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Head of Operations

Whisper Aero

Whisper Aero

Operations
Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2023
Location: Crossville, TN or Remote (TN preferred)
About the Role
Whisper Aero is a next-gen electric propulsion startup that delivers thrust more cleanly, efficiently, and quietly than ever before.
Whisper Aero is seeking a Head of Operations to supercharge its team, prepare for its next stage of growth and keep company operations running smoothly and efficiently. Until now, company operations have been spread across Whisper’s founders and a handful of the team. We are at a point where we need to spool up operations to enable the next stage of growth across engineering execution, company growth, and product development. This individual will play a key role across the team synergizing the team, developing processes and strategies to increase effectiveness, identifying company KPIs and OKRs for successful execution, cementing company organization and documentation for internal stakeholders and more. This person will work closely with the CEO and COO as part of the executive team and interface frequently with engineering functional leads to clarify company execution. They will be responsible for growing and developing the Ops team to effectively manage PeopleOps, LegalOps, CompanyOps, InvestorOps, and any other flavor of operational need that may arise.
What You’ll Do
Nashville Office Lead
Work closely with the CEO and COO as part of the Executive team dealing with all aspects of running the company.
Interact across engineering teams and project managers to foster improved communication and facilitate company wide collaboration.
Develop the company documentation meta organization (NDAs, contracts, cloud drive, etc) with guidance from IT and engineering
Stand up new operations processes and automation
Oversee the development and management of OKRs
Facilitate monthly retrospectives with the team to reflect on how we perform and look out for ways that we can improve
Organize and manage contracts for Whisper, ensuring compliance with contract requirements and payment schedules
Analyzes productivity across the team and designs methods and tooling to foster productivity improvements as the team grows
Devise strategies for ensuring the growth of programs enterprise-wide, and implement process improvements
Overseeing legal operations and coordination with our external counsel for company guidance and facilitation of IP protection with the engineering team
Coordinates with finance to ensure reports are reported on time and that budget expectations are properly communicated with the team
Assists in the development of external presentations detailing the company for investor and partner stakeholders
Dive into the opportunity to help a start-up grow into an amazing company.
Help make Whisper Aero a really fun place to work!
Basic Qualifications
5-10 years of experience in a operations related role with leadership experience
Leadership and management skills and the ability to motivate and retain staff
Masterful organizational, communication, and leadership skills, backed by previous professional success
Superior knowledge of multiple operational functions and principles, including finance, customer service, production, and employee management
Ability to streamline or implement structures and roles that boost speed and efficiency while supporting rapidly shifting business demands
Proven ability to plan and manage operational processes for maximum efficiency and productivity
Experience working with executive leadership to communicate feedback upwards and translate company strategic direction into tactical steps across the team
Bonus Qualifications
Graduate degree in a business administration or related field
Familiarity with Aerospace and Department of Defense compliance and regulations
Experience interfacing with investors or negotiating with external vendors
Strong familiarity with automation tools (zapier)
Strong familiarity with work productivity tools (Coda, Notion, Airtable, etc.)
Familiarity with Marketing and Communications from drafting press releases to editing copy
Familiarity with graphic design and/or web design
Background in designing and implementing surveys, internal company and customer facing (Typeform, Surveymonkey, etc.)
Competencies and Characteristics
Lead and be led: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We lead others where we are strong and are led by others where we are weak. We teach without judgement and learn without shame.
Disagree and commit: We are not afraid to challenge and be challenged by each other. We respect dissenting opinions but also recognize the need to converge toward a final decision, and we commit to the decision as if it were our own.
Set Expectations: Clarity enables productivity. Whether for work or for rest, we set clear expectations to garner support towards our goals.
Fortify Foundations: Strong companies are built from strong foundations. We make time to develop our team, grow our knowledge base, organize our facilities, refactor our tools, and document our methods to ensure repeatability and scalability.
Ruthlessly prioritize: Time is unreplenishable, yet continuously spent. We value time as the most limited resource and prioritize ruthlessly to deliver impact. We filter potential products and processes to focus on the ones that matter most.
Application Process
Identify a role that’s a solid fit. We realize that perfect fits are hard to find, so if something doesn’t exactly line up, but you believe you could be the one, you should still consider applying.
Read through our values. We want every one of our team members to be a culture add. This means sharing our core values and the way we work.
Prepare your application. If you’ve found a job fit AND think you’ll be a culture add, we’d love to hear from you.
Email
with the following subject line
[name_of_the_role] first_name last_name for Whisper Aero
ex. [CFD Engineer] Jane Doe for Whisper Aero
Attach reference materials
• Resumé
• Portfolio of prior work
• Links to your LinkedIn, website, and/or Github repo