Launch Operations Associate

About EF
Entrepreneurs First invests in exceptional individuals to build startups from scratch. We bring together talented outliers to develop their most ambitious ideas and raise money from the world’s best investors.
Since pioneering Talent Investing in 2015, we’ve learned to recognize individuals with extraordinary futures before anyone else, embedding them in a community of ambitious peers and giving them the tools they need to succeed, fast. We back them before they have a company, a team, even before they have an idea, based purely on talent.
EF’s portfolio is now collectively valued at over $16B, and includes companies such as Aztec, Cleo, Magdrive, Neptune, Omnea, Opply, PolyAI, Tractable, and many more.
EF is backed by some of the world's leading founders and investors, including Founders Fund, Greylock, John Collison (founder – Stripe), Patrick Collison (founder – Stripe), Reid Hoffman (founder – LinkedIn), Eric Schmidt (former CEO - Google), Demis Hassabis (founder – Google DeepMind ), Taavet Hinrikus (founder – Wise), Matt Mullenweg (founder – WordPress), Charlie Songhurst (Board member – Meta), Christa Davies (Board member – Stripe), Lachy Groom (founder – Physical Intelligence), Aidan Gomez (founder – Cohere), Mati Staniszewski (founder – ElevenLabs), Danny Rimer (Partner - Index Ventures), Matt Cohler (former General Partner - Benchmark).
We exist to make great companies happen that otherwise wouldn’t.
The role
You will own the day-to-day operations of our San Francisco Launch program. You’ll be the person founders see every day, from their first welcome to Demo Day.
Joining the Launch team, you will be pivotal to our mission to give founders the best possible experience. You’ll play an integral role in building EF’s reputation as one of the best places to find early-stage companies.
Please note: This role requires you to work up to five days a week at our San Francisco office.
What You’ll Do

1. Deliver the Launch program on the ground. You’ll run core program touchpoints supporting the Launch investor team and Product & Systems Associate.
2. Deliver an exceptional founder experience. You’ll lead program onboarding, founder logistics, and be their first point of contact.
3. Own the operations behind our flagship Launch events (fireside chats, roundtables, Kickoff week, etc.), from speakers and run of show to venue and attendees.
4. Keep our program running on accurate data. You’ll keep founder and cohort records complete and current, using our tools and automations.
5. Get founders Demo Day ready. You’ll support delivery of our quarterly Demo Days alongside our Launch Product & Systems and Operations teams.

Who this role is for

1. You thrive when making “order from chaos”. You bring structure to any environment you’re part of. You get things done on time and on budget, while staying open to changes as they come up.
2. You love a fast-paced, live environment. You’re energized by event days, juggling priorities and solving problems in real time. You spot what’s broken and flag it with a suggested fix.
3. You are a clear communicator and build trusted relationships. You have high EQ and a team player mentality, allowing you to confidently work with founders, investors and colleagues at every level.
4. You take ownership of your work, and enjoy high-trust, low-touch management. You don’t wait to be told what to do. You take on a varied workload and context switch when needed. You put the most important tasks first, and when you raise a problem you bring a few solutions with it.

Why this role is not for

1. You want a structured 9-to-5 job with clear responsibilities. Operations in a fast-paced company needs a scrappy, proactive and flexible mindset, as we evolve our offering to best serve our founders in San Francisco.
2. You want a slow ramp-up and time to find your feet before being given tasks. We’ll give you what you need to get started, but doing well here means diving in headfirst and being hungry for responsibility from week one.
3. You want to work remotely. This job requires you to be in our San Francisco office 4–5 days a week, and regularly involves evening or weekend events as part of the founder experience.
4. You want to directly advise founders. You’ll be working closely with founders every day, but your focus will be on creating an exceptional program experience rather than advising on their business strategy, fundraising, or pitches. This is a program operations role, not an investment role.

Who you are

• Operational experience: 1–2+ years in an operational, customer-facing role (e.g., Event Operations, Program Coordination, Community, Hospitality)
• Execution-first: A track record of delivering many moving parts on time, without dropping any.
• Tech-savvy: Comfortable in tools like Airtable, Slack, Canva, Google Workspace, Notion, Luma and Calendly. Curiosity and a willingness to learn on the job will be considered.
• High regard for detail: Meticulous in record-keeping, tracking and follow-up.
• Relationship builder: Strong interpersonal skills, with confidence representing an organisation to external stakeholders, i.e. our founders, speakers and partners.

The hiring process
We’re aiming for the hire to be in the role by January.

1. Initial call with a member of the team.
2. Task round, which you’ll be set to complete in your own time by a deadline
3. Debrief on the task and second stage interview with Claudia Fordham-Moss
4. Final interview at our SF office to meet cross-functional stakeholders.