prioritize, which bids to decline, what to price at. The strategy exists. Execution and accountability are the gap. ## What you'll actually do 1. **Set and hold a daily/weekly operating rhythm.** Know what's in flight, what's due, what's stuck, and who owns it — every day, not every month. 2. **Enforce bid selection.** We lose money on bids we should never have submitted. Your job is to make sure the team's hours go to the opportunities that win. 3. **Run a weekly team review and a monthly report to the owner.** Metrics and templates already exist; you own producing and acting on them. 4. **Unblock the team.** Vendor non-response, portal issues, deadline crunches, workload imbalance — you clear the path. 5. **Carry your own bids.** This is a working manager role. At full-time hours you'll carry a real quoting load alongside the team — sourcing, pricing, submitting, and owning the awards that come from them. 6. **Coach and raise the bar.** Set expectations clearly, hold people to them, and develop the team rather than just reporting on it. 7. **Tell the owner the truth** about what's working and what isn't, with numbers. ## First 90 days — what success looks like - Weekly operating rhythm running and reported without being asked - Measurable increase in bids submitted into priority customers (not raw volume — the right volume) - Every open award, invoice, and receivable accounted for with an owner and a date - You personally quoting and winning work, not just overseeing it - A clear-eyed written assessment of the team, the process, and what should change - Owner spending less time on this segment, not more ## What we're looking for **Required** - 3+ years managing a small team in sales operations, procurement, inside sales, estimating, or a similar quote-driven business - A track record of raising a team's output — with specifics you can describe - Comfort with numbers: win rates, margins, pipeline metrics. You should be able to read a report and know what question to ask next. - Direct communication style. You give clear expectations and honest feedback, and you escalate problems early. - Self-directed. You will not be managed closely; you're being hired to remove that need. **Not required** - Government contracting experience. We'll teach you the domain. We're hiring for leadership and operational discipline, not procurement trivia. - Willingness to do the work yourself. You'll learn to source products, price bids, and submit quotes — and you'll keep doing it while you manage. **Not a fit if** you need a large organization around you, prefer strategy work to daily execution, manage by dashboard rather than by conversation, or consider hands-on quoting beneath the role. ## How we work Remote, US business hours, primarily Eastern time. Direct and fast-moving. You'll have full access to our systems, data, and history from day one. The owner sets direction and is available for escalations; you run the operation. ## Terms - 32–40 hours per week, hourly through Upwork - 90-day trial engagement; strong performance leads to an ongoing role with expanded scope - Compensation commensurate with experience — tell us your rate ## To apply No generic cover letters. Answer these three questions: 1. **Describe a team you took over that was underperforming.** What was actually wrong, what did you change, and what happened to the numbers? 2. **In your first two weeks managing a team you don't know, in an industry you don't know — what do you do?** Be specific. 3. **A team member is producing less than you expect. Walk me through how you find out why.** Applications without answers to all three won't be reviewed.