VP of Field Operations, Alpha - $200,000/year USD

About the Role

Alpha operates premium K–12 campuses where families pay for an environment that is safe, consistent, and tour-ready every single day. As VP of Field Operations for the Northeast region, you'll own that standard across Manhattan (primary campus) with regular travel to schools in CT, MA, and PA. Your work ensures every campus feels premium—not just on event days.

The first year focuses on standards-setting and vendor cleanup—codifying what "ready" looks like, building the audit cadence, replacing underperforming vendors, and establishing a repeatable operating rhythm for Campus Coordinators and Site Specialists. As the region grows and the playbook stabilizes, the role shifts toward steady-state regional leadership: becoming the operator the network relies on for new campus openings, emergencies, and standards refinement.

This is a field role requiring direct ownership of whether 25+ schools feel premium every day—not dashboard management.

What You Will Be Doing

• Conducting recurring on-site audits across Northeast campuses against documented standards for cleanliness, HVAC, safety, security, signage, landscaping, furniture, and tour-readiness—and translating findings into verified corrective actions
• Triaging facilities issues and emergencies, coordinating vendors, and closing tickets only after problems are verified fixed
• Managing local vendor performance against SLAs, replacing vendors who miss repeatedly, renegotiating scopes, and holding hard accountability conversations on quality and cost
• Driving a weekly operating rhythm with Campus Coordinators and Site Specialists so each campus runs the same routines, not heroics
• Leading major campus upgrades (HVAC refreshes, decor refreshes, landscaping, AV/networking) on schedule and on budget, with minimal disruption to students
• Codifying global standards and AI-enabled procurement playbooks (using ticketing systems, IoT/predictive maintenance dashboards, and centralized sourcing) so every campus opens and operates consistently
• Producing crisp weekly written reporting on regional quality, vendor performance, escalations, and CapEx variance

What You Won't Be Doing

• Managing from a dashboard—this role requires regular physical presence at Manhattan and 20–40% travel to regional sites (CT, MA, PA)
• Designing new campuses from scratch or owning ground-up construction delivery—capital expansion sits with another team
• Setting enterprise-wide procurement strategy in isolation from the field—your standards are earned from walking the sites
• Inheriting clean reporting lines and formal authority over every person whose work you depend on—you'll drive accountability through clarity, written follow-up, and refusal to accept vague vendor timelines
• Accepting "tour-ready only when leadership visits" as normal—recurring issues get root-caused, not re-ticketed
• Reactive firefighting as a default mode—the audit cadence and predictive maintenance dashboards exist so you catch failures before they become complaints

Basic Requirements

• Based in New York City or within a commutable distance, willing to operate primarily out of the Manhattan campus with 20–40% regional travel
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship
• 2+ years owning multi-site facilities, regional operations, hospitality operations, retail operations, or school operations
• Proven track record of holding vendor-managed services accountable for quality, cost, and SLA adherence across multiple locations
• Direct experience resolving urgent facilities issues (safety, HVAC, security, cleanliness) with measurable customer-experience impact
• Strong written operating cadence: issue logs, escalation notes, vendor follow-ups, weekly regional quality reports
• Demonstrated use of modern operations tools (ticketing systems, IoT/predictive maintenance, AI-assisted procurement or planning)

Nice-to-have Requirements

• Multi-site operations leadership in premium hospitality, luxury retail, private K–12, or healthcare networks serving high-expectation customers
• Experience standing up or rehabilitating a regional operating model where the prior one relied on heroics rather than standards
• Track record of replacing underperforming vendors and rebuilding a local vendor bench
• Background managing capital upgrade projects (HVAC, AV/networking, landscaping, interior refreshes) in occupied, customer-facing environments
• Experience working in an AI-first operating environment where playbooks, dashboards, and predictive systems do the rote work so people focus on judgment

Pay

$200,000 USD/year, paid weekly. This is a full-time W2 employee position with immediate access to benefits.