About Protocol Labs
Protocol Labs is an innovation network of more than 750 teams, projects, and movements, advancing breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward. Network members have created foundational technologies that power the decentralized web—including IPFS, Filecoin, IPLD, and libp2p—and continue to explore a wide range of frontier technologies spanning cryptography, AI, neurotech, virtual reality, and more. Across the network, decentralization isn't a slogan—it's an operating principle. Protocol Labs teams work independently but are purpose-aligned around long-term impact, open systems, and durable infrastructure.
About PLC
PLC (Protocol Labs Capital) is the venture capital arm of Protocol Labs, investing across stages and focus areas through a growing family of funds. PLC provides the operating infrastructure across a fund lifecycle, from fund inception, marketing and fundraising, investing process support, and business operations. To scale PLC, we are investing in the operational rigor, tooling, and reporting that high-net-worth, family offices, and institutional LPs expect. At the core of everything PLC does is the commitment to compounding capital in service of Protocol Labs mission to drive durable, network-driven innovation.
About the Role
PLC is scaling from a single-fund operation into a multi-fund capital platform. We are looking for a Start Up Operator to influence the direction of and operate the system of activities required for operational excellence — someone who can create non-fragile structure amid ambiguity, and consistently enable world-class execution without a large team by leveraging data and tooling and top tier process management.
The Start Up Operator runs the operating cadence, tracks delivery against commitments, surfaces potential risks before they can become blockers, and gives PLC's Operating Partner and function leads capacity to focus on GPs, LPs, and founders.
This is a build and execute role. You will have operational authority over multiple processes, including fundraising operations, marketing operations, business and financial operations, and have the authority to solve for cross team dependencies. You will also have the opportunity to step directly into new initiatives and serve as the proxy for function leads as needed.
We're looking for someone who treats operating rigor as a competitive advantage for a venture business — someone who takes real pride in showcasing operational excellence, efficiency and clarity..
Success in this role means
- PLC's functions run on a predictable operating cadence — planning, execution, retros, reporting — while being adaptable to changing conditions and requirements.
- Execution is error free, which is particularly important for investors, LPs, and GPs who have high expectations for PLC.
- Core tooling — Affinity, HubSpot, LP data platforms — is current, data is correct, and usability is low-friction across the functions that depend on it daily, with integration automated reporting.
- PLC's Operating Partner, functional leads, and GPs can depend on you to anticipate and execute on operational needs, freeing up executive time for external stakeholders and strategy development.
- Cross-functional risks — compliance bottlenecks, CRM data gaps, capacity constraints, vendor coverage gaps — are surfaced and resolved before deadlines or outcomes are at risk.
Key Responsibilities
Operating Cadence & Cross-Functional Coordination
- Manage the operating cadence across PLC functions — project planning, meeting agendas, follow-ups, and roadmap monitoring.
- Proactively identify operational and execution gaps before they compound, and drive the fixes across the teams that own them.
- Maintain "how we work" norms for a small, high-autonomy team within PLC, in close collaboration with peers across the wider Protocol Labs organization.
- Shape reporting and metrics that give PLC leadership a clear, near real-time information on execution health across workstreams.
Execution & Accountability Across Funds
- Translate operating-model decisions into processes that hold up to the scrutiny of external stakeholders, especially institutional, high-net-worth, and family office investors.
- Track delivery against commitments, surfacing risks and blockers — CRM gaps, compliance bottlenecks, capacity constraints — early enough to act on them.
- Coordinate cross-function and cross-organization activities as needed, taking ownership of the connective work that no single function owns alone.
- Support the operational backbone of venture-firm processes as PLC's fund count grows.
Fund & Program Operations
- Oversee fund infrastructure decisions, including CRM/Affinity administration, LP data platform evaluation (e.g., Dakota, Preqin), fund administration, and other vendors.
- Support execution of fund structures and fund related processes, and collaborate on event planning and other marketing or fundraising initiatives that require cross-team coordination.
- Coordinate logistics, vendors, contractors, and cross-team dependencies spanning Marketing, Fundraising and Investor Relations, and Business and Financial Operations.
- Ensure every program and initiative ships on time, on budget, and with a single clear owner.
Planning, Tracking & Resource Management
- Drive quarterly and other planning cycles across PLC's functions, translating strategy into concrete, resourced workstreams.
- Maintain visibility into priorities, timelines, and resourcing across current and future funds so leadership always knows where capacity is thin.
- Own budget tracking and variance awareness across programs and functions, flagging drift before it becomes a problem.
- Build and operate lightweight, durable systems for tracking execution and outcomes on top of Affinity, HubSpot, and existing tooling.
- Ensure programs and initiatives are delivered on time, on budget, and have single threaded ownership from inception through steady state delivery.
Execution Partnership to PLC Leadership
- Act as the primary execution partner to PLC's Operating Partner, engaging at an executive level with PLC colleagues and peers across Protocol Labs.
- Give PLC's senior leadership leverage by absorbing coordination and logistics so they can focus on relationships, fundraising conversations, and strategic work.
- Proactively flag operational risk, overload, or single-point-of-failure exposure across the platform, and propose mitigations before they bite.
- Step directly into complex or cross-cutting initiatives — a compliance decision process, coverage during a staffing gap — when the team needs a hands-on operator, not just a coordinator.
What We're Looking For
Experience
- 7+ years in operations, program management, or startup operating roles, with demonstrated experience building and running operating systems inside ambiguous, early-stage, or high-growth environments.
- Proven track record coordinating execution across marketing, fundraising, investor relations, and business operations functions within a fast-moving organization.
- Demonstrated experience managing CRM and LP data infrastructure (e.g., Affinity, HubSpot, Dakota, Preqin), fund administrative tools and processes, including vendor relationships.
- Strong understanding of venture capital fund operations, fundraising cycles, and the compliance and reporting rigor that LPs expect; experience in venture capital, private equity, or other relevant capital markets businesses is a very strong plus.
Skills & Capabilities
- Design and operate lightweight, durable systems for planning, tracking, and reporting that scale across concurrent funds without adding organizational overhead.
- Translate ambiguous, cross-functional priorities into clear operating cadences — agendas, roadmaps, follow-ups — that keep multiple workstreams moving in parallel.
- Surface operational risk and capacity constraints early, and drive mitigation across compliance, CRM data integrity, and vendor coverage before they block fundraising.
- Communicate with exceptional written clarity, producing reporting and documentation credible to GPs, portfolio operators, and institutional LPs.
Mindset & Approach
- Comfortable operating as the connective tissue across functional layers, absorbing ambiguity so senior leadership can focus on relationships and strategy.
- High-autonomy operator who builds structure without a large team, holding a high bar for excellence and timeliness even under resource constraints.
- Deeply collaborative — able to drive alignment across GPs, function leads, and peers across Protocol Labs without relying on formal authority.
- Proactive rather than reactive — willing to step in and directly run complex or cross-cutting initiatives when gaps or staffing shortfalls emerge.
Bonus Skills
- Prior experience in venture capital, private capital or elsewhere in private capital, fund operations team, or multi-fund investment firm.
- Familiarity with fundraising and fund operations, fund reporting.
- Exposure to frontier, deep tech investing or crypto venture capital investing.
Why Join Us?
This is a rare opportunity to build the operating system for a venture capital business. You'll have direct, high-trust access to PLC's leadership and GPs, real authority over operational outcomes, and input into how PLC scales to become a multi-fund investment platform inside one of the largest innovation networks in frontier technology.