Strategy & Operations Associate

What is this role like

We’re looking for a motivated, energetic, and self-directed Strategy & Operations Associate to join our growing team in Boston/Somerville as part of the Operations team, reporting directly to our CEO.

As a Strategy & Operations Associate, you’ll have cross-functional visibility into operations, partnerships, special projects, and company-building work across Finance, Go-to-Market, People, Product, and Engineering. You’ll work directly with the CEO and team leaders, gaining firsthand insight into how strategic decisions are made in a rapidly growing company.

You’ll operate like a special projects builder: someone who can parachute into an ambiguous environment, learn quickly, organize the moving parts, and help turn the fundamentals we've built into a scalable system others can use.

If you’re highly driven, curious, analytical, and excited about startups, technology, AI, and company-building, we strongly encourage you to apply. We care more about hunger, ownership, and what you have already shown yourself willing to build than checking every traditional box.

You will:

• Work directly with the CEO and senior leaders on high-priority special projects
• Own day-to-day operational tasks, from dashboards and internal documentation to automation and audit materials, your work is focused on building the tools the company needs to move and grow faster.
• Become a subject matter expert on Topsort, retail media, our product, our customers, and the company’s operating rhythm.
• Build systems, turning repeated work into clearer processes, stronger documentation, better internal workflows, and faster execution.
• Use AI tools to create leverage: researching, automating, organizing information, building lightweight workflows, improving internal systems, and helping the team move faster.
• Communicate clearly across different audiences through written updates, presentations, short memos, FAQs, meeting notes, video demos, and internal documentation.
• Get your hands dirty. This role includes high-level strategic exposure and unglamorous execution.
• Thrive in a fast, ambiguous environment where priorities evolve quickly, ownership is high, feedback is direct, and learning never stops.

What We Think You Need to Be Successful

We care more about mindset, potential, ownership, and drive than checking every traditional box.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent evidence of analytical rigor, technical curiosity, strong writing, research ability, and entrepreneurial execution.
• 0-3 years of experience in operations, consulting, startups, finance, research, analytics, project management, entrepreneurship, student leadership, or another fast-moving environment — but exceptional new graduates are encouraged to apply.
• Builder mindset: you have at least one example of something you initiated, built, organized, automated, or fixed without being asked. It could be a student initiative, side project, internal workflow, research project, tool, dashboard, event, community, or process that others used or benefited from.
• Strong analytical ability: you are comfortable working with data, research, business problems, and ambiguous questions. You can break down messy topics, identify what matters, and communicate your reasoning clearly.
• Self-directed learning: you can pick up unfamiliar topics quickly, go deep, and develop a useful point of view. You are curious about the actual work: the product, customers, industry, operations, and what success looks like.
• AI-native execution: you have used AI tools to build, automate, systemize, research, or improve how work gets done. We are especially interested in specific examples, not generic familiarity.
• High agency and organization: you can manage details, follow up quickly, keep projects moving, and create clarity for others. You are reliable with the small things because the small things are often what make big projects work.
• Strong communication skills: you can write clearly, synthesize information, prepare sharp materials, and communicate with internal and external stakeholders across different levels.
• Ability to thrive under pressure: you are energized by a fast, ambiguous, direct environment where feedback is candid, priorities can shift, and you need to start moving before the full picture is clear.
• Fearless attitude: you are willing to dive into the unknown, research and quickly learn about a new topic, become useful fast, and build momentum without waiting for perfect structure. You iterate and learn from mistakes rather than waiting for the "right way" to go about a task.
• Excited by startup environments, fast growth, and building things from the ground up.
• Availability to work onsite at our Somerville office 4 days/week.

What We Value

At Topsort, we seek professionals who embody the following qualities to drive our mission forward:

• Deep dive into details: Problem solvers who dig to uncover root causes and optimal solutions and are never content with the superficial or traditional answer.
• Team first: Prioritizing the mission and team output over personal credit.
• You thrive with ambiguity: Exceptional ability to tackle open-ended problems in unstructured environments, turning chaos into structured innovation.
• Adaptability: Willingness to learn, mentor, lead, and follow as the situation demands, fostering growth at all levels.
• Urgency: An innate sense of urgency in execution, while keeping scalability and the creation of replicable processes in mind to ensure long-term success.
• Curiosity: Instinctively curious individuals who seek out difficult concepts, master them, and apply them effectively.

Do you sound like the right fit? Let's dive right in!