VP of Operations

About the role

We're a team of about 40 people (across the US and Philippines) with real traction and more opportunity than our current Executive team can execute alone. We need a senior, strategic operator to join the Executive Team and turn that opportunity into results. As VP of Operations, you'll own the engine that turns incoming collections and orders into happy collectors, sellers and consignors across the whole company: our Raleigh warehouse and fulfillment operation, Customer Support for the entire business, and the many systems that hold it all together. You'll lead through two strong managers — the Warehouse Manager runs the warehouse floor day to day, and the Customer Support Manager leads support for every marketplace, the app, and our direct customers and consignors. Your job is to set the standard, raise the bar, and make the whole operation measurably better, so it can keep up with our growth plans and ad spend. You'll also be the CEO's go-to partner and strategist, taking on important projects across the company and bringing in the right people to deliver them. You'll set your own goals, hold yourself to them, and help shape the strategy and partnerships that get us to our vision.

Responsibilities

Operations & Fulfillment

• Own the Consignment-to-Collector Flow: every step from the collector's first box to the buyer's doorstep — intake, scanning, listing, labeling, auction, picking, packing and shipping — at 80,000+ comics a month and climbing. Every step has a per-person quota; get the team to 100%, hold people accountable, and continuously increase efficiency and gross profits.
• Inventory, Security & Shipping: Set auction-house standards for how we protect and ship one-of-a-kind collectibles, and level up the Warehouse Manager and team to meet them every day.

Customer Support

• Support for the Whole Company: Through the CS Manager, oversee support for all three marketplaces (HipComic.com, HipStamp.com, HipPostcard.com), the My Collection app and Pro, direct orders, and consignors. Set standards for response time, resolution and satisfaction; ensure the team is staffed and trained to meet them; turn customer feedback into fixes in process, policy and product.
• Build Trust & Safety: Lead the operations side of moving payments into our marketplaces (buyers pay us instead of sellers directly via PayPal). Build the Trust & Safety program and team from the ground up: fraud prevention, seller verification, disputes and chargebacks, and buyer protection. Every buyer and seller should feel safe transacting with us.

Systems & Automation

• Company Systems Owner: Own the systems that run the company — project management, warehouse management, shipping, help desk, internal tools and AI agents. Own data quality and adoption across teams, and partner with engineering to automate bottlenecks. Sales owns the CRM; ensure it hands off cleanly to operations.

Strategy & Growth

• Scale Ahead of Growth: Turn the growth plan and ad spend into a capacity plan so bigger consignments and more orders never create a backlog, and cost per item keeps falling.
• Build for Our New Structure: As we reorganize into category divisions (starting with Comics & Comic Art and Stamps & Postcards), build the shared operations team behind them.

Goals & KPIs

• Run on Numbers: Own one weekly scorecard covering quota attainment, throughput, cycle time, accuracy, on-time shipping, cost per order, capacity against demand, and support response time and satisfaction for every channel.

Requirements

• Senior Operator: 8+ years in operations, including 5+ years leading managers in warehouse, fulfillment, e-commerce or marketplace operations. Proven track record of raising throughput and efficiency against hard targets with measurable results.
• Strategic Thinker: Sees the whole business; connects operations to growth, margins and customer experience; helps the CEO decide what to do, not just how to do it.
• Gets Things Done Through Others: When the CEO hands you a project, you own it to the finish, even when the work sits with teams that don't report to you. Set clear asks and deadlines, bring people along, escalate only when needed. Communicate crisply and give direct feedback to align.
• Systems Expert: Power user of warehouse, inventory, shipping, project management and help desk tools; comfortable with integrations and data; experience working with engineers on updates.
• Data-Driven: Define KPIs, build dashboards and run the operation from the numbers.
• CS Leader: Led or overseen customer support across more than one channel or brand; know what a great support operation looks like and how to build one.

Qualifications

• Auction house, collectibles or consignment experience
• Marketplace operations experience, supporting both sellers and buyers
• Supporting a mobile app or subscription product
• 3PL operations or management experience
• WMS selection or implementation experience
• Managing distributed or offshore team members
• A love of comics, stamps, postcards or collecting in general

Schedule & Location

Hybrid, based in the Raleigh, NC area. On site at our Raleigh warehouse about 2–3 days a week, more during your first 90 days and in peak periods. Core hours are 7 am–5 pm ET Monday–Thursday and 7 am–12 pm ET Friday, with flexibility as an executive. Occasional travel as the business needs it.