Director of Operations

American Terawatt · San Francisco

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About American Terawatt

American Terawatt is building a new industrial electric grid for the United States.

We design and deploy advanced power transmission systems serving large industrial loads, gigawatts at a time. Our systems deliver power to everything from frontier AI datacenters to advanced automated factories, refineries, mines, and more.

The backbone of American Terawatt’s network is HVDC transmission, anchored by our unique terminal design. American Terawatt’s terminals are standardized, modular, and natively integrate energy storage. Each one is designed to expand to operate as a full node on our future HVDC transmission network.

We are early-stage and venture-backed, with a small, experienced team (~20 people today) and active projects across the US. Our investors include Altimeter, Founders Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Zero Infinity Partners, and other leading firms.

About the role

We are hiring our founding Operations Director to build and lead the operational infrastructure that enables American Terawatt to scale effectively. You will work directly with the founders and other leaders. This is a wide-ranging role combining strategic ownership of business operations, organizational effectiveness and the systems that support our growth. Today, the role has two core functions:

First, you will own our internal operating systems and tools: Design how teams collaborate, make decisions, manage priorities, and measure progress. You will establish the operating frameworks, processes, and technology that enable the organization to execute efficiently and stay aligned as we scale. This will include our OKRs/KPIs, gDrive organization, software stack (CRM, PMS), and team event / offsite planning.

Second, you will lead key corporate functions, including IT, managing our Executive Assistants, real estate, select vendor relationships, and certain other administrative functions.

This person may, in the future, also be responsible for People and TalentOps.

This is a builder's role for a high-agency operator who wants to design and shape how American Terawatt operates, making the entire organization more effective as we grow.

What you will own

Company operation system

• Develop and manage the operating rhythm, including all-hands, the leadership calendar, and board meeting logistics

• Design and build our approach to knowledge management, ensuring teams have access to the right information at the right time, with clear systems for organizing and preserving company knowledge.

• Decision-making and workstream tracking processes – organize how we evaluate trade-offs, make decisions, and assign ownership (eg, DACI)

• Manage commercial aspects of real estate needs (offices and R&D space), including insurance, site selection, contract negotiation, key services, design and furnishing.

• Build and maintain tracking systems and dashboards that track and hold us accountable to KPIs and OKRs

• Lead cross-functional initiatives that improve how the company operates, solves problems, and executes on strategic priorities.

• Planning and running team offsites (with EABPs)

• Manage executive assistants and office managers
  

Technology, systems, and operational infrastructure

• Own tooling strategy and vendor relationships: what we buy, build, replace, or retire, and the evaluation behind each choice. Negotiate enterprise agreements that save the Company money and provide flexibility.

  • Drive the adoption of AI and automation to improve productivity, streamline workflows, and enable the company to scale efficiently.

  • Lead certain enterprise software selection, design and implementation processes. Support other teams as needed with specialist tools (PMS, ERP, etc)

• Set data hygiene standards and integrations, so information flows without repeated manual entry

• Own IP knowledge management and ensure processes and procedures protect our IP (with Legal and Engineering)

• Business continuity (with Legal, Engineering)

• Partner with Engineering on SOC 2 and related compliance initiatives

Finance collaboration

• Partner with FinOps on vendor onboarding and the budget process.

• Collaborate with Finance stakeholders on ERP implementation

• Support FinOps and the executive team on board and investor materials: help assemble metrics, headcount, and the org charts

What success looks like

You will help shape the exact roadmap, but we expect success in this role to include the following early milestones:

In your first month

• Assess existing operating processes, internal systems, tools, and corporate functions to identify gaps and immediate priorities.

• Develop a roadmap for building AmWatt's internal operating infrastructure, including decision-making processes, company goals, and workstream tracking.

• Take ownership of key corporate operations, including IT, executive support, office operations, and vendor relationships.

By month six

• Clear processes are in place for making decisions, tracking company priorities, and keeping teams aligned and accountable.

• Teams have easy access to the information, tools, and systems they need to work effectively, with less friction and better coordination across functions.

• Day-to-day operations run smoothly, with reliable internal support, effective vendor management, and smarter workflows that make good use of AI and automation.

What we are looking for

• A scrappy startup operator, chief of staff, or business-operations leader who has owned a broad set of functions

• A ruthless prioritizer

• A builder, with a track record of standing up CRMs, trackers, and processes that teams will actually use

• Comfort building functions from scratch; effective AI poweruser

• The judgment to select and manage external marketing partners (PR, brand, design, events), and to know when to bring the function in-house

• A natural connector across engineering, business development, finance, candidates, and partners

• Comfort with light legal and finance support and contract management

• Extremely high agency: resourceful, calm when priorities shift, and biased to action

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation: Competitive compensation package, including salary and equity, commensurate with experience.

• Healthcare: Medical, dental, and vision coverage, including 75% coverage for dependents and spouses.

• Wellness: Up to $300/month reimbursement for gym and wellness expenses, or Bay Club membership for SF-based employees.

• Meals: Lunch provided daily when working from an office.

• Time off: Unlimited PTO with manager approval, plus company-wide office closures for July 4 week and one week in December.

• Additional perks: Laptop of choice provided, convenient NYC office location near Madison Square Park and near public transit (pre-tax transit benefit), and employee contribution 401(k) program.

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