Operations Director

This is a vanishingly rare opportunity to be the ops leader of a very fast-growing company that has product market fit. If you’re ambitious, have an eye for detail, and want to be responsible for making a category-defining company run on rails – this role is for you.

At PAIR, you’ll be our first senior operations leader: owning the people, finance, procurement, internal systems and operating rhythms that help a category-defining AI company scale. Steve, our COS, has built the first version of PAIR’s operating foundations. You will make the boat go faster, and help make PAIR the best place people have ever worked.

This role is for someone with exceptional operational judgement, strong ownership, and the ability to bring coherence and clarity to (occasional!) chaos. You’ll report to me directly (James – CEO and co-founder), and partner closely with all the Heads of Department as PAIR accelerates through its next phase of growth.

I look forward to reading your application.

James

CEO / co-founder

A note from Steve

As PAIR’s first operations hire, I’ve had the chance to double company headcount, work across the entire span of the business and build the core operating foundations. Joining PAIR has been the most impactful move of my career and the steepest learning curve so far.

As Operations Director, you’ll work closely with me during the transition as you build context, then you’ll own the systems, cadence and processes that support PAIR’s next phase of growth.

I’d thoroughly recommend the role, and look forward to working closely with the successful candidate.

Chief of Staff

Core responsibilities

You’ll report directly to the CEO/co-founder and own the operational foundations that make PAIR easier to run: people and business operations, governance, legal coordination, internal systems and company cadence.

You’ll be responsible for turning recurring operational work into reliable, AI-enabled systems that help PAIR scale without losing speed, quality or judgement.

What owning operations end-to-end looks like

You’ll own PAIR’s operating system across three core areas:

1. People Operations

Own the systems and processes that help PAIR hire, onboard and support A-player attitude and aptitude. This includes HRIS (HiBob), onboarding, employee lifecycle admin, policies, screening, leave, ways of working and coordination with Fractional HR on sensitive people matters.

2. Business operations and company cadence

At PAIR, elite teams do the basics well. You will keep the company running cleanly as it scales. This includes weekly reporting, meeting rhythms, decision follow-through, office operations, supplier onboarding, internal documentation and cross-functional workflows.

3. Governance, legal and risk coordination

Keep PAIR’s operational risk visible, owned and under control. This includes coordinating compliance work, audit preparation, insurance, internal training, legal relationships, contracting workflows and governance processes.

What we are looking for

We’re a driven, ambitious start-up building an exceptional team. You’ll hit the ground running and quickly form part of the team. We give high trust and clear outcomes; you bring ownership, judgement, pace and operational excellence.

• Own it, end to endYou take ambiguous, cross-functional work and land it. You turn messy problems into clear priorities, owners, deadlines and workflows. You lead through influence, not authority, and do not need heavy supervision.
• Commercial, people and operational judgementYou make good decisions with incomplete information. You understand trade-offs across risk, pace, quality, cost, compliance and people impact. You know when to act, when to escalate and when to slow something down.
• Systems thinker and company builderYou improve how the company runs, not just the task in front of you. You spot patterns, remove root causes and build repeatable systems that help PAIR scale. You raise the operating bar for others, not just yourself.
• Clear, trusted communicatorYou write clearly, think crisply and escalate calmly. People know what is happening, why it matters, what has been decided and what needs to happen next. You bring clarity in moments of pressure, ambiguity or change.
• PAIR operating standardYou move with velocity over speed. You work well with founders, Heads of Department, advisers and ICs. You use AI practically to improve your work, while knowing where human judgement, confidentiality or legal risk should prevail. You model low-ego, values based, high-standard leadership.

Must-have experience and skills

• Significant, evidenced experience leading complex operational work in high-accountability environments.
• Evidence of owning business operations, people operations, strategy, governance, commercial operations or cross-functional operating systems.
• Strong process-scaling ability: you have built workflows, documentation, cadences or systems that added quantifiable value.
• Comfort working directly with founders, CEOs or senior leaders.
• Experience handling sensitive or high-trust work involving people, legal, finance, commercial, supplier or governance topics.
• Strong organisational discipline: you can manage multiple workstreams, deadlines, dependencies and stakeholders without losing the thread.
• Good judgement around data protection, confidentiality, employment risk and operational controls.

Nice to have

• Experience in a fast-growing startup or scale-up and helped a company move from seed-stage operating rhythm towards Series A-style scale.
• Military-to-commercial, consulting, founder’s office, chief of staff, business operations, people operations or strategy background.
• Exposure to AI, B2B SaaS, enterprise sales, professional services, regulated sectors or workforce transformation.

What “exceptional” looks like

Exceptional in this role means you can enter a fast-moving, incomplete environment, absorb context quickly, simplify the mess, build scalable systems, and become trusted by the CEO and team to keep the company moving at pace without compromising standards.

You may be exceptional if you have:

• Built an operating cadence in a messy or high-growth environment and scaled rapidly.
• Owned sensitive people, legal, supplier, commercial or governance processes.
• Improved speed, quality or reliability of business operations.
• Used AI or automation to make operational work faster, cleaner or more scalable.

The mandate is broad, but the priority is clear: build the operating system that lets PAIR scale fast while staying high-standard, compliant, aligned and commercially sharp.

How we work

We work hard, support each other, and share a bias for action. We balance speed with high standards, trust and ownership.

PAIR is still small enough that one strong operator can materially change how the company runs. You’ll need to be comfortable with ambiguity, direct communication and fast context switching. You’ll also need to know when to slow something down and favour velocity over speed.

We favour clear thinking and simple communication over heavy process. We care about craft and quality, but we are honest about constraints and trade-offs.

About PAIR

PAIR builds AI-native workforces by helping organisations adopt AI in ways that create measurable business outcomes.

We work with extraordinary customers including PwC, the Ministry of Justice, The Crown Estate and many more. We are two years old, have strong product-market fit, a seven-figure ARR run-rate, and backing from top European investors including Seedcamp and Venrex.

Our belief is simple: humans should remain the main characters. AI is an extraordinary tool, but the organisations that thrive will be those that pair the best of human intelligence with the best of artificial intelligence.

Application process and details

Location:London, UK. Min 2 days in Chancery Lane office.

Start date:July to September 2026.

Reports to: CEO / co-founder.

Type: Full-time.

Annual leave:25 days per year + bank holidays.

Hiring process

The application process has five stages:

• 22nd May – 5th June: Submit a link to your CV and responses to our application form.
• w/c 8th June: 15-min phone interviews.
• 22nd – 26th June: Final-stage interview + task (3 hours).
• 26th June: Decision and reference checks.

We move quickly with strong candidates. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

How to apply

Please complete the application form here:https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/iJaBLiTpiUIn the form you will provide a link to your CV, tell us why you want to work at PAIR, and answer a few questions about your experience and aptitude.

Final note

We care more about evidence than polish. Strong applications will be specific, commercially aware and grounded in real examples. We are looking for someone who can own the details, see the system, and help PAIR scale without losing what makes it special.

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