Director, Business Operations and Strategy, AI Sim

About the Role

Join us as the Director of Business Operations & Strategy for our AI Simulation Business Unit at SandboxAQ, where you'll architect and optimize the operational engine of a cutting-edge AI + science business unit. This pivotal role drives mission-critical initiatives across compute infrastructure, delivery pipelines, and team scaling. You'll partner deeply with product, engineering, GTM, and leadership to translate high-level vision into impactful execution.

You will establish the operating rhythm of the business, streamline execution, and coordinate cross-functional efforts across DevOps, financial operations, program management, client delivery, and business intelligence. Your expertise will ensure operational continuity and maximum efficiency, bringing frontier technologies to real-world impact.

Core Responsibilities

Build Operational Infrastructure & Scalable Program Management

• Build and own the AI Sim business unit's operating system by streamlining workflows to connect high-level strategy with day-to-day execution. Ensure robust tooling and documentation are in place to support reproducibility, scalable, and compliant systems across internal efforts enabling teams to move fast without breaking things.
• Manage all day-to-day business operations and technical infrastructure, in partnership with DevOps and SWE Leads, including compute platforms, internal tooling, observability, and event reconciliation. Drive the creation of automation and dashboards for performance visibility across all functions.
• Establish a scalable project and program management approach across engineering and client delivery defining scope, milestones, and delivery standards. Work with Technical Engagement Managers, Account executives, and delivery leaders to oversee onboarding of external accounts, client engagements, and necessary compute infrastructure.

Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead quarterly and annual planning (OKRs, roadmaps), own the operating plan, manage spend, and model growth. This includes partnering with Leadership and Finance in financial modeling, analyzing investment trade-offs, and communicating your perspective on resource-intensive workflows.
• Build the systems that capture and synthesize customer insights and performance data into actionable strategy. You will partner with the central BizOps team to deploy shared dashboards and integrated workflows, ensuring this feedback loop directly informs our product-market alignment.

Lead People Systems & Organizational Cadence

• Manage and grow the AI Sim Ops team while driving change management. You will partner with senior leaders to solve complex organizational challenges, translating requirements into actionable solutions and overhauling processes to ensure cohesive team performance.
• Design and run the operational rhythm for the business unit, coordinating key meetings, reporting cycles, and decision-making processes. Your ownership extends to all major internal events, including all-hands, offsites, and team onboarding.
• In close partnership with Recruiting and HR, you will help manage the team's headcount and hiring.
• Plan and facilitate dynamic workshops that drive collaboration and embody a "can-do" spirit. You will consistently seek to improve and experiment, fostering an environment of engagement and ensuring the team is aligned with strategic objectives.

Qualifications and Skills

What you should have:

• 12+ years scaling business operations in high-growth tech, specializing in building data-driven operational systems for internal engineering and external customer-facing teams at the intersection of product, engineering, and business.
• Deep familiarity with technical environments (AI, simulation, cloud, devops, or data science) and can thrive working alongside senior engineers and scientists.
• Demonstrated ability to understand and articulate the value of complex technical products to non-technical audiences. You can switch between high-level strategic thinking and detailed execution.
• Demonstrated success designing and managing business cadences (e.g., OKRs, all hands, ops reviews) and running high-functioning, multidisciplinary teams.
• You possess excellent stakeholder management skills (Director/VP level) with local and global teams, and a service leadership mindset adept at working cross-functionally and managing relationships across diverse teams, including HR, finance, legal and GTM.
• Strong quantitative and strategic skills: able to build and interpret financial models, headcount plans, and business forecasts, and expertise in implementing OKR’s year over year.
• Highly organized, proactive communicator, and accountable owner who is comfortable working in a fast-moving startup environment with limited structure.
• A Growth mindset, a natural curiosity, and an eagerness to dive deeply to understand new fields of science, new forms of quantitative AI, new markets, new customers, new partners, and new teammates. You are versatile and embody a constant drive for improvement.

Some experiences that would make you stand out:

• Startup experience in fast-scaling environment
• Experience with AI tools (e.g., NotebookLM, internal RAG systems, or workflow builders) and automation using AIExperience with enterprise customer delivery or services teams, especially with external account execution.
• Experience with automation, logging, devops, compute orchestration, or AI engineering support.
• Experience in science-heavy or regulated sectors such as biopharma, aerospace, medical diagnostics, or defense.
• Familiarity with contracts and legal frameworks for delivery partnerships.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is expected to be $229k - $321k per year. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. This role may be eligible for annual discretionary bonuses and equity.