Head of Business Operations
VotingWorks
About VotingWorks
Elections are the foundation of democracy, and democracy depends on elections that are broadly trusted. Over the last 20 years, public trust in the technology that powers our elections has dropped significantly. With this distrust, democracy itself is at stake. VotingWorks is a non-partisan not-for-profit building election technology that every American can trust.
This Role
VotingWorks is entering a pivotal growth phase where we’re scaling up to become a national contender with deployments of voting machines in up to 10 states by 2028. We're looking for a Head of Business Operations to build the operational backbone that makes this expansion possible.
You'll be the connective tissue across the organization, driving accountability on cross-functional milestones, scaling up our hardware production capacity and logistics, ensuring our teams have the tools and infrastructure they need, and building a high-performing field sales operation from the ground up. You’ll report to the Executive Director and sit on the VotingWorks Executive Team and be a key contributor to organizational strategy.
Cross-Functional Program Management
- Own the company-wide milestone tracker, ensuring product, manufacturing, certification, and go-to-market teams are aligned and on schedule
- Run regular cross-functional syncs and escalate blockers before they become problems
- Partner with fellow executives to translate strategic priorities into concrete operational plans with clear owners and deadlines
Hardware Production Scaling
- Scale up our production capacity
- Manage strategic geographic distribution of our production facilities
Internal Tools & IT
- Build and maintain the internal systems that keep the company running—CRM, project management, communication tools, and knowledge management
- Own IT infrastructure, device management, and security protocols for a distributed team
- Identify bottlenecks in internal workflows and implement solutions that scale
Field Sales Operations
- Hire, manage, and support regional/state sales representatives as we expand into new markets
- Coordinate closely with product and customer success to ensure field teams have what they need to win
- Set product pricing and forecast hardware sales demand for production planning
Must-Haves:
- 10+ years experience in operational-focused roles
- 4+ years experience in operational leadership, including people management.
- Extensive experience in startup environments, building systems from scratch and adapting existing systems as needed.
- Particularly skilled at managing multiple complex workflows across business functions.
- Particularly skilled at using various software tools (and learning new ones).
Nice-to-Haves:
- Experience in operations of a hardware business
- Experience in manufacturing operations
Our Team
We are a small, tight-knit team. We strive to be a flat organization when it comes to ideas and input. We believe in good management, even as a small organization, so that every VotingWorks team member gets mentorship, feedback, and an opportunity for personal growth. We strive to be both confident in the skills and knowledge we each bring and humble in our interactions with each other and other stakeholders in the election space.
We’ve been thinking about the problems and rough edges of our democracy for a while – some of us for our whole career, others for “only” a few years. We’ve decided that talking about it isn’t enough - we must do something. We’re building actual solutions that solve real problems. If that sounds exciting, we hope you’ll consider joining our team.
We’re Mostly Distributed
We’re a mostly distributed organization, with team members working from home in nine different states. For many of our roles, you can live anywhere you want. For some of our roles, we need you in specific geographies. If there’s a geographical requirement, it’s never “just to be in the same room as the rest of the team,'' it’s for very clear reasons like customer need or working on physical hardware together.
This position can be anywhere in the continental US, as long as you’re close to a major airport. Some travel across the country is required.
We offer a flexible work schedule and we're on board with schedule flexibility: many team members have kids, pets, family members they care for, extensive hobbies, and other personal commitments that don’t always conform to a strict 9-5 schedule. We get that, and we think we’re a better organization if we adapt to that. We work hard, we just don’t work hard on a strict schedule. With flexibility comes responsibility: you should be comfortable with significant autonomous work. And of course, in this role, you do need to be often available during times where customers can reasonably expect demos, calls.
We’re Building a Diverse Team
We never discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, background, ability/disability or really anything that isn’t about your actual skills.
We strive to go beyond that: we want to build a diverse organization that truly represents the people of the United States of America. We especially want to encourage women and members of under-represented groups to apply. You’ll always be judged on your skills and contributions, and we know that a more diverse team in all dimensions is a better team.