Senior Operations Associate, Strategic Initiatives

Crusoe

$111K — $140K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 4-6 years of experience in manufacturing operations, supply chain, or industrial engineering roles with a strong operational focus.
  • Proven ability to create detailed spreadsheet models from scratch.
  • Experience in scaling manufacturing or supply chain operations, understanding common failure points during transitions to high volume.
  • Able to thrive in ambiguous and rapidly changing operational environments.
  • Strong written communication skills for drafting updates and decision memos for senior leadership.
  • Familiarity with AI tools and a strong sense of accountability for accurate reporting.

Responsibilities

  • Own the master schedule and track workstreams, proactively managing risks and schedule slippage.
  • Build and maintain quantitative models for capacity, unit economics, and forecasts in Excel from the ground up.
  • Support supply chain analysis including inventory planning and lead-time tracking for new programs.
  • Deliver precise data-driven decisions on operational queries, providing clarity instead of theoretical frameworks.
  • Manage meeting agendas, decision logs, and action item tracking to maximize meeting efficacy.
  • Facilitate cross-functional collaboration between engineering, supply chain, and finance to ensure project alignment.

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation and equity packages.
  • Paid time off and holidays, including leave of absence programs.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance options.
  • Employer contributions to HSA accounts and paid parental leave.
  • Professional development opportunities and tuition reimbursement.
  • Mental health and wellness support services available.
  • Commuter benefits for parking and transit, plus a cell phone stipend.
  • A 401(k) Retirement plan with a company match up to 4%.
  • Global travel insurance and emergency assistance coverage.
Full Job Description
About the Role:

Strategic initiatives at Crusoe are large, cross-functional programs that span manufacturing, supply chain, systems, construction, and finance. They do not fit neatly inside any single function and are nested in the office of the Chief Strategy Officer. This role exists to make those programs run smoothly.

You will embed directly in active initiatives, owning the analytical and operational infrastructure that keeps complex work on track. That means building the models, running the numbers, maintaining the schedule, and making sure decision-makers have what they need when they need it. You will work across functions and levels - from operators on the factory floor to engineers and board-level sponsors - and you will have the opportunity to operate with the judgment and initiative of someone several years senior.

This is a high-leverage execution role for someone who wants to be close to the hardest operational problems in the company.

What You'll Be Working On:
  • Program infrastructure: Own the master schedule, workstream tracking, and weekly status reporting across active initiatives. Identify risks and schedule slippage before they surface as surprises.
  • Quantitative modeling: Build and maintain capacity models, unit economics analyses, scenario plans, and operational forecasts in Excel. The expectation is that you build rigorous models from scratch, not maintain existing ones.
  • Supply chain and operations analysis: Support inventory planning, component lead time tracking, forward-buying models, and MRP inputs on programs where those systems are not yet fully standing.
  • Decision support: When a question needs a number - build vs. buy, headcount ramp, cost delta, throughput sensitivity - you produce a clean, well-reasoned answer, not a framework for thinking about it.
  • Meeting and cadence operations: Own agendas, decision logs, and action item tracking across program cadences. Make recurring meetings earn their time.
  • Cross-functional coordination: Serve as a connective tissue across engineering, supply chain, construction, and finance workstreams. Translate between functions, flag misalignment early, and keep things moving.


What You'll Bring to the Team:
  • 4-6 years of experience in manufacturing operations, supply chain, industrial engineering, or prior roles with a heavy operational focus
  • Demonstrated ability to build rigorous spreadsheet models from scratch
  • Exposure to manufacturing or supply chain scaling - you have seen what breaks when low-volume operations try to become high-volume ones
  • Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving operational environments where the process is being built in parallel with the work
  • Strong written communication - you will draft program updates, decision memos, and materials that go to senior leadership including the C-Suite and board-level sponsors
  • Comfort using AI tools and be accountable for accurate results/reporting - trust but verify


Bonus Points
  • Experience with ERP/MRP systems, value stream mapping, or lean manufacturing tools


What This Is Not:
  • This is not a role for someone who wants to specialize deeply in one function. In special projects, you will touch factory design, supply chain, systems, construction & finance- all in the same week.
  • It is not a role that comes with a fully defined scope - the nature of strategic initiatives means the work evolves, and you need to connect the dots before the picture is complete.
  • It is not a remote role, 5 days in office with a reasonable amount of travel.
  • Not a desk job, you are expected to be boots on the ground, get your hands dirty


Who you will work with:

Program leads, manufacturing and design engineers, supply chain leadership, construction and site management, embedded VC/PE investor operations teams, and executive sponsors.

Reporting: Sr. Manager Strategic Initiatives

Benefits:
  • Competitive compensation and equity packages
  • Restricted Stock Units
  • Paid time off, paid holidays & leave of absence programs
  • Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
  • Employer contributions to HSA account
  • Paid parental leave
  • Paid life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
  • Professional development & tuition reimbursement
  • Mental health & wellness support
  • Commuter benefits (parking & transit)
  • Cell phone stipend
  • 401(k) Retirement plan with company match up to 4% of salary
  • Volunteer time off
  • Global travel insurance & emergency assistance
  • Daily meals allowance
  • Additional perks & programs specific to location


Compensation Range

Compensation will be paid in the range of up to $1115,000 - $140,000 + Bonus. Restricted Stock Units are included in all offers. Compensation to be determined by the applicant's knowledge, education, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data.

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