Strategy & Ops - MeritFirst

About MeritFirst

At MeritFirst, we’re on a mission to revolutionize how companies identify and evaluate talent, regardless of background. By rejecting outdated, unreliable proxies for capability and embracing objective, merit-based assessments, we are rebuilding the meritocratic infrastructure of opportunity from the ground up.

Role Overview

You’ll work directly with the CEO on critical initiatives spanning product, growth, and operations. From digging into product metrics and triaging customer issues, to launching growth experiments and tightening internal ops - you’ll do whatever it takes to keep the pace high. You’ll also act as a forward-deployed partner, parachuting into key customer accounts to ensure smooth rollouts, uncover product opportunities, and close feedback loops fast. This is a high-ownership role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves quickly, and wants exposure to building and scaling a business from the ground up.

What You’ll Do

• Own problems end-to-end: jump into customer issues, internal gaps, or growth ideas; define the problem, clarify the goal, and execute a solution

• Act as a forward-deployed partner: work directly with strategic customers to support onboarding, uncover pain points, gather insights, and accelerate outcomes

• Drive insight and action: analyze product and funnel metrics, generate hypotheses, and run lightweight experiments to validate impact

• Build internal leverage: design processes, automate repetitive tasks, and improve systems across support, onboarding, hiring, and reporting

• Keep us fast and focused: ruthlessly prioritize, communicate clearly, and unblock teammates across functions

Qualifications

• Demonstrated success thriving in intense, ambiguous environments (start‑ups, consulting, banking, PE, biz‑ops, or equivalent “figure‑it‑out” roles).

• Strong analytical toolkit - comfortable with Excel/Sheets, SQL, and basic BI dashboards; able to turn data into clear narratives and action plans.

• AI-native: You use AI tools daily to analyze data, explore new ideas, automate workflows, and accelerate decision-making, moving from problem to execution with speed and minimal oversight.

• Bias for action: you identify the 80/20, make the call, and ship.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication; equally persuasive in investor memos and customer emails.

• Ownership mentality: no task too small, no problem someone else’s.

Why Join Us?

• Autonomy: rapid growth with outsized ownership and scope

• Meritocracy: We focus on real capabilities, not credentials. You’ll be assessed based on your skills and ability to execute, not the name of your school or employer.

• Innovation: Work on cutting-edge projects that challenge the status quo and empower people to succeed.

• Backed by the best: We’re funded by 8VC and Slow Ventures, with support from world-class builders like Joe Lonsdale and Sam Lessin who’ve helped scale some of the most influential tech companies of the last decade.

Our Process

We practice what we preach. Core to our thesis is that resumes, school names, and pedigree are poor proxies for capability. We want to see what you can actually do.

We have designed a hiring process that gives everyone a fair shot to showcase their skills through objective work samples.

The Steps:

1. Assessment 1 (The Gateway): Linked here. Want to jump the line? You can start this right now. We prioritize candidates who have data on the board.

2. Team Screen: A conversation with a member of our team to discuss your background, our company, and the results of your first assessment.

3. Assessment 2 (The Deep Dive): A "Navigating Ambiguity" work sample designed to mimic actual challenges you might face in the role.

4. Work Sample Debrief: A deep-dive interview where we discuss your approach to Assessment 2.

5. Final Sync: A final conversation with one or more members of our team.

Important Note on Location:

We are an in-person team based in Austin, TX. We believe the speed of iteration required at this stage happens best when we are in the same room.

The "No Dead Ends" Guarantee:

Even if this specific role isn't the right fit - or if the location doesn't work out - your effort won't be wasted. By completing our assessments, you will create a verified profile in the MeritFirst Talent Network. This allows you to showcase your validated skills to other world-class companies in our ecosystem without having to apply from scratch.