Vice President of Operations

The Good Food Institute

4h•Remote

About The Position

The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals. In this position, you will lead the Collaborative Assistance Team (CAT), which serves as the operational backbone of a complex, mission-driven organization and includes the functions of Finance, Information Technology, Operations, and People Operations. You will be responsible for ensuring effective overall operational functioning across GFI's U.S. entity and relevant operational alignment across GFI's independent international affiliates. This includes building and sustaining a high-performing, inclusive culture; advising and supporting affiliate teams; and providing strategic guidance to the CEO and Leadership Team on financial planning, risk management, and cross-network coordination.

Requirements

A minimum of ten years of experience in a leadership capacity in at least two of CAT's four main areas of responsibility (Finance, Information Technology, Operations, and People Operations), including experience working within or alongside international or multi-entity organizational structures.
Management experience, with the proven ability to foster a team culture of inclusion and belonging.
Demonstrated ability to exercise independent judgment in ambiguous situations and drive initiatives without explicit direction, while maintaining trust and continuity.
Experience navigating complex stakeholder dynamics across geographically distributed, culturally diverse teams, including managing relationships between centralized organizational functions and regionally autonomous entities.
Demonstrated ability to build trust-based partnerships across geographic, cultural, and organizational boundaries, contributing through influence rather than authority and balancing responsiveness to stakeholder needs with organizational priorities and constraints.
Willingness to maintain a flexible schedule to support collaboration across global time zones, including periodic early morning or evening meetings.
Experience identifying and managing organizational risk, including escalating issues appropriately, coordinating mitigation efforts across teams, and maintaining clear documentation and continuity plans.
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
Highest ethical standards.
Ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
Strong problem-solving, listening, and verbal and written communication skills.
A commitment to fostering a work environment that is respectful, supportive, fair, and welcoming to all.
Comfort working remotely in a collaborative, caring, and high-performing culture that values inclusion and innovation.
Strong support for GFI’s philosophy and mission; demonstrated interest in plant-based & other alternative proteins, public health, environmentalism, climate change, animal protection, or hunger relief.
A commitment to GFI’s values: believe change is possible, do the most good we can, share knowledge freely, act on evidence, and invite everyone to the table.

Nice To Haves

Experience within nonprofit organizations preferred.

Responsibilities

Overseeing the Collaborative Assistance Team (CAT); setting department strategy, vision, and culture; and hiring, training, supervising, mentoring, and developing team members, including directly managing the following positions: Director of Finance and Operations, Senior Director of People Operations, Senior Director of Technology, Privacy, and Data Protection
Proactively identifying, assessing, and escalating operational risks to the CEO, General Counsel, and Leadership Team; designing and implementing proportionate systems and controls that support effective, compliant execution; and, leading cross-network operational coordination, including serving as a liaison to affiliates and facilitating the CAT Global Committee (GloCo).
Leading the organization's budgeting and financial planning processes by setting direction, ensuring alignment between strategy and resource allocation, and overseeing financial performance in partnership with the Finance team, which manages detailed budget development, reporting, and financial operations.
Fostering a high-performing, inclusive culture by ensuring equitable practices, strong management and professional development standards, and alignment across teams through effective internal communications, employee engagement, department and all-staff meetings and retreats, training, and feedback mechanisms, including responding to anonymous reporting hotline inquiries.
Maintaining and improving core operational infrastructure, including policies, internal controls, and both human and technical systems that support scalable, efficient, and compliant organizational growth.
Coordinating cross-functional risk mitigation strategies and processes, maintaining risk documentation, and ensuring business continuity planning across the U.S. entity and affiliate network.
Overseeing GFI’s operational insurance portfolio, including evaluating coverage needs, managing broker relationships, procuring and renewing policies, and ensuring alignment with organizational risk tolerance and legal requirements in partnership with the General Counsel.
Ensuring operational alignment across the network of organizations (planning, communication, shared practices) while affiliate teams retain responsibility for day-to-day operations.
Preparing Board-level materials in partnership with the CEO, General Counsel, and Finance, ensuring the Board has appropriate visibility into key operational, financial, and risk issues.
Serving as an active member of the GFI (U.S. team) Leadership Team, driving cross-functional and network-wide initiatives; representing operational and governance considerations in network decision-making; and, cultivating collaborative relationships with Leadership Team peers.
Performing other duties as assigned.