About Faire

Faire is an online wholesale marketplace built on the belief that the future of retail is local. There are over 1M independent retailers in the U.S. and Canada doing more than twice the revenue of Walmart and Amazon combined. At Faire, we're using the power of technology and data to connect a growing community of over 150,000 brands and independent retailers around the world. Picture your favorite boutique in town — we help them discover the best products to sell in their stores. By empowering entrepreneurs with the right tools and insights, we believe that we can level the playing field so that small businesses can compete with big box and e-commerce giants. We’re looking for smart, resourceful and passionate people to join us as we power the shop local movement. If you believe in community, come join ours.

About this role

DesignOps at Faire is responsible for managing the design team’s business operations, and helps shape and drive the design team’s craft, culture, processes, and priorities. This role focuses on the continued building and scaling of our DesignOps function. You will also help define our operational strategy and project management processes, creating standards and best practices that improve cross-functional collaboration, workflows, project estimations, and long range planning. You will be a key owner in shaping the future of the Design org at Faire.

What you’ll do

• Lead the vision, roadmap, and strategy for the DesignOps function including Team Ops and Design Program Management throughout our design org, product pillars, and brand studio.
• Be actively involved in defining and owning strategy, scoping, and leadership for the following Design programs:
  • Design Community & Learning including Design team engagement, communications, skills development, and quarterly and annual org conferences.
  • Design Planning & Processes including product development processes, cross-pillar collaboration, and cross-functional planning.
  • Design Staffing & Resourcing including long-range headcount planning, budgeting, and resource allocation.
  • Design Systems & Tools including governance, vendor relationships, and external design partnerships.
• Build a world-class team of DesignOps practitioners, including team operations program managers, product design program managers, and creative operations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years as a DesignOps leader with hands-on experience building and growing an in-house or agency DesignOps function at scale.
• People management experience across business operations, team / people operations, and product / program management functions. You have a special ability to inspire, motivate, and develop people to do their best work.
• Deep understanding of product development, program management, and creative production including masterful organizational and executional ability.
• A case study presentation with project samples. We'd love to see projects you’ve led, your ability to impact design orgs, and a deep understanding of product development processes.
• A growth mindset. You’re open and receptive to feedback, and can adapt quickly in a fast-paced environment. You’re focused on maximizing impact for your team, and your company as a whole.
• Champion of diversity. You understand and advocate for the impact of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in Design. You have led diversity initiatives with measurable org impact.
• Ability to influence. Ability to present and sell your team's ideas, drive alignment, and build support.

Why you’ll love working at Faire

• We are entrepreneurs: Faire is being built for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurship is a calling and our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to chase their dreams. Every member of our team is an owner of the business and taking part in the founding process.
• We are using technology and data to level the playing field: We are leveraging the power of product innovation and machine learning to connect brands and boutiques from all over the world, building a growing community of over 100,000 small business owners.
• We build products our customers love: Everything we do is ultimately in the service of helping our customers grow their business because our goal is to grow the pie - not steal a piece from it. Running a small business is hard work, but using Faire makes it easy.
• We are curious and resourceful: Inquisitive by default, we explore every possibility, test every assumption, and develop creative solutions to the challenges at hand. We lead with curiosity and data in our decision making, and reason from a first principles mentality.

Faire was founded in 2017 by a team of early product and engineering leads from Square. We’re backed by some of the top investors in retail and tech including: Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and DST Global. We have headquarters in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo, and a global employee presence across offices in Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Toronto, London and Sao Paulo. To learn more about Faire and our customers, you can read more on our blog.

Faire provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.