Why This Role Exists:

AiDash's R&D organisation is a 200+ people serving over 100 enterprise customers.

Our portfolio spans 4 vertical products, built on a common platform & proprietary AI models, and is coordinated across Product, Engineering, Data Science, QA, Design, DevOps, Professional Services, Field Services and GIS (Data Operations) teams.

The R&D organization also works closely with GTM and Post Sales teams such as Sales, Marketing, Sales Ops, Partnerships, Customer Success and Support.

As our customers and products grow, we are looking to redefine and build the future R&D operating system for excellence & scale.

We're establishing this Strategy & Operations function to drive cross-functional coordination, lead high-impact strategic programs, and provide data-driven insights that inform how we structure, invest in, and scale our R&D organization.

As our Senior Manager, Strategy & Operations, you'll be one of the first hires on this teama true 0-to-1 opportunity to define how a fast-growing AI company coordinates complex work across a 200-person technical organization.

This isn't a typical strategy role.

You won't hand off recommendations for others to execute.

You'll own strategic programs end-to-endfrom business case through deliverywhile simultaneously building the strategic insights, governance frameworks, and operational infrastructure that enable a world-class R&D organization.

The Role:

As Senior Manager Strategy & Operations, you will drive impact across the organization and own:.

Strategic Programs:

- You'll own multiple high-impact, cross-functional initiatives with measurable business outcomes.

- This would entail building the business case, coordinating pilots across functions, tracking ROI, and scaling successful initiatives.

- Examples include AI Adoption, COGS Reduction, Annual Planning Process Redesign, Platform Adoption.

Analysis & Insights:

You'll provide data-driven insights that inform R&D strategy and organisational decisions.

Organisational Effectiveness:

- Conducting regular assessments of or team structure, capacity utilization, benchmarking productivity metrics and tracking R&D efficiency metrics to recommend improvements.

Competitive Intelligence & Market Benchmarking:

- Research industry best practices for R&D organization, processes, and tooling; Analyze competitor capabilities and positioning to inform strategic priorities; Monitor emerging technologies and methodologies.

Strategic Investment Analysis:

- Build financial models for technology investment decisions, Lead build vs buy evaluations, Track R&D investment allocation across innovation, platform, vertical products, and maintenance, Ensure strategic initiatives connect to company-level OKRs with clear progress tracking.

Executive & Board Communication:

- Own R&D narrative for quarterly business reviews and board presentations.

- Synthesize complex technical and organizational topics into executive-ready insights.

- Report portfolio health with accuracy, objectivity, and persistencebuilding trust through fact-based truth-telling.

Operational Excellence:

- You'll design the coordination mechanisms that enable cross-functional work & setup governance mechanisms for visibility & risk management.

Process Design:

- Create lightweight cross-functional workflows for recurring activities: planning cycles, customer onboarding, product launches, imagery acquisition coordination.

- Build playbooks and templates that teams actually use (not binders that collect dust).

Governance & Decision Frameworks:

- Establish decision rights, RACI matrices, and escalation paths for cross-functional scenarios.

- Create forums that enable fast, informed decision-making (steering committees, working groups).

Performance Tracking & Visibility:

- Build dashboards providing executive visibility into program health, dependencies, and bottlenecks.

- Define success metrics for cross-functional initiatives (cycle time, on-time delivery, automation rate).

- Identify and mitigate risks early to keep initiatives on track.

Change Management:

- Drive adoption of new processes through stakeholder engagement, training, and communication.

- Measure adoption metrics and iterate based on feedback.

- Act as liaison between functions to build cross-functional trust and understanding.

Building the Function:

- As one of the first hires, you'll help shape Strategy & Operations by defining future roles and mentoring analysts and junior team members s as we grow the team.

- You'll establish ways of working, templates, and operating rhythms while codifying best practices and lessons learned.

What you'll love about the role:

- High visibility and impact: Your work directly influences product delivery, cost structure, and customer outcomes across the entire R&D portfolio.

- Diverse challenges: You'll never be boredevery day brings different problems requiring different skills (analytical one hour, facilitation the next, technical the hour after).

- Mission-driven company: Join a team that is securing tomorrow by making critical utility infrastructure more reliable, resilient, and sustainable in the face of climate change.

Your work helps prevent wildfires and improve grid reliability for millions of people.

- Learn cutting-edge tech: Get deeply educated on AI/ML, satellite imagery, geospatial analytics, and climate tech application.

What This Role Is NOT:

- Pure strategy role: You won't just create PowerPoint recommendationsyou'll drive execution.

- Traditional PMO: We're not managing Gantt charts and sending status reportswe're leading strategic transformation.

- Process police: We're not enforcing compliancewe're enabling better outcomes through smart coordination.

What we're looking for:

Minimum Qualifications:

- 4-6+ years at top-tier management consulting firms or 6-8+ years in internal strategy, strategic operations, or chief-of-staff roles at high-growth tech companies.

- Proven ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives without direct authority.

- Proven program and project management experience with evidence of delivering results and driving impact.

- Meticulous, data-driven planning with comfort building and running dashboards.

- Strong leadership without direct authority, able to influence and redirect stakeholders across silos.

- Ability to cut through competing narratives and create a clear, fact-based view for ambiguous problem statements of varying nature.

- Self-starter who drives their own work with minimal supervision.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Experience in technology sector, ideally with B2B SaaS, AI/ML, or platform companies.

- Exposure to program and portfolio tools such as Jira, Smartsheet, MS Project, PowerBI, or Tableau.