Director of Operations & Finance, Column
$200k
OTE
80% base, 20% variable + Stock options
Collaborative public notice platform
Job no longer available
Collaborative public notice platform
21-100 employees
Job no longer available
$200k
OTE
80% base, 20% variable + Stock options
21-100 employees
Company mission
Column's mission is to improve the utility of public interest information and support the distribution of that information by journalists that serve their communities.
Role
Who you are
- You have 5+ years of experience in relevant finance and operations roles such as a financial analyst at an investment or M&A firm or as a director of operations for another software company
- You have some exposure to people operations and legal, such as benefits administration, contract negotiation with customers as well as external vendors
- You have some exposure to the government, media, or legal technology markets
- You have some exposure to mergers and acquisitions and the financial and legal processes involved
- You can articulate the key metrics and dashboards needed to understand and improve a software marketplace / transactional business to create long term value for shareholders
- You are competitive with intrinsic motivation — like to be at the top of a leaderboard and compete with your performance over time (e.g., better today than yesterday) — and collaborative in a team environment (e.g., will mentor new hires or share successful sales scripts)
- You are an optimistic person who is committed to overcoming challenges to make positive contributions to their customers' lives
- You have grit and really want to work with us
- You are looking to commit to building a company for the long haul, through whatever outcome it may achieve
What the job involves
- Column is looking to hire a full-time Director of Operations to join the company’s leadership team
- The Director of Operations will report directly to our CEO, Jake Seaton, and should be excited about building a growth stage company and taking Column to its next stage
- The Director of Operations will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the company’s finance, people, and revenue operations functions
- They will be responsible for hiring and growing a team with domain-specific expertise in each specific function within their purview, but they will also be expected to roll up their sleeves consistently and dive in
- First Week: You will learn about Column's mission, vision, products, and strategy. You will seek to understand our existing finance, revenue, and people operations infrastructure
- You will develop strong working relationships with members of Column’s leadership team
- First Month: You will take responsibility for Column’s payroll and financial processes including budgeting, reporting, and accounting
- You will open requisitions for new roles on the operations team and own the hiring process. You will take responsibility for Column’s financial dashboards and identify “quick wins” that clarify the company’s finances
- First Six Months: You hire and manage a team of full-time employees and contractors to lead all mission-critical operational processes across finance, people ops, and RevOps, including monthly close, benefits administration, contract negotiations, and performance reviews
- You will use the budgeting process to collaborate with other leaders at Column to discover and implement operational efficiency and excellence opportunities. You will report on Column’s growth and key financial metrics to the company’s Board of Directors
- First Year: You will be an impactful member of the company’s leadership team by making key improvements to our teams, processes, infrastructure, strategy, and business model
Our take
One of the lesser known ways that newspapers generate money is through public notices i.e. legally required government updates on things like municipal budgets, foreclosures, and public meetings. As advertising revenue dwindles, public notices have become critical, particularly for local papers, but the communication lines between publishers and governments have long been fraught with inefficiency.
In a bid to solve this issue, Column offers a collaborative platform for officials to draft, order, and pay for public notices, and for reporters to easily access them. Though only founded in 2020, the startup has made rapid progress, and works with hundreds of papers across the US, including The Washington Post.
Founder Jake Seaton, whose family has run Kansas-based local newspaper The Manhattan Mercury for five generations, was able to tap into his relatives’ network of news media leaders to help launch the company and grow quickly.
The fact that many of this network, including Nancy Gibbs, the faculty director of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, and David Chavern, CEO of the News Media Alliance, work in an advisory capacity – and in Gibb’s case at board level – suggests that Column could grow into a company of great importance over the next few years.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Aug 2022
$30m
SERIES A
Sep 2020
$3.3m
SEED
Total funding: $33.3m
Company benefits
- Remote-first company with team members on multiple continents
- Equity
- Unlimited PTO
- Wellness stipend, gym memberships, mental health therapy, student loan repayment, and more
- Health, Dental & Vision Insurance
- Productivity stipend to invest in an office set-up
Company HQ
Wynwood Art District, Miami, FL
Leadership
Jake Seaton
(CEO)Forbes 30 under 30. Former Google Software Engineer. Was on the founding team at Quorum Analytics, a public affairs software platform.
Salary benchmarks
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