Founding Operations Lead

Aussie Founders Club; Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid from Carlton

Office dog

Direct access to Founder

Real ownership and growth potential

Job summary

SeenCulture is a fast-moving HR tech startup building a candid, de-identified feedback platform. The role is an execution-focused individual contributor position, owning operations end-to-end and delivering high-impact outcomes alongside the founder.

You’ll manage the customer pipeline, QA across product and customer experiences, and craft an internal context layer. This hands-on position emphasizes practical AI-enabled tooling and fast iteration within a hybrid Carlton office environment.

Qualifications

• Own customer operations end-to-end and turn Nikki's decisions into reality.
• Rigorous QA across product and customer experience before launches.
• Build and maintain an internal context layer for decisions and directions.
• Integrate CRM and product analytics using AI-driven workflows.
• Operate the rhythm of a fast-moving startup without people management.
• Apply an AI-native approach with practical, hands-on execution.

Responsibilities

• Own customer operations from pipeline handoff to onboarded account and ongoing management.
• QA across product and customer experience; perform user-like testing and UAT.
• Build and maintain a unified internal context layer of decisions and rationale.
• Consolidate CRM and product analytics into a single AI-powered system.
• Collaborate with fractional Growth/Product lead on feedback loops, launches, and campaigns.
• Run back-office functions: tooling, vendor management, finance ops, contracts admin.
• Establish operating rhythm to sustain pace as the company scales.

Skills

Ownership mindset

QA instincts

AI-native development

Independent contributor

Communication

Tools

Claude AI

Automation tools

CRM systems

Job description

Melbourne | Hybrid - Carlton office. Full-time preferred, with flexibility for a fractional arrangement for the right person.

Become Nikki’s right hand in running SeenCulture day to day – own and execute the operational backbone of a fast-moving HR tech startup, with real ownership and real scope.

SeenCulture is a feedback platform that helps leaders understand how they are actually experienced by the people they work with – not through a performance review or a personality test, but through candid, de‑identified perspectives that surface hidden strengths and real perception gaps. Think Moneyball for work teams.

Techstars Sydney 2023. A$1.5M raised. Customers include Atlassian and Culture Amp. The latest product release is live and a PLG motion is being activated for the first time. The team is small and moving fast. This is the hire that builds the operational layer the next phase of growth needs.

The role

SeenCulture has traction, a product release live, and a PLG motion being activated. What it doesn't have yet is someone who owns operations end‑to‑end – someone who can take what Nikki decides and make sure it actually happens, so she can spend her time on the things only a founder can do.

That's this role. You'll own the customer pipeline from handoff to onboarded account. You'll own QA across the product and customer experience, so nothing ships without someone checking it first. You'll build the internal context layer so decisions don't disappear into Slack. You'll bring the CRM and product analytics into one unified system, built with AI. And you'll build and run the operating rhythm of a company growing faster than its current infrastructure can keep up with.

This is an execution role, not a leadership one. You won't be managing a team or setting strategy – you'll be doing the work yourself, hands‑on, every day. If you're currently a Head of, Director or C‑suite leader running a team underneath you, this isn't the right seat. We're looking for someone hungry to build, with real early‑stage startup experience – not someone stepping back from managing people into something lighter.

You’ll be in the seat yourself, doing the work, day to day. We'd love this to be full‑time, working closely alongside Nikki as the business scales – but for the right person already doing this kind of work hands‑on, we are open to a fractional arrangement.

Working with AI is just how we build here. You'll use Claude and automation tools by default, because that's what lets one person run a function like this well. If you haven't built anything real with AI yet, this role will be a stretch – and we'll ask you to show us what you've built.

What You'll Do

• Own customer operations from pipeline handoff to onboarded account – proposals, contracts, onboarding, and ongoing account management
• Own QA across the product and customer experience – test things like a real user would, run UAT before launches, and catch issues before they reach customers. This is hands‑on checking, not technical test engineering or automation
• Build and maintain the internal context layer: decisions made, directions taken, reasoning captured and findable
• Bring CRM and product analytics into one unified system built with AI
• Partner with Simon (fractional Growth and Product Lead) on feedback loops, release coordination, and campaign execution
• Run the back‑of‑house: tooling, vendor management, finance ops, contracts admin
• Build the operating rhythm that holds pace without creating new bottlenecks

What we’re looking for

Ownership & reliability

• You see a problem and own it – you do not wait to be asked, and you flag issues before they become someone else’s
• Strong QA instincts – you test things the way a sharp, curious user would and catch what’s broken before it ships. No test automation or technical QA engineering background required
• You follow through. People trust what you commit to

AI‑native – this one is essential

• You’ve built something real with AI in the last six months – an automation, an agent, a Claude Skill, a workflow that’s in use today – and you can walk us through what it does and what you built it with
• You build with Claude and automation tools by default, you know what a Skill is, and you can deploy one without being shown how
• You think about problems technically – how could this be solved with a tool, how could this be automated

Senior enough to own this solo – an individual contributor, not a people leader

• Real early‑stage startup experience is essential – you understand the pace, ambiguity and resourcefulness it takes, not just operations inside a larger, established company
• Several years in an early‑stage startup in an operational, generalist, or founder‑adjacent role – you’ve run a function with minimal oversight before
• This is an execution role, not a leadership one – you won’t be managing a team or directing other people’s work, you’ll be doing it yourself
• You’d rather be doing the work than advising on it from a distance – this role is in the work, not above it
• Commercially curious – you understand customers and what makes a startup grow

Communication & low ego

• Strong written communication – you edit your own work and do not need things repeated
• Low ego. You care about the work, not about being seen to do it
• Comfortable holding context across fast‑moving, messy systems

The honest truth

• Startup chaos is real some weeks – you will need to be comfortable with that
• You will learn on the job. Nikki will back you, but you are self‑directing
• Some of your time goes on unglamorous work – reporting accuracy, admin, finance tracking – and it all matters
• If you’re still at the “I use ChatGPT for emails” stage of AI, this will feel like a lot
• You will try things before you feel fully ready. That is the point

What’s on offer

• Real ownership and real execution, working closely with Nikki – we’d prefer this full‑time, and we’re open to talking fractional for the right person already doing this kind of work hands‑on. Days and terms to be worked out together
• A close, trusted working relationship with Nikki – you’ll become the person who extends her reach and helps her get more done
• Hybrid from Carlton with Nikki and Bella (the office dog – dog people strongly preferred)
• Real scope to shape the operational function at a company at a pivotal stage
• Founder‑level access – reporting directly to Nikki Tugano, Founder & CEO
• A genuine growth path: as SeenCulture scales, this role can grow into a COO seat. You’re building the foundation, not filling a gap

This is the kind of moment that doesn’t come around often – real customers, a product live, and a founder who needs someone to build the operational foundation the next phase of growth runs on, with real room to grow into running more of it as the company scales.