Founder’s Associate – Operations
What Your Role Involves
We’re a fast-growing, VC-backed travel tech startup backed by Runa Capital, Seedcamp, and Exor Ventures. We’re building a product-led, automation-first travel platform designed to scale with leverage, not headcount. We’re looking for a high-impact operations-focused (the kind that jumps on any problem to solve) to own, design, and build the systems that make the company work as we scale.
This is a builder role. You’ll design core systems from scratch, not inherit them, and help shape the operating system of the company as it grows. You’ll work closely with leadership, operate across each function, and report directly to the COO, with scope and responsibility closer to a mini-COO role than a traditional operations position.
What you’ll do
Build and scale core operational systems from the ground up across customer-facing workflows, internal backoffice processes, and fintech operations.
Act as a forward-deployed extension of the product team. You’ll use the product daily, interact with real customer and operational edge cases, identify friction and failure points across systems, and translate operational insights into clear product and process improvements.
Contribute to financial and operational robustness by supporting the automation of backoffice and reconciliation flows and improving handoffs between operations, finance, and product.
Build scalable knowledge and execution systems such as internal documentation, playbooks, and SOPs that grow with the company.
Apply automation and AI to operational systems to radically reduce manual work and achieve 10x efficiency versus traditional players.
Who we’re looking for
Early-career professional with 2 to 3 years of experience, ideally in consulting, operations, or other high-intensity environments. It’s always day 1.
Degree in Economics, Engineering, Corporate Finance or similar analytical disciplines.
Fast learner, high agency, comfortable operating in ambiguity.
Strong operational mindset: you like structure, clarity, and execution, but you’re not rigid and enjoy crossing off to dos.
Highly ambitious and willing to put in the work to grow fast by building real things.
Comfortable taking people responsibility early in your career.
Fluent / near-native English as the team is fully international and works entirely in English.
Why this role is different
You’ll be one of the early team members in a company that’s scaling fast.
Real ownership from day one, no decks-for-decks’ sake.
Daily exposure to extremely senior executives across travel, fintech, and product.
A rare opportunity to shape both operations and product impact together.
Clear growth path as the company scales and complexity increases.
Location & setup
Hybrid role: office presence + remote days
Office is based in ComoNExT innovation hub, easily reachable from Milan (20/30 mins commute by train)
Benefits: competitive salary, meal vouchers, fringe benefits, remote working days, dynamic high value added startup environment, possibility to make a real impact from day 1, early employee of a startup
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