Chief Operating Officer - COO

Factored

5d•Remote

About The Position

Founded in Palo Alto by Dr. Andrew Ng and Israel Niezen, Factored helps U.S. companies build and scale world-class AI, ML, and Data teams, powered by the top 1% of LATAM talent, with a defining purpose: To empower brilliant humans, unleash their potential, and amplify their impact in the world. At Factored, you’ll be part of a community that values learning, ownership, and authenticity, where your growth is personal and your ideas matter. We’re transparent, curious, and collaborative. We strive for excellence, celebrate diversity, encourage curiosity, and build an environment where you can truly thrive. Factored has been incredibly successful in our first six years by growing organically and by empowering a brilliant and inspired team of AI/data engineers, recruiters, business operations, salespeople, and client delivery folks. This team has thus far been led by a thin management layer made up of a seasoned CFO, a few experienced VPs, and a number of relatively young, but very diligent and hard-working managers and directors who have grown into their roles relatively well so far, without the requisite level of experience many would expect for a company at our stage. Our “magic” has come from a combination of intelligence, passion for what we do, work ethic, speed, urgency, fast problem-solving, transparency, ownership mentality, and empowerment of our high agency teammates at every level to contribute to our mission. We are now in a stage where that magic is still very real and treasured in our organization, but it alone might not be enough to get us to the next objective of 3x growth of our business—and we need to significantly scale before a potential exit. It is time for our third C-level hire after the CEO and CFO. The CEO is currently responsible for many day-to-day negotiations and decisions (both critical decisions and less material decisions) spanning many different areas of the business, and he would be more valuable to the business by devoting more time to building the business, growing sales, assessing strategic opportunities and partnerships, developing new business opportunities and revenue lines, and reinforcing our culture (areas which he considers particular strengths of his). Likewise, our operations and engineering management teams could benefit from more structured leadership—pushing for greater collaboration, effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability across the organization. The CEO is often an inspiring and effective communicator and leader, but he admittedly is not the most organized manager or planner. He and the team need help from a seasoned senior manager who can also help lead the team on most day-to-day efforts, especially when the CEO is away or focused on other strategic areas. Essentially, we are looking for a COO to run the day-to-day business and help us become a self-managed and self-scaling organization that no longer depends so heavily on a few individuals at the top (like our CEO) to make so many decisions across so many different functions. We're seeking someone who combines exceptional intelligence with sharp judgment and an execution-driven mindset. The ideal person should be able to grasp complex situations quickly, make high-quality decisions under ambiguity, and strike a balance between speed and rigor.

Requirements

15+ years of progressive work experience in professional services or a marketplace business, including 5+ years in an executive-level position.
Prior general management role owning a P&L, managing multiple functions simultaneously.
Metrics-driven, with experience analyzing market data/trends to help identify business opportunities.
Proven track record of consistently delivering and refining operational efficiencies and organizational structure (roles, responsibilities, repeatable process, cadence, prep for meetings).
Ability to generate respect and trust from staff and external constituencies.
Experience working with Latin American employees, with an understanding of different country regulations and the ability to manage and grow global teams.
Understanding of back-of-the-house operations (finance, people ops, legal).
Incredible sense for A+ talent and demonstrated ability to build strong teams.
Strong project and people management skills.
Strong communication skills, including executive presentations. Able to proactively, clearly, concisely, and consistently provide information to other business leaders that drive decision-making and demonstrate progress toward larger business objectives.

Responsibilities

Build systems, teams, and processes that scale. Understand that sometimes a quick imperfect solution is needed, while other times we need a more scalable, longer-term solution. You help us strike the right balance and move the ball forward with both short passes and long plays.
Manage our team, hold them accountable, and measure performance with data. Help us think about KPIs, how to measure performance, and how to hold responsible people accountable for delivering them.
Daily Operations: Lead Factored AI’s day-to-day operations. Enhance structure, organization, and discipline in the company, as well as cross-functional integration. Demonstrate hard work, problem solving, and quick decision making for Factored.
Culture of Accountability: Help us create a culture of accountability by leading and holding Factored accountable. Help define and iterate measurable and quantifiable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to support Factored AI’s growth plans. Develop a culture of accountability at all levels by developing appropriate metrics and coordinating compensation and promotions with those metrics. Instill and enforce a framework to maintain accountability and synergy cross-functionally. We have made great progress here by implementing a management system and you would become the person responsible for integrating this across functions.
Figure it Out. Get it Done: Factored will continue to grow rapidly and will require every person on the team to pull their weight. The COO will be gritty and able to solve problems, properly delegate to their team, and also get their hands dirty.
Leadership & Management: Recruit, mentor, and cultivate a stellar team. Give them the tools, leadership, and motivation to innovate and make decisions that support Factored’s vision. Support and allocate resources for an effective organizational structure that balances process, accountability, and scalability with velocity.
Resource Allocation: The COO will work closely with the CEO and CFO to set priorities, determine and allocate resources (cost, time, people), and measure outcomes.
Setting Direction: The COO will work closely with the CEO to set the short-term and long-term path toward the vision. The COO will be able to see around corners and help skate to where the puck is going.
Engaging for Impact: The COO will be adept at leading individuals in the organization toward their line of thinking, getting them bought in, and maximizing the impact of the organization.
Budget & Resource Allocation: Collaborate with the CFO and the executive team to define the organizational budget and allocate resources efficiently to meet business objectives.
Executive Leadership: Help lead our growing organization while executing with good judgment. Balance and role-model fun and creativity with a professional tone.
Recruit other A+ quality performers, and ensure that our team is performing at that level, without allowing B or C level performers to dilute our impact.