AI-Native Founder's Associate

ABOUT THE ROLE This is a core operator role working directly with the CEO of a fast-growing AI-powered consumer health and e-commerce company. You will own high-impact projects end-to-end across operations, growth, and finance, with immediate visibility and real responsibility from day one. It is designed as a launchpad into senior leadership for someone who thrives in a no-bureaucracy, high-intensity environment. 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 across fulfillment, customer experience, supply chain coordination, and internal workflows. - Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, then design and build AI-driven solutions to remove them. - Use AI to scan the market for new products and ingredients, turning signals into a prioritized sourcing pipeline. - Build automated supplier discovery, qualification, and outreach workflows that operate at scale. - Design AI-assisted negotiation workflows for pricing, minimum order quantities, and terms, taking deals 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 AI, automation, and low-code tools to replace manual effort with scalable systems across all functions. - Own ad-hoc, high-priority projects and move fluidly between strategy and execution as needed. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - Degree from a top-tier university in engineering, science, math, business, or a related field. - Hands-on experience building AI-powered systems, automation workflows, or low-code solutions that delivered measurable business outcomes (e.g., Make, Zapier, n8n, Claude API, or equivalent). - Technical fluency: engineering or science backgrounds must show applied AI and automation experience; business backgrounds must demonstrate self-taught coding or equivalent technical capability. - Experience as a startup operator or in a comparable autonomous, early-stage environment. - Strong analytical and problem-solving ability spanning operations, growth, and finance. - Experience building financial models, dashboards, or business intelligence tools for forecasting or performance analysis. - Familiarity with operational analysis, process optimization, or supply chain workflows across fulfillment, sourcing, or logistics. - Experience conducting market research, supplier discovery, or vendor evaluation and negotiation. - High agency: you spot problems, take ownership, and execute without waiting for instructions. - A genuine interest in physical operations, consumer products, or functional nutrition is a strong plus. - Experience with growth analysis, A/B testing, or marketing analytics is a bonus, as is a passion for content creation and storytelling. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Base salary: $120,000 to $140,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role. LOCATION On-site, five days per week in San Francisco, California. This is a high-collaboration role requiring full-time in-office presence; remote or hybrid arrangements are not available.