Category CEO Protein, Supplements & Beverages

Aonic•San Francisco, CA

8d•$160,000 - $200,000•Onsite

About The Position

Aonic is deploying AI to drastically reduce the cost of living by building Aonic Club, an AI-native version of the Costco model. The company focuses on functional nutrition, producing its own products and using AI for sourcing, content, forecasting, and service to eliminate retail and marketing layers. This allows savings to be passed on to members, offering products at cost plus a flat 10%, significantly below traditional retail prices. Aonic aims to achieve 1 million members and a $10 billion valuation within a few years, leveraging AI agents, a community-based channel, and AI dividends for consumers.

Requirements

At least 4 years of operating experience in operations, strategy and operations, business operations, or general management at a high-growth technology startup, or at McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, or Bain followed by hands-on operating work.
Demonstrated end-to-end ownership with measurable results in launching or running a product line, market, supply chain, or operations function (revenue, cost, or speed improvements).
Proven experience building AI agents or automations that run real operations, not just prototypes, with measurable outcomes.
Commercial instinct, with experience negotiating with suppliers, partners, or customers.
Ability to quickly master physical product aspects like manufacturing, specifications, and quality.
Degree from a top university in engineering, computer science, science, economics, or business, with top grades.
Extremely hungry and ambitious, actively seeking responsibility and steep growth.
Strong work ethic and intensity.
Comfortable operating onsite in San Francisco.

Nice To Haves

Supplement or beverage industry experience is not required, but a fast learner of physical-product businesses is essential.
Content-native: ability to explain a product on camera.
Consumer products experience: worked on e-commerce, food, beverages, or supplements.

Responsibilities

Run Aonic's core business end-to-end for all protein, supplement, sports-nutrition products, and healthy beverages sold in the club and retail.
Own the product line-up, deciding what launches, when, and against which incumbent, using a specific playbook (borrow existing demand, attack a named best seller, clinical doses only).
Manage all contract manufacturers, co-packers, ingredient, and packaging suppliers, from initial quotes to signed agreements, ensuring backups for every product.
Negotiate price, minimum order quantities, payment terms, and lead times with suppliers, continuously re-quoting to maximize savings for members.
Brief the in-house lab and work with an advisor on product formulas, specifications, and certificates of analysis.
Own the quality system, including current good manufacturing practice (cGMP), NSF International certification, claims, and potential recalls.
Manage retail operations for assigned categories, including relationships with retailers like Sprouts and H-E-B, and distributors, focusing on driving member acquisition.
Operate the category using AI agents for sourcing, forecasting, pricing, and supplier outreach, collaborating with the founding engineer on system design and rules.
Lead the Sourcing Manager and the lab team, and hire a retail sales manager, scaling the team only as volume grows.
Write the playbook that future Category CEOs at Aonic will use.