Business Operations Project Manager

About the job

About Square Roots

Square Roots is the technology leader in urban indoor farming. Our scalable “farmer-first” technology platform brings fresh, healthy food to urban areas year-round, while simultaneously training future generations of farmers. With production farms in Brooklyn NY, and Grand Rapids MI (with more to come in 2021) Square Roots has a mission to bring local, real food to people in cities across the world while empowering the next generation of leaders in urban farming.

We’re a young company (est. 2016) with the potential and ambition to change the food system in ways that are better for people and the planet as well as profits. Everyone on the Square Roots team—from farmers to software developers, from brand strategists to financial analysts—is ready to make a massive impact  in urban farming and the future of the global food industry.

About The Role

We are looking for a Business Operations Project Manager to join our Operations team. This role is critical in ensuring that our daily business operations run smoothly and that the business can grow as efficiently as possible. You’ll provide support by way of ongoing risk management and compliance efforts, while also taking on a few longer-term strategic projects that will level up our operations across the board. This is a great position for someone with 3-5 years of experience in business operations, project management, or a similar field, who is excited about wearing a lot of hats at a fast-growing startup.

You’ll be reporting to our Chief Operating Officer, and will also engage in plenty of cross-functional work, especially with the People and Finance teams. An understanding of corporate insurance terms and processes is a must, while familiarity with information security and/or HR operations would be a plus. And certainly, a demonstrated interest in the food and/or agriculture industries is important.

Under normal circumstances, this position would be based in our Brooklyn HQ. For now, the role will be remote, but the right candidate will have the ability to commute to and from our Brooklyn HQ when the time comes.

You Will

• • Be responsible for maintaining all requisite insurance coverage and policies for the company, from workers compensation to the insurance for our delivery trucks.
  • Own all matters related to compliance and risk management, on both a corporate level as well as for our farm campuses. This includes but is not limited to NDAs, permitting, licensing, etc.
  • Manage and supervise the implementation and maintenance of our newly created cyber and information security policies, working closely with our people and software teams to ensure that the company is compliant.
  • Lead HR system implementation.
  • Assist the COO with data collection, aggregation, and presentation to effectively track key company metrics on an ongoing basis.

You Have Experience With

• • At least one of the following fields: risk management, business operations, management consulting.
  • At least a basic understanding of corporate insurance terms and processes.
  • Working cross-functionally and managing projects with many stakeholders, often with different priorities.
  • HR Operations, such as PEO selection and implementation and Workers Compensation, would be a plus
  • Creating and maintaining fairly complex spreadsheets, and a strong understanding of Google Workspace, especially Google Sheets and Slides (or Microsoft equivalent).

You Are

• • Passionate about real, local food
  • Extremely organized and process-driven.
  • Comfortable with the (healthy!) chaos of an early-stage startup.
  • Able to take a complex project with a far-off deadline and translate that into a digestible roadmap for all involved stakeholders. You will be managing several strategic projects across a few different departments, and you’ll need to keep people in line!
  • Able to translate data into a narrative for an audience who is less familiar than you are with the subject matter.
  • Comfortable multitasking and working across a variety of departments and subject matters, from marketing to software to farming to accounting.
  • Able to connect high-level strategic company initiatives (revenue growth! new locations!) with tactical day to day work (renew our compressed gas permit), and understand how one can’t happen without the other.
  • Able to prioritize tasks and pivot quickly as needed.

You’ll Love Working At Square Roots Because

• We’re here to change the food system. You’ll have the opportunity to play a significant role in our work at the intersection of technology, farming, and the global food industry – and we’re only just getting started.
• Our team is driven by a shared set of values. These keep us aligned and remind us how to show up every day in the face of growth and ambiguity. Whether you’re in the office or on the farms, collaboration, respect, optimism and humility are all embraced, and we seek to empower people at every step. Ask us about the rest!
• Benefits and perks, of course. We’re all here first and foremost to play our part in the mission, but medical, dental, and vision coverage, equity in Square Roots, flexible work life culture, and lots of samples of the delicious food we grow certainly do not hurt. 🙂