About Us

Heavy industry is the foundation of modern society. We need materials like cement, steel, and aluminum more than ever to rebuild our bridges and roads, construct wind and solar projects, and manufacture electric vehicles and heat pumps that will undergird our future. But we also need a new social contract with industry. Heavy industry made the middle class and ushered in a remarkable era of prosperity for many; it also threatens our climate, reinforces environmental racism, wastes valuable materials and energy, and leaves communities and workers behind. At Industrious Labs, our mission is to set into motion unstoppable policies, people power, and analysis to make a triple impact on climate, justice, and jobs that drastically reduce dangerous emissions, make industry accountable to communities and workers, and develop a circular economy. Because industry needs a second revolution.

About the Position

Guided by an inspiring vision, strategic plan, and significant early financial investment, we are seeking an entrepreneurial Senior Business Operations Strategist to join our team. Industrious Labs is fully remote, and this role reports to Partner and CFO Nachy Kanfer.

This newly created position will be the first dedicated full-time operations role at Industrious Labs. The Senior Business Operations Strategist is a diligent systems thinker with experience designing and redesigning internal processes and procedures; developing detailed project-level budgets and reporting; and managing internal systems including IT, CRM and procurement. They are passionate about solving the climate crisis and transforming the industrial sector by ensuring that Industrious Labs’ internal systems are robust and up to the challenge. While not a finance professional, the Senior Business Operations Strategist is financially fluent, and is comfortable generating and interpreting basic financial analysis and metrics. The Senior Business Operations Strategist is energized by the opportunities typical of mid-stage growth, excited to identify and fix creaky and inefficient processes, and committed to anti-racist practice.

Industrious Labs opened its doors in July, 2021, and publicly launched in October, 2022. In its first 2.5 years, its full-time staff has expanded to 16 professionals across three time zones; launched three major campaigns (with two additional campaigns in incubation); raised tens of millions of dollars on behalf of itself and movement partners; built an industrial facilities tracking tool; published a groundbreaking environmental justice analysis; organized major corporate buyers of industrial commodities to lobby the U.S. Department of Energy on climate policy; and much more. In mid-late 2023, Industrious Labs worked with trusted consultants to draft and finalize a 3-year strategic plan.

At a high level, the Senior Business Operations Strategist will focus on:

• Improving, redesigning, and reimagining internal systems and processes, and leading implementation of new systems and processes with internal stakeholders
• Budgeting and reporting on projects and grants, in support of the majority of Industrious Labs revenue that comes from charitable foundations
• Supporting logistics, management, and budget control of major events

Other core responsibilities include:

Internal systems and processes

• Participate in, and lead elements of, implementation of new finance and accounting system (1H 2024)
• Manage Industrious Labs’ project management software and train others in its use
• Work with Chief Vision Officer to develop an umbrella approach for Industrious Labs’ CRM, including evaluating software platform, system architecture, usage audits, and reports.
• Work with Philanthropy Director to develop an umbrella approach for Industrious Labs’ fundraising systems and tools, including project management processes in monday.com, CRM implementation, and resource/collateral development.
• Review other internal systems for integration, efficiency and cost, and recommend phasing out / adding new software and tools as needed to promote internal efficiency
• Periodically review and renegotiate Industrious Labs’ various subscriptions and other recurring operating expenses for cost savings
• Manage computer hardware and software on behalf of staff (including outsourcing IT needs when necessary)
• In consultation with CFO and legal counsel, develop and enforce policies and protocols that protect Industrious Labs from various external risks, including a document retention policy, file sharing practices, and cybersecurity protocols.

Grant budgeting and reporting

• Engage with project directors on a regular basis with budget-to-actual analysis and informal reporting
• Generate interim and final financial reports
• Reconcile and audit our internal labor chart vs actual personnel time charged
• Update and improve project budget tool and template
• Help onboard internal stakeholders in new finance and accounting system

Major logistics

• Lead logistics for annual in-person staff retreat, including venue selection, budgeting and management
• As needed, support project-specific planning for large events with budgeting and controls, consultant management, risk evaluation, and stipends and reimbursements.

The Successful Candidate

The incoming Senior Business Operations Strategist is driven by their belief and commitment to Industrious Labs’ vision, mission, and values. Through their track record and expertise – optimally within the climate or another social justice movement, though a diversity of experience in the private and/or public sector is also valuable – the successful candidate will play a vital role in the development and growth of this dynamic organization.

The Senior Business Operations Strategist joins a deeply committed team that brings a track record of success in campaign strategy, data analysis, field-building, and communications, with a particular focus on climate and industrial transformation. The successful candidate is excited about the prospect of building something new in the climate movement from the ground up. They have the experience of working within established operations protocols, but are flexible, entrepreneurial and creative, and are willing to reinvent processes to suit a growing organization’s needs. They are humble, emotionally intelligent, committed to anti-racism, and open to their own growth and learning. It brings them great joy to make a process more efficient or to redesign an internal system based on stakeholder feedback.

Despite enormous obstacles involved in decarbonizing and transforming heavy industry, the Industrious Labs team operates with a spirit of possibilities and seeks a Senior Business Operations Strategist who shares the belief that we can all do things we’ve never done before and can stretch ourselves to achieve incredible results.

The successful candidate will also possess most of the following Core and Preferred qualifications:

Core

• Strong commitment to the mission, vision, values, and goals of Industrious Labs.
• At least 5-8 years of increasing responsibility in the field of business operations, with a proven track record of process improvement.
• Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with finance, philanthropy, and programmatic roles.
• Comfort in scrappy / entrepreneurial / resource-lean situations.
• Tendency to be excited rather than intimidated by the challenge of what's unknown about this role.
• Clarity of vision and a commitment to the highest levels of integrity, excellence, and collaboration.
• Demonstrated experience working across lines of race, class, gender, and geography.
• Proven ability to prioritize and be flexible in a fast-paced, constantly evolving, and collaborative environment, where working on a team and working individually are all required.
• Commitment to continuous learning, hunger for knowledge, and willingness to ask questions and self-correct; an approach that is curious, self-directed, and entrepreneurial.
• Openness to giving and receiving direct, compassionate feedback.
• Highly collaborative work style with the ability to operate as a peer and thought partner to leadership team members.

Preferred

• Experience in the climate movement or another social justice movement.
• Experience in both non-profit and for-profit professional settings.
• Experience using monday.com or similar project management platform.
• Experience using Sage Intacct or similar finance and accounting platform.

Salary and Benefits:

The salary for this position is $113,000. Industrious Labs has a policy not to negotiate on salaries. Historically, negotiations reward those who have the skill, privilege, and confidence to ask for more money; and because not everyone has those skills, allowing for negotiations undermines the economic equity we strive for as an organization. Rather than use negotiations to drive competitive salaries, we endeavor to pay people well. Our transparent salary scale is based on the experience, competencies, and responsibilities required to thrive in this role.

Industrious Labs offers a competitive set of benefits, including 100% of comprehensive health care coverage for employees (medical, dental, and vision), a 50% employer contribution toward health care coverage for dependents; work from home stipend, up to 5% employer match to 401k; and 11 paid holidays plus unlimited paid time off, including a mandatory minimum of 15 business days PTO.

Our Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Climate Justice:

We believe that diversity in our team isn’t just a value but brings different lived experience and perspective that is essential to solving the climate crisis. If you’ve read this job description and are excited by it, and if you can see yourself happily filling this role and making a difference on climate change, we really hope you apply. Industrious Labs is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to transparent and equitable recruitment, hiring and promotion processes that foster inclusion and belonging. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please email Nachy Kanfer at [email protected].

Application Procedure:

To apply, please submit a resume and cover letter, and answer the following questions:

1. What motivates you to spend your time, skills and expertise working on industrial transformation and climate justice?
2. Why are you inspired to fill the first full-time operations role at Industrious Labs?

This position is open until filled. Candidate review and phone screens begin in January, 2024, and will be conducted throughout the search. We anticipate several steps of mutual exploration, including a phone screen, panel interview(s) and thought exercises for finalist candidates. Our search processes generally take 3 - 4 months.