Director of Strategic Operations

Director of Strategic Operations Help Scale a National Education Organization | CEO Right-Hand Role The Society for Collegiate Leadership & Achievement (SCLA)

Orlando, FL (Hybrid — 2–3 days in office)

Help scale a national organization empowering students to build careers that matter.

The Society for Collegiate Leadership & Achievement (SCLA) honors student achievement and helps college students build careers that matter. Since launching in 2014, SCLA has grown to 125,000+ members across more than 850 college campuses nationwide. In 2025, new leadership stepped in and began transforming the organization. While the foundation is strong, the company now operates with the energy and ambition of a true startup.

We are building

• new programs
• new systems
• new national partnerships

And the operational infrastructure that will allow SCLA to scale nationally in the coming years. That’s where this role comes in.

The Role The Director of Strategic Operations will serve as the operational hub of the organization as we scale. You will work directly with the CEO to translate strategy into execution across multiple areas of the company.

This role sits at the intersection of three strengths:

• strategic thinking
• operational execution
• relationship building

You are someone who can design systems, run them, and continuously improve them. You will become the CEO’s right-hand partner in helping the organization operate smoothly and scale responsibly.

A Unique Opportunity We are not looking for the finished executive. We are looking for someone on the path toward becoming that leader. Someone with 8–12 years of experience who has already built operational systems and is ready for a role with real ownership.

This role offers the opportunity to

• work directly with the CEO
• build operational infrastructure across the company
• lead contractors and operational support teams
• design systems that allow a national organization to scale

The right person thrives in small teams, high accountability environments, and fast-moving organizations.

What You’ll Do A core focus of this role will be learning, running, and improving the operational systems that support SCLA’s growth.

University Outreach & Chapter Development Operations

• Identify and research university decision-makers
• Manage outreach workflows and CRM tracking
• Ensure follow-up cadence and outreach sequences are executed consistently

Chapter Launch Operations

• Coordinate onboarding of new university advisors
• Manage launch timelines and internal milestones
• Ensure new chapters follow established operational processes

Campus Activation Initiatives

• Oversee rollout of campus engagement initiatives
• Track implementation across multiple universities

Advisory Network Operations

• Maintain workflows supporting advisors and national advisory boards
• Coordinate communications, webinars, and leadership briefings

Member Support & Internal Systems

• Oversee operational systems responsible for member inquiries
• Improve support workflows through automation and better processes

Operational Process Optimization Across all areas you will:

• identify operational bottlenecks
• improve SOPs and workflows
• introduce automation and AI tools
• build dashboards and reporting visibility

AI & Automation Mindset Modern organizations must be built differently. The right candidate will be deeply curious about AI and automation tools.

You should have experience

• experimenting with AI tools in real workflows
• improving processes with automation
• exploring emerging tools and operational efficiencies
• constantly asking: “How can this run better?”

You don’t need to be an AI engineer. But you must be curious, experimental, and constantly evolving.

Who Thrives in This Role You may have experience in:

• strategic operations
• startup operations
• consulting
• business operations
• chief of staff roles
• operational leadership in high-growth environments

The most important traits are: ✔ strong operational discipline ✔ attention to detail ✔ ability to build scalable processes ✔ comfort moving between strategy and execution ✔ willingness to roll up your sleeves daily

You enjoy solving operational puzzles and building systems that make organizations run better.

Team Leadership You will build and manage a small team of contractors supporting operational functions across the organization. Your responsibility is ensuring the right people and systems are in place to execute effectively.

Location This role is based in Orlando, Florida. The position operates in a hybrid format with 2–3 days per week in our office. We are looking for someone who wants to work closely with leadership and be physically present for key collaboration and decision-making.

Compensation & Benefits Salary range: $80,000 – $120,000 Full-time role including health benefits.

Why This Role Matters Every operational system built here supports something bigger. Students across the country gaining access to mentorship, career tools, and networks that help them move forward.

If you enjoy building systems that enable organizations to grow and want to work closely with leadership to shape that growth, this role may be the right next step.