Manager Strategy Operations

About AiDASH

AiDASH is an enterprise AI company and the leading provider of vegetation risk intelligence for electric utilities. Powered by proprietary VegetationAI technology, AiDASH delivers a unified remote grid inspection and monitoring platform that uses a SatelliteFirst approach to identify and address vegetation and other threats to the grid. With a prevention-first strategy to mitigate wildfire risk and minimize storm impacts, AiDASH helps more than 140 utilities reduce costs, improve reliability, and lower liability across their networks. AiDASH exists to safeguard critical utility infrastructure and secure the future of humanAIty. Learn more at www.aidash.com.

We are a Series C growth company backed by leading investors, including Shell Ventures, National Grid Partners, G2 Venture Partners, Duke Energy, Edison International, Lightrock, Marubeni, among others. We have been recognized by Forbes two years in a row as one of America's Best Startup Employers. We are also proud to be one of the few software companies in Time Magazine's America's Top GreenTech Companies 2024. Deloitte Technology Fast 500 recently ranked us at No. 12 among San Francisco Bay Area companies, and No. 59 overall in their selection of the top 500 for 2024.

Join us in Securing Tomorrow!

Why This Role Exists

AiDash's R&D organisation is a 200+ people serving over 100 enterprise customers. Our portfolio spans 4 vertical products, built on a common platform & proprietary AI models, and is coordinated across Product, Engineering, Data Science, QA, Design, DevOps, Professional Services, Field Services and GIS (Data Operations) teams. The R&D organization also works closely with GTM and Post Sales teams such as Sales, Marketing, Sales Ops, Partnerships, Customer Success and Support. As our customers and products grow, we are looking to redefine and build the future R&D operating system for excellence & scale.

We're establishing this Strategy & Operations function to drive cross-functional coordination, lead high-impact strategic programs, and provide data-driven insights that inform how we structure, invest in, and scale our R&D organization. As our Senior Manager, Strategy & Operations, you'll be one of the first hires on this teama true 0-to-1 opportunity to define how a fast-growing AI company coordinates complex work across a 200-person technical organization.

This isn't a typical strategy role. You won't hand off recommendations for others to execute. You'll own strategic programs end-to-endfrom business case through deliverywhile simultaneously building the strategic insights, governance frameworks, and operational infrastructure that enable a world-class R&D organization.

The Role

As Senior Manager - Strategy & Operations, you will drive impact across the organization and own:

Strategic Programs

You'll own multiple high-impact, cross-functional initiatives with measurable business outcomes. This would entail building the business case, coordinating pilots across functions, tracking ROI, and scaling successful initiatives. Examples include AI Adoption, COGS Reduction, Annual Planning Process Redesign, Platform Adoption

Analysis & Insights

You'll provide data-driven insights that inform R&D strategy and organisational decisions.

Organisational Effectiveness

• Conducting regular assessments of or team structure, capacity utilization, benchmarking productivity metrics and tracking R&D efficiency metrics to recommend improvements

Competitive Intelligence & Market Benchmarking

• Research industry best practices for R&D organization, processes, and tooling; Analyze competitor capabilities and positioning to inform strategic priorities; Monitor emerging technologies and methodologies

Strategic Investment Analysis

• Build financial models for technology investment decisions, Lead build vs. buy evaluations, Track R&D investment allocation across innovation, platform, vertical products, and maintenance, Ensure strategic initiatives connect to company-level OKRs with clear progress tracking

Executive & Board Communication

• Own R&D narrative for quarterly business reviews and board presentations
• Synthesize complex technical and organizational topics into executive-ready insights
• Report portfolio health with accuracy, objectivity, and persistencebuilding trust through fact-based truth-telling

Operational Excellence

You'll design the coordination mechanisms that enable cross-functional work & setup governance mechanisms for visibility & risk management.

Process Design

• Create lightweight cross-functional workflows for recurring activities: planning cycles, customer onboarding, product launches, imagery acquisition coordination
• Build playbooks and templates that teams actually use (not binders that collect dust)

Governance & Decision Frameworks

• Establish decision rights, RACI matrices, and escalation paths for cross-functional scenarios
• Create forums that enable fast, informed decision-making (steering committees, working groups)

Performance Tracking & Visibility

• Build dashboards providing executive visibility into program health, dependencies, and bottlenecks
• Define success metrics for cross-functional initiatives (cycle time, on-time delivery, automation rate)
• Identify and mitigate risks early to keep initiatives on track

Change Management

• Drive adoption of new processes through stakeholder engagement, training, and communication
• Measure adoption metrics and iterate based on feedback
• Act as liaison between functions to build cross-functional trust and understanding

Building the Function

As one of the first hires, you'll help shape Strategy & Operations by defining future roles and mentoring analysts and junior team members s as we grow the team. You'll establish ways of working, templates, and operating rhythms while codifying best practices and lessons learned.

What you'll love about the role:

• High visibility and impact: Your work directly influences product delivery, cost structure, and customer outcomes across the entire R&D portfolio
• Diverse challenges: You'll never be boredevery day brings different problems requiring different skills (analytical one hour, facilitation the next, technical the hour after)
• Mission-driven company: Join a team that is securing tomorrow by making critical utility infrastructure more reliable, resilient, and sustainable in the face of climate change. Your work helps prevent wildfires and improve grid reliability for millions of people.
• Learn cutting-edge tech: Get deeply educated on AI/ML, satellite imagery, geospatial analytics, and climate tech application

What we're looking for:

Minimum Qualifications:

• 4-6+ years at top-tier management consulting firms or 6-8+ years in internal strategy, strategic operations, or chief-of-staff roles at high-growth tech companies
• Proven ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives without direct authority
• Proven program and project management experience with evidence of delivering results and driving impact
• Meticulous, data-driven planning with comfort building and running dashboards
• Strong leadership without direct authority, able to influence and redirect stakeholders across silos
• Ability to cut through competing narratives and create a clear, fact-based view for ambiguous problem statements of varying nature
• Self-starter who drives their own work with minimal supervision

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in technology sector, ideally with B2B SaaS, AI/ML, or platform companies
• Exposure to program and portfolio tools such as Jira, Smartsheet, MS Project, PowerBI, or Tableau

We are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices, and we promote a work environment where everyone, from any race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, can do their best work.

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible interview experience for all candidates. Please let us know if you require any accommodation during the interview process, and we will make every effort to meet your needs.