Chief Operating Officer

American Alchemy; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation support

Hybrid work model

Remote candidates considered

Job summary

American Alchemy is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to partner with the founder and scale a fast-moving media startup. You’ll own operating structure, people, process, finances, and systems to enable growth while the founder stays focused on content.

You’ll lead budgeting, reporting, contracts, payroll, and compliance, hire and develop talent, and drive AI and automation to remove manual work. Austin-based with relocation support.

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience in a high-performance environment.
• Experience scaling a startup as founder or operator is a plus.
• Fluent in finance: budgets, cash, and reporting.
• Ability to build structure where little existed.
• Ability to push back with direct feedback.
• Curiosity about subject matter and operator mindset.

Responsibilities

• Design the operating structure that scales with the company.
• Own finance and budgeting, accounting oversight, and financial reporting.
• Lead people and talent, hiring, onboarding, and compensation structures.
• Oversee production operations to ensure content delivery on schedule.
• Systematize and automate tools and workflows across the business.
• Scale future initiatives including new channels and formats.

Skills

Senior leadership

Finance management

Strategic planning

Operational excellence

AI & automation mindset

Job description

Baloo Talent is a people operations group offering custom recruitment and consulting services.

We will be the point of contact between you and American Alchemy and will act as your trusted advisor and coach. We look forward to your interest.

About American Alchemy

American Alchemy is a fast-growing media company built around Jesse Michels (CEO), producing long-form video content at a rapid, high-intensity pace. Its weekly, long-form interviews explore the frontiers of UAP phenomena, consciousness, and government secrecy, with Jesse engaging scientists, whistleblowers, retired military officials, and researchers to probe the nature of reality, the existence of non-human intelligence, and the bleeding edge of science, national security and spirituality. The show is known for a sympathetic-but-probing approach to disclosure claims, blending insider testimony with more metaphysical speculation.

American Alchemy has become one of the leading voices in the world on UAP and disclosure, with a guest list that increasingly includes senior government and institutional figures.

The Role

American Alchemy has grown faster than its infrastructure. The business still runs largely through its founder, and it’s building corporate structure (legal, payroll, finance, systems) for the first time.

As Chief Operating Officer, you’ll be Jesse’s strategic and operational partner: the person who turns a fast-moving, founder-led media company into a business that runs with discipline and can scale. You’ll own how the company operates across people, process, finance, and systems so Jesse can stay focused on the content and the decisions only he can make.

This is a senior executive role inside a startup. You’ll set the strategy and build the structure yourself.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with Jesse on strategy and growth. Translate the company’s ambitions into an operating plan with clear priorities and metrics. Bring an independent point of view and push back when it matters.
• Design the operating structure. Define how the company runs as it grows: org design, reporting lines, roles and responsibilities, decision rights, and the operating rhythm (planning, priorities, check-ins) that keeps everyone aligned.
• Build the corporate foundation. Lead the formalization of the business, working with outside legal counsel, accountants, and payroll providers on entity structure, contracts, payroll, and compliance.
• Own finance and budgeting. Take over budgeting, accounting oversight, and financial reporting, and give Jesse a clear, current view of where the business stands and where the money goes.
• Lead people and talent. Own hiring, onboarding, performance, contractor management, and compensation structures, and build a high-performance culture as the team grows.
• Oversee production operations. Make sure the content engine has the resources, systems, and accountability to deliver on schedule.
• Systematize and automate. Own the company’s tools and workflows, and drive AI and automation across the business wherever they can remove manual work.
• Scale what comes next. Support new initiatives, including new channels and formats, as the company expands.

What Success Looks Like in Year One

• Helping ramp up production engine — isolating bottlenecks and eliminating them
• A clear org structure and operating cadence exist, and the team runs without routing everything through Jesse.
• Production is delivering on schedule with the right people and systems behind it.

Who You Are

• You’ve operated at a senior level in a high-performance environment. Maybe you’ve scaled a startup as a founder or operator, or came up through finance, investing, or a demanding firm, and now you want to apply that to a mission you care about.
• Media or entertainment experience is a plus, not a requirement. Operational excellence and mission alignment matter more. But you ideally you have a good aesthetic eye for high quality productions and know how to get to the level of quality American Alchemy generally achieves.
• You’re fluent in finance: budgets, cash, and reporting are second nature.
• You’ve built structure where little existed before, and you think in systems. When something breaks once, you fix the process, not just the problem.
• You’re exceptionally sharp and you hustle. Jesse operates with an extreme sense of urgency. You need to match that pace and stay two steps ahead, not catch up.
• You’re calm under pressure. High expectations steady you; they don’t rattle you.
• You give and take direct feedback, including pushing back on Jesse when it makes the work better. That’s welcomed here.
• You’re genuinely curious about the subject matter (UAP, consciousness, the edges of science) and can talk about episodes that stuck with you. But you’re an operator first, not a fan first.
• You’ll have visibility into a founder’s full workload, guest relationships, unreleased content, and business matters. This requires real judgment and discretion.
• You reach for AI tools and automation by default to remove manual work.

Hiring Process

A focused, three-step process:

• Intro call with Jesse (15 minutes)
• Panel interview with members of the leadership and creative team
• Final conversation

Location

Austin, TX (hybrid) strongly preferred, with relocation support available. Open to remote for an exceptional candidate.