NYC, in-person everyday at our West Soho office · Full-time ·
About koodos labs
koodos labs is a consumer AI research and product company dedicated to ensuring that the internet knows you and can do things for you, on your terms. We are the company behind Shelf, the leading personal context platform used by millions of people to track and understand what they consume. Read about our co-founders and their story here. We’ve raised 3 (unannounced) rounds from the world’s leading investors, and our Board is comprised of Pinterest’s co-founder, Facebook’s first head of monetization and a leading GP.
You should join koodos labs for the people and our mission.
We aspire to build the best team of the 2020s. Just like PayPal in the 90s, Google in the 00s, and Stripe in the 10s, we want to be known as "a place where it's good to be from." If you join us, we promise to be the best place to grow your career — with the best people you've ever worked with. We’re also working on a very bold mission.
Read more about why koodos labs may not be for you here.
Your mission
Be the operational backbone of the product and engineering team - owning sprint discipline, backlog management, release coordination, and support operations so that Design can focus on craft, Engineering can focus on shipping, and Leadership can focus on strategy.
This is a highly collaborative, cross-functional and facilitation-oriented role.
We expect this role to grow into operations leadership as the company grows.
What you'll do
Owning the operational machinery means that your days will be different everyday. But here are a few things you could be doing day-to-day:
1. Sprint operations & backlog management
Run sprint planning with Product, Eng, and Design: ensure priorities are clear, ownership is unambiguous, and engineering capacity is pointed at the highest-ROI work
Own the backlog as a living artifact: groom tickets, maintain prioritization, and keep bugs and improvements sequenced with enough context to be picked up cold
Facilitate sprint rituals: set agendas, drive to named decisions with clear owners, and make sure outcomes land in Linear with dates
Own the full release process: pre-launch checklists, QA coordination, release notes, and cross-org communication so every team knows what’s going out and when
Be the person engineers, designers, and growth ping when they need to know what's happening with a project
2. Support operations
Oversee a team of support contractors in Zendesk — set priorities, quality standards, and coverage
Keep intake, routing, and resolution standards clean and consistent
Translate support signals and bug reports into structured Linear tickets the team can act on
Identify automation opportunities that reduce manual load over time
Ideal Candidate
We recognize that the confidence gap and imposter syndrome might discourage amazing candidates from applying. Every job description is a wish list, so please reach out if this role really excites you.
Role-specific traits
Most important: you are a heat seeking missile for pain that actively seeks out the hairiest, gnarliest operational problems, then surgically works to blow them up.
Thrives in the hairy middle, respects ambiguity. Startups move fast and plans shift. A lot of what you'll handle is genuinely unresolved: problems that aren't yet well-defined, decisions that can't cleanly be made yet, handoffs where nobody's quite sure who owns what. You hold that space and can pull in the right people to help you fight through it. You don't force premature resolution on problems that aren't ready for it. At the same time, you're obsessive about locking down what CAN be decided, fast.
Warm, collaborative, low ego. You earn trust by being helpful and reliable, but also by setting boundaries and being clear about operational excellence and accountability. People should always look forward to working with you.
Genuinely energized by operational craft. You are excited about the craft of making team’s operate really well and cut through BS. You are not interested in process for process’ sake - you are focused on outcomes.
Obsessive about execution & detail. You are a project management and execution whizz. You cannot let a misnamed ticket, a missing action item, or a broken link pass without fixing it. Operational excellence is your baseline, not a stretch.
Skills and experience
You have several years of experience in a role that demanded operational rigor across multiple stakeholders. Whether that's as a product manager, project manager, program manager, customer-facing technical work, or something adjacent — you've coordinated complex work across teams and you know what it takes to ship reliably without dropping threads.
Detailed fluency with how software gets built. You know what a clean Linear ticket looks like, what a real QA pass entails, and the importance of release notes. You don't need to have shipped code yourself, but you've worked closely enough with people who do that you understand the rhythm.
Scrappy problem-solver with attention to detail. You’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. You’re comfortable with using AI as a tool (not a crutch!) to 10x your output.
People-centric instinct. You can analyze recurring issues and propose sustainable solutions, not just route them. You know how to frame and communicate solutions clearly for others
How we interview
We aim to move fast.
We recognize this role is hard to interview for, so we’ll focus on simulating out working together and references.
Introduction: We’ll kick things off by sharing a short video about the team and role. It’s a great way to get context and prep questions ahead of our call.
First call: A conversation with Jad to dig into your background, goals, and share more about what we’re building.
Case interview(s): A simulation of a real-life situation you may have to deal with.
Onsite Interview: You’ll meet the team you’ll be working with and we’ll run through a series of work simulations
References: We’ll ask for 2–3 references at some point during the interview process, and may also reach out to others you’ve worked with (let us know if there are any sensitivities). We’ll keep it brief and respectful - usually ~15 mins per call. You’re also welcome to reference check us.
Decision: We’ll move quickly on our end.
How to apply
If interested, please drop us a line on team@koodos.com with your resume and 1 operational process improvement you made that had a big impact on a team.