Manager, strategy & operations - sustainability advisory & services

About Watershed

Watershed is the enterprise sustainability platform. Companies like Airbnb, Carlyle Group, FedEx, Visa, and Dr. Martens use Watershed to manage climate and ESG data, produce audit-ready metrics for voluntary and regulatory reporting including CSRD, and drive real decarbonization. We are looking for team members who love product-building, want to work hard at a mission-oriented startup, and will collaborate with us in shaping the culture of a growing team.

We have offices in San Francisco, New York, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Mexico City, and remote team members across the US and Europe. We hope that you'll be interested in joining us!

The role

Watershed is on a mission to drive meaningful climate action, and our Sustainability Advisory & Services organization plays a key role in enabling our customers to advance their sustainability programs. The Services organization includes four global teams that offer professional services to Watershed’s customers, including advisory on measurement, reporting, target-setting, and decarbonization. These services help Watershed’s customers to adopt, utilize, and extract value from the Watershed platform.

We're seeking an experienced Manager of Strategy & Operations for the Sustainability Advisory & Services organization at Watershed. In this leadership role, you’ll operate as a trusted advisor and force multiplier for the Head of Sustainability Advisory & Services. You will own the core operational infrastructure that enables our Services organization to operate as a high-performing team, and you’ll drive measurable improvements in the quality, efficiency, and scalability of our operations over time. In addition, you'll enable data-driven decision-making through rigorous analytics, lead critical strategic initiatives from conception through implementation, and help to shape the Services strategy at Watershed.

We’re seeking a high-horsepower, operationally-minded, and analytically-brilliant business generalist for this role. You’ll operate as a player-coach, directly driving key initiatives while also managing a team of two talented Strategy & Operations professionals. This role is based in New York (preferred) or San Francisco.

You will…

• Drive operational excellence. You’ll design, implement, and optimize processes and systems to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability. You’ll build and maintain critical dashboards and reporting infrastructure to help us track the health of the services business.

• Enable data-driven decision making. You’ll analyze data to generate critical insights that help us operate the Services business more effectively, and you’ll synthesize insights into clear recommendations and action plans.

• Drive strategic planning. You’ll drive the strategic planning process for the Services organization, including OKR setting, business reviews, and long-range planning. You’ll own complex forecasting models that enable core business processes such as budgeting and staffing.

• Lead strategic initiatives. You’ll drive the execution of complex initiatives involving multiple workstreams and cross-functional teams.

• Enable cross-functional alignment. You’ll collaborate with Services leaders to develop assets that describe our Services in a clear, accurate, and compelling way, and you’ll deliver enablement on our Services offering for cross-functional teams.

• Lead a small team. You’ll manage, mentor, and develop a team of two talented professionals.

• Embody and champion Watershed’s operating principles. You’ll lead by example, setting the tone for a high-performance, customer-obsessed, and mission-driven team.

You might be a fit for this role if:

• You bring 8+ years of demonstrated success at a top-tier strategy consulting firm and/or in business operations & strategy roles at a fast-paced technology company. experience owning and scaling operations for B2B products or services preferred.

• You have 2+ years of people management experience, with a track record of developing talent.

• You have demonstrated analytical excellence. You consider yourself an expert in modeling and data analysis, and you have experience using data to generate insights across a broad array of business problems.

• You bring a structured approach to solving complex and ambiguous problems. You’re able to translate a strategic objective into an executable plan. You manage multiple priorities with ease while maintaining full command of the details.

• You have proven success driving operational excellence. You’ve built repeatable systems in high-growth environments, taking ownership of system design, implementation, and optimization from end-to-end. You hold strong opinions about what constitutes a best-in-class operational system, backed by personal experience.

• You have hands-on experience using AI tools to support your daily work, enhance productivity, and create new solutions.

• You are an exceptional written and verbal communicator. You have proven ability to influence without direct authority, and you are adept at driving alignment with cross-functional stakeholders.

• You’ll thrive in a high-growth, fast-paced environment; you bring an ownership mentality, intellectual curiosity, and a bias to action in everything that you do.

• Experience with SQL and Salesforce preferred.

Must be willing to work from an office 4 days per week (except for remote roles)

Watershed has hub offices in San Francisco, New York, London, and Mexico City and satellite offices in Denver, Sydney, Paris, and Berlin. Where we have offices, employees are expected to be in office for 4 days per week. Certain jobs are open to being remote and will be specifically noted on the jobs page and in the job description if so.

What’s the interview process like?

It starts the same for every candidate: getting to know the team members through 1 to 2 conversations about Watershed, your experience, and your interests. Next steps can vary by role, but usual next steps are a skill or experience interview (e.g. a coding interview for an engineer, a portfolio review for a designer, deeper experience call for other roles) which leads to a virtual or in person interview panel. We prioritize transparency and lack of surprise throughout the process.

What if I need accommodations for my interview?

At Watershed, we are dedicated to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. We provide reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health needs, religious observances, neurodivergence, or pregnancy-related support requirements. If you need assistance during your process, please contact your recruiter.