AI-Native Founder's Associate

About the Role

This is a core operator role working directly with the CEO of a fast-growing e-commerce company, tackling the highest-impact problems across operations, growth, and finance. Designed as a genuine launchpad into senior leadership, this position gives you end-to-end ownership in a low-bureaucracy environment where your work has immediate, measurable impact.

What You'll Do

• Partner with the CEO to turn ambiguous, high-stakes problems into structured analyses, decisions, and execution plans.

• Support day-to-day operations spanning fulfillment, customer experience, supply chain coordination, and internal workflows.

• Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, then design and build AI-driven solutions to eliminate them.

• Use AI tools to scan the market for new products and ingredients, converting signals into a prioritized sourcing pipeline.

• Build automated supplier discovery, qualification, and outreach workflows that operate at scale.

• Design AI-assisted negotiation workflows covering pricing, minimum order quantities, and contract terms from first contact to signature.

• Support growth initiatives across marketing, experimentation, and performance tracking.

• Develop financial models, dashboards, and reporting tools grounded in real unit economics.

• Leverage automation and low-code tools to replace manual effort with scalable systems across all business functions.

• Own high-priority ad-hoc projects and move fluidly between strategy and hands-on execution.

What We're Looking For

• Degree from a strong university in engineering, science, math, business, or a related field.

• Hands-on experience building AI-powered systems, automation workflows, or low-code solutions with measurable business outcomes.

• Proficiency with automation platforms and AI tooling (e.g., Make, Zapier, n8n, or equivalent API-driven workflows).

• Experience building financial models, dashboards, or BI tools for forecasting, unit economics, or performance analysis.

• Background in operational analysis, process optimization, or supply chain workflows across fulfillment, sourcing, or logistics.

• Technical fluency — self-taught coding ability is expected for business-background candidates; engineering/science candidates should demonstrate applied AI/automation experience.

• Experience conducting market research, supplier discovery, or vendor evaluation and negotiation.

• Demonstrated ability to own projects end-to-end, from problem definition through execution and outcome measurement.

• High agency, strong work ethic, and comfort with intensity in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Bonus: experience in e-commerce, DTC, or membership models; familiarity with consumer products or functional nutrition; content creation or community storytelling skills.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $120,000–$160,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Location

On-site, five days per week in San Francisco, CA. This is a high-collaboration role that requires full-time in-office presence.