Vice President of Operations - #306630

ABOUT NOOKS

Nooks is pioneering Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS) — designing, building, and operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and other secured, classified environments for the defense and national security community. We work with the agencies, contractors, and mission-driven organizations that keep the nation safe, delivering the physical infrastructure that makes classified work possible. We're growing fast, operating across multiple markets, and building a company that takes both the mission and the business seriously.

About the Role

You'll own the comprehensive customer experience delivery at our sites and ensure our product operates as intended, with consistency, across the entire portfolio. You are a radical advocate for the customer and fierce protector of the P&L. As Vice President of Operations, reporting to the CEO, you are the single executive accountable for the operational performance of our network of classified facilities as it scales from a handful of sites toward more than a dozen. You lead the Site Leads—the on-the-ground owners of each facility and each customer's strongest advocate in the daily use of the space—and you own the operating model that makes a Nooks site a Nooks site no matter which one a customer walks into. You don't run a single site; you make the whole portfolio run to one standard, and the customer's end-to-end experience of our spaces is yours to deliver.

While this role has clear ownership, Nooks is scaling fast and the ground shifts—new sites get greenlit, the playbook is still being written, and priorities move with the business. You'll build the operating model while you're running it, and you'll step into whatever the portfolio needs to keep customers served and sites compliant. This role is for someone energized by that reality, not unsettled by it.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Operations & Customer Experience

• Maniacally advocate for the customer—deeply know their requirements, manage the wholistic feedback cycle on product performance, and ensure the company always makes decisions with a customer-first mentality
• Own the portfolio operational budget and aggregate site P&L, working with cross functional partners to ensure revenue and expenditures meet or beat budget
• Own the aggregate operational performance of the Nooks portfolio across every site and product line
• Develop and manage against operational metrics that provide simplistic but wholistic insight to customer usage and product feedback
• Build and scale the site operating model so every location delivers to one consistent Nooks standard

Leading the Site Leads

• Lead a team that takes extreme ownership of the delivery of Nooks products and the customer experience, working in tandem with the cross functional teams that make that possible
• Hire, develop, and directly manage the Site Leads as the single points of accountability for their facilities, set and hold the standard for what a great Site Lead does
• Run the operating cadence—site reviews, escalations, and performance management—that keeps every site holding the standard without constant oversight or micromanagement
• Serve as mentor to Site Leads and broader site teams, ensuring Nooks is a culture that fosters growth, challenge, and empowerment to succeed

Functional Partnership & Governance

• Serve as the senior operational internal client to IT/Cyber, Security, Facilities, Growth, People, and Finance—holding their delivery accountable to site outcomes without owning their teams
• Own, manage, and evolve the governance that makes the matrix model work: internal service-level commitments, decision rights, and escalation paths between sites and functions
• Resolve conflicts between Site Leads and functional leaders, and serve as the executive escalation point when a site and a function can't align

Compliance & Site Standards

• Develop, implement, and evolve standard operating procedures for each location, ranging from required components like site safety to differentiating elements of the Nooks brand, such as a culture of hospitality and customer-centric service
• Ensure the Security and IT/Cyber policies and protocols set by the CSO and the VP of IT/Cyber are followed at every site by all employees, contractors, and visitors; operations is accountable for adherence in practice, not for setting the policy

Industry Engagement

• Represent Nooks Operations externally with defense partners, visiting government officials, and industry forums to support the portfolio's growth and reputation
• Extend your standing in the security and defense community to build Nooks' credibility and advance the nascent CIaaS category through conferences, panels, and industry associations
• Act as a visible, credible operational voice for the CIaaS model, turning personal reputation and trust into pipeline, partnerships, and talent for Nooks

What Success Looks Like in This Role

After 12 months, the portfolio runs at or above targeted performance metrics with clean audits and no material compliance findings across every site. The Site Leads are a stable, well-led group who hold the Nooks standard without constant oversight, and new sites inherit a documented operating model instead of reinventing one. Customers experience the same secure, well-run, genuinely welcoming space wherever they work with Nooks, and the functional partnerships escalate cleanly instead of festering into friction. The CEO relies on this person as the authoritative voice on site operations — the one who surfaces problems early and owns the outcome. This person is seen as a relentless, radical advocate for the customer to every internal team, ensuring each team understands their needs and is building the future of Nooks to meet them.

Cross-Functional Expectations

This role sits at the center of how Nooks delivers for its customers, and the teams that build, secure, and support our sites should know exactly what to expect from it. The VP of Operations translates the reality of the customer and the site into a clear, unambiguous account of what each function needs to deliver and why. They give direct, timely feedback on how that functional delivery is landing, naming what works, what falls short, and what has to change, always measured against the customer's experience rather than internal convenience. And they hold a collaboration cadence built on frequent, candid communication and a standard of extreme alignment, so functional partners are never surprised, decisions don't stall, and the organization moves as one toward the same outcome.

The Skillset

• 10+ years of operations leadership, including multi-site or portfolio-level operational accountability
• Direct experience operating in classified or defense environments, with practical command of ICD 705 and NISPOM
• A track record managing senior operational leaders — managing managers, not only individual contributors
• Demonstrated P&L ownership and the judgment to translate operational decisions into financial outcomes
• A U.S. government Top Secret/SCI clearance, or the ability to obtain and maintain one; candidates must be capable of maintaining eligibility up to the Top Secret/SCI level within 45 days of hire.
• Experience standing up or scaling a multi-site operating model in a high-growth or venture-backed company
• Fluency operating in a matrixed environment where functional teams are governed centrally and coordinated at the site

Compensation & Benefits

• Annual Bonus Target: 25% of base salary based on specific objectives/key results
• Equity ownership in Nooks
• Premium medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) with employer contribution
• Flexible time away

Eligibility & Clearance

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States, and U.S. citizenship is required. A U.S. government Top Secret/SCI security clearance — held, or with the ability to obtain and maintain one — is required for this role given portfolio-wide oversight of classified facilities. All candidates must be eligible for and committed to obtaining and maintaining a U.S. government security clearance as a condition of employment.