Ops & Continuous Improvement Lead

About AQL Labs

AQL Labs is a social impact studio and consultancy working at the intersection of education, technology, and equitable systems change. Through our consultancy, we work with postsecondary institutions, education nonprofits, foundations, and edtech companies on problems that matter to students and the people who serve them. Through our studio, we build companies, and we launched our first portfolio company this year. We are a small, senior team that moves fast and cares deeply about quality, impact, and innovation.

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Why this role exists

As we grow and scale, the complexity of our engagements is growing faster than we can manage. Until now, the principals have carried out operations alongside the client work. That no longer scales.

This individual will own how AQL Labs runs week to week across our growing list of active engagements. You are the person who knows what is due to which client and when, who owes us what and how long they have owed it, and whether the invoice went out, the bill was paid, or weʼre missing a deadline. You work directly with both principals, sit in on the meetings where it helps, and stay out of the ones where it doesn't.

This is a hands-on operator role. There is no one under you. It suits someone who enjoys being in the depths and weeds of organizational building and operations. You will build workflows and processes from the ground up, work independently and as part of a growing team, handle complexity and details while exuding calm confidence. You take pride in mastering the specifics of every task and are not paralyzed by complexity.

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What you'll own

The waiting-on list. Every engagement generates items blocked on someone else: a policy document from a retiring CIO, a countersignature on a proposal, a database grant that was reported done but isn't, a foundation program officer's reply to a meeting request. Today these sit in a single list and get chased when a principal notices. You will own the list, nudge on a set cadence (our current rule is three business days of silence), escalate to a principal when the nudge window closes, and keep the record of who was asked what and when. You will be writing to provosts, CIOs, general counsels, and foundation officers directly, in your own name, without a principal copied. That requires earning the principals' trust quickly and being at ease with senior people.

Billing and contracting. We bill on a first-of-the-month checklist. Retainers go out in advance, milestone invoices go out when the milestone actually lands, usage-based services get checked against their included quota, and ad-hoc hourly work gets swept for anything billable in the prior month. Expenses get folded into the invoice before it goes out rather than after. You own the checklist, the invoices, payment follow-up, and reconciliation against each engagement's contract terms. Today the source of truth for terms lives in each engagement's key dates table. Part of your job is to scale that system.

Engagement trackers. Every engagement carries a tracker with a key dates table, a people list, a log, and open items. You keep them current so deadlines surface weeks out instead of the morning of, and so a principal can open any engagement file and know where it stands without asking.

Meeting logistics. Scheduling across client calendars in multiple time zones. Agendas circulated in advance. Notes captured from the recording, action items assigned to a named owner with a date, and those items tracked to done rather than to "sent." We record most external meetings and have a workflow in mind for turning recordings into summaries and CRM entries; you will help stand it up and then run it.

Contracts and compliance. Contractor statements of work, signed and filed. Timesheets from contractors collected and checked against what we billed. Insurance certificates kept current, matched against what each client contract requires, and confirmed as on file with the client. Proposal and SOW templates maintained so a new engagement starts from a standard, not from the last one we happened to send.

The CRM and pipeline. We use Twenty as our CRM. You keep it current: contacts, companies, and the pipeline stages for inbound leads. You own the first response to inbound inquiries within a set window and route them to the right principal.

Deliverable coordination. What is due, to whom, by when, and who is producing it, held in one place the whole team can see. When a deliverable involves a contractor, you make sure their piece arrives in time for the principal's review.

Continuous improvement. Most of the above works today because a principal remembers to do it. You will turn that into systems: document the process, find where it breaks, and change it, whether that means a better tracker, a template, a small automation in n8n or Zapier, or simply a clearer rule. You propose changes with evidence, try them, and keep what works. Where a tool would earn its keep, you make the case. Where plain text and a shared document are enough, you leave well enough alone.

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What success looks like at 90 days

The first-of-the-month billing cycle runs on your checklist without a principal prompting it, and every invoice reconciles to its contract terms. Every active engagement has a current tracker, and a principal can open any of them and know where it stands without asking you. The waiting-on list is yours: nudges go out on cadence in your name, escalations reach a principal before a deadline is at risk, and the record shows who was asked what and when. Scheduling, meeting notes, action-item tracking, contractor timesheets, and expense reconciliation run on a routine you own. And you have changed at least one process for the better and can show why it's better.

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Who you are

• You have run day-to-day operations for a small professional services firm, or served as chief of staff to a founder or managing partner. You know what a month looks like when a dozen engagements are live at once.
• You have taken complex projects from idea to finished product, implemented them in reality, and can walk us through one.
• You write and speak clearly and with confidence. College and university Provosts, CIOs, general counsels, and foundation officers will hear from you in your own name, and they should experience you as a peer, as a collaborator.
• Your attention to detail holds up under a variety of demands: timelines, interdependencies, contract deliverables, and stakeholder needs across many engagements at the same time.
• You have a bias toward action in ambiguity. You see the problem before it becomes a problem for a principal, and are proactive in solving it.
• Equity-mindedness, social entrepreneurship, and care for racial, economic, and social mobility arenʼt theoretical constructs - you have experience in co-creating lasting social change, grounded in principles of inclusion and belonging
• You improve things with evidence: small experiments, feedback, refinement, forward momentum.
• You are comfortable in a small, flat organization, working directly with founders and with senior leaders across education, philanthropy, and the private sector.
• You are high-integrity, dependable, and trustworthy. You will handle contracts, invoices, and client relationships with minimal supervision.
• You are proficient with Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack, and at least one CRM, and you can work from plain-text files and shared documents. We don't run a project management platform today, and you don't need one to be organized, though you are welcome to propose one when it would earn its keep.

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Helpful

• Experience with Twenty or another CRM you've administered, Otter or similar transcription tools, DocuSign, and automation tools like n8n or Zapier.
• Familiarity with higher education, philanthropy, or education nonprofits. You'll get up to speed faster on who our clients are and how they make decisions.
• Based in the Seattle area.

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What you'll get from this

Direct, daily work with the founders of a growing education innovation impact studio and consultancy, with real ownership from week one. A front-row seat to how postsecondary institutions, foundations, and edtech companies actually scale impact and make decisions. And a role that grows as the firm does: the systems you build here are the ones the studio's portfolio companies will inherit.

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How to Apply

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