Senior Business Operations Manager

Brisk Teaching
San Francisco, US
On-siteCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Geared toward senior finance operations professionals comfortable with building financial functions from scratch in a high-autonomy, AI-driven environment.

Best fit for

  • Finance professionals who prefer autonomy and building systems over following established processes.
    — “you had to build the function, not just run it
  • Candidates comfortable with AI-driven efficiency gains in financial operations.
    — “you automate before you manually process
  • Operators who thrive in lean teams with high ownership expectations.
    — “small team that punches well above its weight

Things to consider

  • Requires hands-on financial modeling at leadership decision-making level.
    — “spreadsheets at the level of detail that supports leadership decisions
  • Must balance autonomy with collaboration across department leads.
    — “drive accountability without authority

How to stand out

  • Showcase specific examples of financial process automation.
    — “you build workflows before you add headcount
  • Highlight experience scaling financial operations during rapid growth phases.
    — “Series A/B-stage company during a period of rapid growth
  • Demonstrate vendor management successes with measurable cost savings.
    — “procurement optimization or vendor consolidation that drove measurable cost savings
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • drive budget accountability
  • build financial models
  • manage procurement processes
Typical background
business operations managerfinancial analystprocurement specialist

Skills & requirements

Required

Finance OperationsFinancial PlanningProcurement ManagementVendor Management

Preferred

AI In OperationsContinuous Improvement

Stack & domain

Finance OperationsAccounts ReceivableBillingCollectionsReconciliationAccounts PayableInvoice ProcessingVendor PaymentsExternal BookkeeperMonthly Close PreparationExpense PlatformProgram EnforcementPolicy ComplianceUser ManagementSales Tax ComplianceTax AdvisorsFinancial PlanningMonthly Budget ReviewsVariance AnalysisAccountabilityFinancial ModelsLeadership Decision-makingLong-range PlanningVendor EvaluationRenewalsRelationship ManagementProcurement ProcessesAIOwnershipUrgencyFocusEnd-to-end OwnershipOpen-ended Problem SolvingStructureAutonomyTrendsRisksOpportunitiesAi IntegrationContinuous ImprovementFinanceOperationsBusiness PlanningTechnologyEducation

About the role

Original posting from Brisk Teaching via Ashby

ABOUT US:

Brisk Teaching is the leading AI platform for K-12 educators, empowering teachers to deliver personalized, curriculum-aligned instruction at scale. Our Classroom Intelligence tools connect teachers, students, and curriculum—making meaningful learning happen in classrooms every day. We believe the best technology is cutting-edge, respects teachers’ time, integrates into real classrooms, and helps educators focus on what matters most.

Since launching, Brisk has experienced rapid growth. Over 2 million teachers use our platform, and we partner with districts and schools nationwide to transform how educators teach and how students learn.

We're backed by leading venture and edtech investors including Bessemer Venture Partners (Shopify, LinkedIn, Anthropic, Perplexity) and Owl Ventures (Newsela, Quizlet, MasterClass), with a team spanning top AI companies and real classroom experience.

We're a fast-moving, collaborative team driven by a shared commitment to educator impact and product excellence. Our values—urgency, ownership, and focus—shape how we build and who we are.

THE OPPORTUNITY:

We run a lean operations team that covers finance, people, legal, IT, and business operations for the entire company. We don't have layers of management or detailed playbooks for every scenario — we figure things out, build the right system, and move on to the next problem. You'll thrive here if you like owning your work end-to-end and bringing your own structure to open-ended problems.

As Senior Business Operations Manager, you'll own finance operations and financial planning across the company. You'll drive budget accountability with department leads, build the models that inform how we spend and grow, and manage the vendors and procurement processes that keep the business running efficiently. You'll report to our Head of Operations and partner closely with our fractional CFO, but day-to-day you'll operate with a high degree of autonomy — identifying what needs to happen, building the approach, and driving it to completion.

This is a small team that punches well above its weight, and we use AI aggressively to stay that way. You should be the kind of person who reaches for Claude or builds a workflow before defaulting to a spreadsheet and manual effort.

YOU WILL:

Finance operations

  • Own accounts receivable end-to-end, including billing, collections, and reconciliation.
  • Manage accounts payable, including invoice processing and vendor payments.
  • Manage the relationship with our external bookkeeper, including monthly close preparation support and reconciliation.
  • Administer our expense platform (Ramp), including program enforcement, policy compliance, and user management.
  • Own sales tax compliance and coordinate with external tax advisors as needed.

Financial planning & analysis

  • Own monthly budget reviews with department budget owners, driving variance analysis and accountability.
  • Co-own the monthly finance review with our fractional CFO, surfacing trends, risks, and opportunities.
  • Prepare investor metrics and board-ready financial materials on a quarterly cadence.
  • Support annual and H2 planning cycles, including headcount modeling and opex forecasting.
  • Build and maintain financial models that support leadership decision-making and long-range planning.

Procurement & vendor management

  • Own vendor evaluation, renewals, and ongoing relationship management across the company's vendor portfolio.
  • Drive procurement process improvements that reduce spend and increase rigor.
  • Partner with Legal Ops on contracting, negotiation, and vendor compliance.

Cross-functional operations

  • Take on process improvement projects that increase operational efficiency across the company.
  • Contribute to strategic planning and special projects as the business evolves.

YOU HAVE:

  • 5–8 years of experience in business operations, finance operations, or FP&A — ideally at a company where you had to build the function, not just run it.
  • Strong financial modeling skills and comfort working in spreadsheets at the level of detail that supports leadership decisions.
  • The ability to translate financial data into clear narratives for leadership, investors, and cross-functional partners who don't live in the numbers the way you do.
  • Excellent cross-functional collaboration skills — you build trust quickly with department leads, external partners, and teammates across functions, and you know how to drive accountability without authority.
  • A scrappy, high-ownership mindset. You see what needs to be done and do it. You bring your own structure to ambiguous problems, you don't wait for direction, and you'd rather ask forgiveness than permission.
  • A default to using AI to build solutions — you automate before you manually process, you build workflows before you add headcount, and you're always looking for the leveraged way to solve a problem.
  • A bias toward building systems and processes that scale, not just solving the problem in front of you.
  • Discretion and integrity in handling confidential financial and employee data.

BONUS:

  • Experience at a Series A/B-stage company during a period of rapid growth (50–150 employees).
  • Experience supporting board reporting and investor communications.
  • Background in edtech, SaaS, or marketplace businesses.
  • Experience with procurement optimization or vendor consolidation that drove measurable cost savings.

Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity

At Brisk, we believe that diverse perspectives make better teams and stronger products. We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.

Source: Brisk Teaching careers (Ashby)

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