Business Operations Lead

About Bespoke Labs

Bespoke Labs is an applied AI research lab pioneering data and RL environment curation for training and evaluating AI agents. We curated Open Thoughts—one of the best open reasoning datasets used by multiple frontier labs—trained SOTA specialized models such as Bespoke-MiniChart-7B and Bespoke-MiniCheck, and built multi-turn tool-calling environments for reinforcement learning. We work directly with frontier AI labs and leading enterprises. We're scaling from ~20 to 40+ people across the US and India.

About the Role

We're looking for a Business Operations Lead to partner with the CEO and drive operational excellence as Bespoke Labs scales. This is a high-ownership, high-visibility role for someone who thrives at the intersection of strategy, execution, and people operations.

You'll work on our highest-priority challenges: managing key customer relationships, driving hiring and org design, coordinating major deliverables, and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. If you see what needs to happen and make it happen—without being told twice—this role is for you.

What You'll Do

CEO Partnership & Strategy

• Partner directly with the CEO on strategic initiatives, and key business decisions

• Prepare briefings, decision memos, and operating reviews to keep leadership aligned

• Own the company's operating rhythm: weekly standups, OKR tracking, cross-functional syncs

Customer & Partner Operations

• Manage relationships with frontier AI labs and enterprise customers; coordinate delivery of major contracts

• Serve as point of contact for escalations and ensure delivery timelines are met

• Support commercial negotiations, SOW reviews, and procurement processes

Hiring & People Operations

• Lead hiring across functions: sourcing, coordinating interviews, closing candidates

• Manage contractor operations (onboarding, compliance, utilization tracking via internal tools)

• Drive organizational design conversations as we scale from 20 to 40+ people

Process & Systems

• Build and improve internal processes, playbooks, and operating systems as the company grows

• Drive execution of company OKRs and unblock teams by resolving cross-functional dependencies

• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement durable fixes—not one-time patches

What We're Looking For

Required

• 4+ years in a high-performing environment: top consulting, investment banking, high-growth startup, or similar

• Ex-founder or ex-CEO.

• Proven track record driving complex cross-functional initiatives to completion

• Exceptional communication skills and ability to influence without authority

• Strong business acumen, analytical skills, and comfort with financial models and data

• High agency and judgment—you see what needs to happen and make it happen

• Experience hiring, coordinating teams, or managing people and contractor operations

Nice to Have

• Previous Chief of Staff or Business Operations role at a high-growth startup

• Experience at an AI/ML company or deep tech environment

• Management consulting background (MBB or equivalent)

• Technical background or genuine curiosity about AI/ML concepts

• MBA from a top-tier program

Why Bespoke Labs

You'll work at the frontier of AI infrastructure—alongside researchers and engineers building the training data and evaluation environments that power the next generation of AI models. This is a rare opportunity to operate at the center of gravity of one of the most important technology shifts of our time, with real ownership and real impact from day one.

Logistics

Location: Mountain View, CA (in-office, 5 days/week)

Compensation: Competitive salary + equity