Chief Operating Officer

Talent Mappers; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Job summary

Talent Mappers partners with a seed-stage hedge fund startup in Menlo Park to hire a COO/CFO who can shape the firm’s operational backbone and scalable processes as it prepares to raise external capital. You will work directly with the Founder to build the infrastructure, investor platform, and growth engine of the business.

This role combines operations, finance, and business development, offering meaningful equity participation as the fund scales toward multi-hundred million AUM and beyond.

Qualifications

• Experience in investment management, hedge funds, family offices, or asset management.
• Strong understanding of fund operations, service provider oversight, and financial management.
• Exposure to investor relations, fundraising support, or business development is highly desirable.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills.
• Highly entrepreneurial, self-directed, and comfortable in a startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and manage the firm's operational infrastructure as the business scales.
• Oversee outsourced middle- and back-office providers, and coordinate with fund administrators, auditors, legal counsel, prime brokers, and other vendors.
• Develop policies, controls, reporting processes, and best practices to enable growth.
• Support budgeting, forecasting, cash management, and financial oversight for the management company.

Job description

Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer (Hedge Fund Startup)

Compensation: $250,000 to $300,000 base salary + equity participation

About the Opportunity

Our client is a unique early-stage investment management firm building a next-generation quantitative equity hedge fund. The fund has been trading live for several months, is currently establishing its track record, and plans to begin raising external capital later this year.

This is a unique opportunity to join at the ground floor and help build the infrastructure, processes, and investor platform of a high-growth asset management business. The successful candidate will work directly with the Founder and play a critical role in shaping both the operational foundation and commercial growth of the firm.

The Role

We are seeking an entrepreneurial and highly adaptable operations leader who can function as a COO, CFO, or senior business executive depending on experience. This individual will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day business operations of the firm while helping prepare the organization for institutional growth and capital raising.

The investment strategy itself is operationally straightforward: a long-only, low-turnover quantitative equity strategy with no complex or illiquid asset classes. As a result, the focus of the role is on building a scalable operating platform, managing third-party providers, supporting investor relationships, and contributing to business development initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Operations & Infrastructure

• Build and manage the firm's operational infrastructure as the business scales.
• Oversee outsourced middle- and back-office providers.
• Coordinate activities across fund administrators, auditors, legal counsel, prime brokers, and other external vendors.
• Partner with outsourced compliance providers to ensure regulatory obligations are met.
• Develop operational policies, controls, reporting processes, and best practices.

Finance & Business Management

• Manage budgeting, forecasting, cash management, and financial oversight for the management company.
• Review fund-level and management company reporting.
• Monitor operational risks and identify opportunities to improve efficiency and scalability.
• Support strategic planning and long-term business growth initiatives.

Investor Relations & Business Development

• Assist in preparing the firm for external capital raising efforts.
• Support fundraising presentations, due diligence materials, and roadshow preparation.
• Build and maintain relationships with prospective and existing investors.
• Participate in business development activities and help expand the firm's network within the investment community.
• Act as a trusted representative of the firm with investors, service providers, and business partners.
• Ideal Background

Qualifications

• Experience working within an investment management, hedge fund, family office, or asset management environment.
• Strong understanding of fund operations, service provider oversight, and financial management.
• Financially sophisticated with excellent business judgment.
• Exposure to investor relations, fundraising support, or business development initiatives is highly desirable.
• Strong communication and relationship management skills.
• Highly entrepreneurial, self-directed, and comfortable operating in a startup environment.
• Ability to wear multiple hats and build processes from the ground up.
• Why Join
• Rare opportunity to help build a fund from its earliest stages.
• Significant ownership and alignment through carry and true equity participation.
• Direct partnership with the Founder and meaningful influence over the firm's future direction.
• Opportunity to help scale the business from launch toward a targeted $100M to $300M+ asset base and beyond.
• Small, high-caliber team with a collaborative and highly entrepreneurial culture.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building organizations, thrives in fast-moving environments, and wants to play a meaningful role in the growth of a high-potential investment management platform.