Chief Operating Officer

Pursuit • New York City, NY

12d • Hybrid

About The Position

Pursuit is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to serve as their chief architect of operational excellence. Reporting directly to the CEO, this leader will be a central pillar of the executive leadership team, driving strategic decision-making and actively shaping the future of Pursuit's training programs and job placement initiatives. The COO will manage the finance, operations, and people functions, architecting the foundational systems required to scale the organization's mission and impact. This role involves translating organizational vision into high-performing infrastructure by architecting KPIs, dashboards, and organizational systems. The COO will also cultivate a culture of accountability and high performance, aligning teams around shared standards while protecting the organization's values. This is a rare opportunity for a transformative leader to elevate an organization at a defining inflection point. Key responsibilities include serving as a key organizational leader for strategic decisions and operational rigor, embedding operational rigor, accelerating enterprise-wide execution, serving as the executive architect of organizational performance, establishing enterprise metrics, dashboards, and analytical systems, designing and maintaining dashboards and KPI architecture, spearheading the optimization of internal infrastructure, scaling tools, workflows, and AI-native processes, establishing robust performance management systems and accountability structures, architecting the evolving organizational structure, partnering on enterprise-wide workforce planning, capacity building, and talent scaling, establishing change management strategies and cross-functional collaboration frameworks, exercising executive ownership over all business operations, providing direct managerial leadership to the VP of Finance and VP of People, driving financial leadership, championing talent acquisition, HR infrastructure, and human capital strategy, cultivating and safeguarding organizational culture, and overseeing core operational processes, facilities management, internal systems, and revenue collections.

Requirements

• 8–12 years of experience in business operations or leadership operations roles, ideally spanning both a strategy/consulting environment and a hands-on operating role inside a growing company or organization.
• Previous consultative experience (e.g., management consulting or a similar advisory background), paired with real experience actually running operations, not just advising on them.
• Exceptional analytical and strategic thinking skills with experience leading or partnering closely with strategic finance functions
• A history of cultivating elite teams and establishing high-performance standards amidst rapid organizational scaling.
• Demonstrated success and track-record in architecting robust operational systems, processes, and infrastructure that drive enterprise-wide execution and long-term quality.
• Extensive experience designing and governing executive-level KPI frameworks, real-time dashboards, and strategic reporting systems for complex, fast-growing organizations.
• Deep expertise in organizational design, structural transformation, and team topology scaling to align operational architecture with long-term enterprise strategy.
• Experience building or running business operations and HR/People systems and practices at scale.
• High tolerance for ambiguity and bias toward building, comfortable creating structure where none exists yet.
• Deeply motivated by Pursuit's mission of economic transformation and expanded opportunity for low-income and underrepresented communities.

Nice To Haves

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as key organizational leader who helps lead strategic decisions and embeds operational rigor and accelerates enterprise-wide execution across all functions and in particular, Program, Go-To-Market Job Placement, Partnerships, Growth and Earned Revenue.
• Serve as the executive architect of organizational performance, establishing the enterprise metrics, dashboards, and analytical systems that guide executive decision-making and Board governance.
• Design and maintain the dashboards and KPI architecture that give the CEO, leadership team, and Board a real-time, accurate view of organizational health.
• Spearhead the optimization of Pursuit's internal infrastructure, scaling the tools, workflows, and AI-native processes necessary for rapid, sustainable growth
• Establish robust performance management systems and accountability structures that empower elite teams to excel.
• Architect Pursuit's evolving organizational structure, designing reporting lines and team topologies intentionally aligned with our forward-looking strategy rather than historical growth.
• Partner with the CEO and other leaders on enterprise-wide workforce planning, capacity building, and talent scaling.
• Establish robust change management strategies and cross-functional collaboration frameworks to ensure seamless organizational transitions as Pursuit scales its impact.
• Exercise executive ownership over all business operations, unifying finance, HR, talent, culture, and core organizational workflows into a seamlessly integrated operational backbone.
• Provide direct managerial leadership and oversight to the VP of Finance and VP of People, guiding their strategic direction and aligning team priorities with enterprise goals.
• Drive financial leadership in partnership with the VP of Finance, overseeing multi-year budgeting, resource allocation, financial modeling, and sound fiscal governance across all departments.
• Champion talent acquisition, HR infrastructure, and human capital strategy alongside the VP of People to attract, retain, and develop world-class teams.
• Cultivate and safeguard Pursuit's organizational culture, fostering an environment of accountability, continuous learning, high performance, and mission alignment.
• Oversee core operational processes, facilities management, internal systems, and revenue collections (including the Pursuit Bond) to scale efficiency as the organization grows.

Benefits

• Full benefits package including vision and dental
• Unlimited PTO, plus an all-Pursuit summer break (last week of August) and a week-long holiday break (last week of December)
• 401k match
• Hybrid and flexible work policy
• Dedicated time to build in AI and develop your own AI skills
• Equity at Pursuit

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive