Founding Strategy & Operations Generalist

Sela; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with employer match

Unlimited PTO

Hybrid in-office schedule: four days a

Job summary

Sela in San Francisco is seeking its first strategy and operations hire to report to the CEO and tackle the hardest problems first, starting with hiring. You’ll build scalable processes, AI tools, and a flexible operations framework as the company scales rapidly.

You’ll own hiring strategy, automation initiatives, and later broaden into sales, product, finance, or people functions based on need. Four days a week in SF with a remote midweek option.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years out of school in a top consulting firm, finance, or operating role at a fast-paced startup
• Hungry and high-agency; you don’t wait for instructions and you take initiative
• Intellectually curious and fast to learn; you understand how a business works

Responsibilities

• Hiring Strategy: identify and attract top candidates, evaluate fairly, and close them
• Automation: build AI tools to automate recruiting and other processes with engineering support
• Own and shape the next revenue motion, a pricing model, or a finance function depending on needs

Skills

People skills

AI tools fluency

Curiosity & fast learner

Proactiveness

Education

2–4 years post-grad experience in consulting/finance/operating role

Tools

AI tools

Job description

About Sela

Sela is the market leading AI voice agent for mortgage lenders. Since we started in mid 2024, we have since signed 6 of the 10 largest independent mortgage banks in the US as enterprise customers. We went from ~$0 to $13M annualized revenue over the past 20 months, and we currently make around 600k calls a day. Product-market fit is a crazy feeling, and the next 12 months will be even crazier.

About Sela

Sela is the market leading AI voice agent for mortgage lenders. Since we started in mid 2024, we have since signed 6 of the 10 largest independent mortgage banks in the US as enterprise customers. We went from ~$0 to $13M annualized revenue over the past 20 months, and we currently make around 600k calls a day. Product-market fit is a crazy feeling, and the next 12 months will be even crazier.

We’re far and away the market leader in our space. In the very near future, most mortgages will be originated by AI; we are in the best position of anyone in the market to do it. If we’re successful, we will eventually make everyone’s mortgage 1% cheaper, and we will make an enduring and valuable company along the way.

We’ve raised $21M across our Seed and Series A from Emergence and Costanoa.

THE ROLE

You’ll be the first strategy and operations hire at Sela. You’ll report to the CEO and get pointed at whatever the hardest problem in the company is at the time.

Right now that’s hiring. We’re tripling the team in a year without lowering the bar, which makes recruiting the highest-leverage system we have. You’ll own who we should be targeting, how we reach them, how we evaluate them quickly and fairly, how we close the ones we want.

From there you’ll take on more of the business. Which parts depends on what we need and what you’re drawn to — sales, product, finance, people.

What You’ll Own

• Hiring Strategy. Who are the right candidates? How do we get them in the door? How do we evaluate candidates fairly and efficiently? How do we sell and close top talent?
• Automation. You’ll build AI tools and agents to take as much of this off humans as possible, with as many tokens as you can spend and engineering support when you need it. If you like the idea of figuring out how to get an agent to do 80% of your job so you can go solve the next problem, you’ll like it here.
• Whatever's next. A new revenue motion, a pricing model, a finance function. The scope of this role is set by how much you can handle.

What We’re Looking For

• 2–4 years out of school, spent at a top consulting firm, in finance, or in an operating role at a fast‑paced, venture‑backed startup
• Hungry and high-agency. You don’t wait for instructions. You see what needs to happen, figure out how to do it, and make it happen.
• Intellectually curious and fast to learn. You want to understand how a business actually works and you pick up new domains quickly.

Must-haves:

• Exceptional with people. Everyone who talks to you should come away thinking more of Sela, whether or not we hire them.
• Genuinely fluent with AI tools. Not just enthusiastic — you already use them every day and you’ve built something yourself.
• Excited about working four days a week in office in San Francisco

Benefits

• $130k-175k base + generous equity
• Top‑of‑market medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your dependents
• 401(k) with a top‑of‑market employer match
• Unlimited PTO
• Hybrid in‑office schedule: four days a week together in SF, with a flexible remote day on Wednesdays