Sandbox - Sr. Associate, Business Operations

Sandbox • Richmond, VA

30d

About The Position

As a member of the growing Business Operations team, you will serve as our clients’ right hand, an internal Sandbox safety net, and at times, everyone’s accountability partner towards maturing our clients (and our own) internal business operations. This hybrid role will have diverse responsibilities, primarily managing operations on behalf of our clients and fellow Sandboxers. As a Sandbox associate, you will work directly with our clients on their various ad-hoc projects and activities that fall just outside of finance and people operations. Our ideal candidate profile is one that loves to dabble, appreciates variety, prefers an autonomous work environment, and doesn’t shy away from deadlines. In exchange, our team will provide empowering leadership, directional support, opportunities to problem-solve, and permission to fail forward. With no promise of a predictable day-to-day, we envision the Business Operations Associate position will: Serve as a primary problem-solver, fielding client questions, managing research projects, and supporting operations-related escalations. Provide executive assistant support, including calendar management, administrative tasks, meeting setup, and small-event coordination. Act as a communications partner, ghostwriting external messages, drafting client reports and board materials, and supporting internal communications like job posts and policy updates. Support tax notice handling, coordinating responses and resolving routine tax-related mail. Execute bill pay tasks, managing recurring payments and coordinating with Finance (no system setup required). Operate as the organizational backbone, setting up and maintaining systems, templates, and documentation to keep clients organized and efficient—including maintaining client files and owning investor documentation. Support Biz Ops project work, including: Participating in operational assessments and listening tours Conducting structured employee interviews Asking follow-ups to surface insights or gaps Synthesizing qualitative information into draft reports Supporting workflow mapping and process documentation Provide facilitation and project management support across Biz Ops client engagements—tracking tasks, running meetings, managing deadlines, and producing clear client deliverables. Step in as a team player for ad-hoc support such as writing social posts, cleaning up presentations, assisting with data entry, or setting up new software accounts. Contribute to Sandbox culture, including the Sandbox Fun Committee and engagement with strategic partners and the broader startup community. Lean into being a learner, picking up new tools, skills, and responsibilities—even when it requires experimentation, iteration, and learning from mistakes.

Requirements

• Have experience as an executive assistant, including calendaring, logistics, and administrative coordination.
• Bring experience with tax notices or the ability to learn this quickly.
• Are comfortable executing bill pay workflows.
• Have project management fundamentals—task tracking, meeting management, and deadline execution.
• Facilitates interviews and meetings and summarizes key takeaways.
• Have strong written synthesis skills, turning conversations, findings, and data into coherent draft reports.
• Are proficient in both Google Suite and Microsoft Office.
• Have experience with (or can quickly learn) systems like QuickBooks, Canva, and Bill Pay.
• Are deeply curious, confident, hardworking, and thrive in fast-moving, high-energy consulting environments.
• Bring strong attention to detail, producing clean, accurate work with minimal oversight.
• Demonstrate the ability to think one step above tactical, understanding the “why” behind the work.
• Execute independently when given a plan by the Biz Ops Lead.
• Communicate clearly and professionally in client-facing settings.
• Have a learner mindset with the potential to grow into more strategic/CoS-type work.
• Value efficiency, organization, and client satisfaction, and maintain your own reliable system for managing tasks.
• Bring an ownership mentality—you make things happen rather than waiting for direction.
• Consider community involvement and giving back a natural extension of your work.
• A Bachelor's degree, preferably in a business-related field and 3-5 years of professional experience. Bonus points if you’ve worked in retail and/or restaurant experience!
• A solid understanding of working in a high-energy, professional work environment.
• Experience and/or in interest in human services (ie HR or People Operations) and client services.
• An innate ability to manage client tasks, with a personal organizational system or method.
• An ownership mentality with a self-starting attitude - you MAKE things happen vs. waiting for them to happen.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a primary problem-solver, fielding client questions, managing research projects, and supporting operations-related escalations.
• Provide executive assistant support, including calendar management, administrative tasks, meeting setup, and small-event coordination.
• Act as a communications partner, ghostwriting external messages, drafting client reports and board materials, and supporting internal communications like job posts and policy updates.
• Support tax notice handling, coordinating responses and resolving routine tax-related mail.
• Execute bill pay tasks, managing recurring payments and coordinating with Finance (no system setup required).
• Operate as the organizational backbone, setting up and maintaining systems, templates, and documentation to keep clients organized and efficient—including maintaining client files and owning investor documentation.
• Support Biz Ops project work, including: Participating in operational assessments and listening tours, Conducting structured employee interviews, Asking follow-ups to surface insights or gaps, Synthesizing qualitative information into draft reports, Supporting workflow mapping and process documentation
• Provide facilitation and project management support across Biz Ops client engagements—tracking tasks, running meetings, managing deadlines, and producing clear client deliverables.
• Step in as a team player for ad-hoc support such as writing social posts, cleaning up presentations, assisting with data entry, or setting up new software accounts.
• Contribute to Sandbox culture, including the Sandbox Fun Committee and engagement with strategic partners and the broader startup community.
• Lean into being a learner, picking up new tools, skills, and responsibilities—even when it requires experimentation, iteration, and learning from mistakes.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits with employer contribution. It pays to keep your employees healthy.
• Family-friendly, flexible work schedule with generous PTO and mental wellness days. Work-life integration is a thing and we are here to support.
• Employer-matched 401K. No time delays & no vesting schedules. Enroll and keep all money on day one.
• Ongoing professional development and networking opportunities.
• Monthly team events - we sure know how to host a happy hour and we are never too busy to break for a volunteer opportunity.
• Bragging rights that you are part of something BIG
• Most importantly, you get to go to sleep each night knowing you are helping savvy, driven entrepreneurs achieve their goals - how awesome is that??

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees