Chief Operating Officer - AI Adoption

Chief Operating Officer — AI Adoption & Consulting Firm

Full-time · Remote (U.S.) · $250,000–$300,000 · Reports directly to the Founder/CEO

Our client helps mid-market and enterprise companies adopt AI successfully — building real internal capability, not just deploying tools that go unused. They deliver this through structured, time-boxed engagements, and they practice what they sell: their own internal operations run on a blended team of people and AI agents.

The role in one line: The founder brings in the business — you run the company underneath it. Client work, the sales engine, the AI tooling, staffing, and the bottom line all sit with you, so the founder can stay focused externally. Think of it as the operating partner who runs the machine, not a successor waiting in the wings.

Core Responsibilities

• Full ownership of client engagements. Projects land on schedule and on budget, with measurable outcomes clients can point to. Client retention is the metric you're judged on.
• Oversight of the sales function. Day-to-day coaching of the sales team, pipeline hygiene, and a clean handoff from initial conversation through signed agreement.
• Managing a blended team — people and software agents. The AI systems that support calls, evaluations, and proposal generation are your responsibility to maintain and improve, exactly like a direct report.
• Tightening the loop between delivery, pricing, and sales. What actually happens on engagements should shape what gets quoted next time, and what clients push back on should shape how the team sells.
• Running the business rhythm. Weekly metrics review, quarterly goal-setting, and ongoing discipline around margin and cash flow.
• Building the bench. Staffing ahead of demand across delivery and sales, with a fast, structured onboarding process for remote hires.
• Defining how you and the founder work together. You'll set and adjust the working agreement between the executive team as things evolve, run the standing leadership sync, and help define how your own performance gets evaluated.

What a Strong First Year Looks Like

Clients renew because results are documented, not debated. Projects close on time without margin erosion. Forecasts hold up against actuals. The founder is largely out of daily operations. And roughly every quarter, another internal workflow gets rebuilt with an AI agent doing part of the work.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation: $250,000–$300,000 + bonus
• Possible equity
• 401(k)
• Full benefits package
• Remote-first flexibility

Required Skills & Experience

• Demonstrated, recent hands-on use of AI to solve a real operational problem — not theoretical familiarity
• Background running delivery/operations inside a professional services environment (agency, consultancy, managed services, or similar)
• Working fluency in utilization rates, margin management, scope control, and client escalation handling
• Track record leading a geographically distributed team in a remote-first, written/async culture
• Direct experience owning a P&L and a recurring operating cadence (scorecards, quarterly planning)
• Sales operations background — pipeline oversight, rep coaching, quality control on deal handoffs
• Comfort operating as a "number two" — someone whose success shows up in the team's results, not personal credit
• A fast-moving, detail-oriented operating style — high urgency balanced with real process discipline