Vice President, Strategy and Business Operations

Description

Sprout Social is looking to hire a Vice President, Strategy and Business Operations to our Product team.

Why join Sprout’s Strategy and Business Operations team?

Sprout empowers businesses around the globe to tap into the power and opportunity of social media. Our software brings together social content and messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence and action. Operating across major social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google and YouTube, we provide organizations with a centralized platform to effectively manage social media efforts across stakeholders and business functions. We’re relentless about ensuring the success of our customers and building elegant software, and are regularly recognized by customers for our industry-leading products.

Reporting to our Chief Product Officer, you’ll be a key member of Sprout’s R&D leadership team and the primary thought partner for our executive leaders in defining Sprout’s strategy across short and long time horizons. As the leader of our Strategy and Business Operations function, you will not only establish the strategy and business operations craft at Sprout, but also play a pivotal role in building and scaling the team to support Sprout’s future growth. Join other strategic and visionary leaders on our R&D leadership team as we guide and inspire our teams to deliver world-class products. 

What you’ll do:

• Drive the organization forward by implementing strategic initiatives and staying focused on aligning highest-level priorities with day-to-day operations
• Address challenges like identifying high-ROI market segments, managing AI-related risks and opportunities, applying M&A to support growth, and making key resourcing decisions.
• Determine what our competitive positioning or defensibility needs to be to sustain a long-term advantage.
• Lead the annual strategy planning process, working closely with executive leadership to define long-term goals and develop actionable plans that drive organizational growth and operational efficiency.
• Build out the Strategy & Business Operations function at Sprout, defining the job function and growth trajectory including setting hiring practices, job ladder definitions and performance evaluation practices. 
• Partner with the CPO and CTO to define Sprout’s strategy to accelerate growth, inclusive of product strategy and our approach to market segmentation. 
• Define the right OKRs and metrics to track and answer our most important questions and measure our performance against those objectives.
• Create tracking mechanisms to ensure leadership has line of sight into work and progress, and accountability is driven across the team.

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for a forward-thinking leader who will bring a strong vision and operational expertise to help us scale effectively, identify growth opportunities, and deliver exceptional value to our customers. If you're a strategic thinker with a passion for technology, a knack for problem-solving, and an ability to drive change and accountability in a fast-paced environment, we’d love to talk with you! 

The minimum qualifications for this role include:

• 12+ years of experience in business strategy and operations
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret data and provide actionable insights
• Proven ability to drive the strategy of a market-leading software solution 
• Experience working in a high-growth SaaS environment

Preferred qualifications for this role include:

• Outstanding ability to act as a thought partner and strategic advisor to executive leaders
• Strong communication and presentation abilities, both written and verbal
• MBA preferred

How you’ll grow

Within 1 month, you’ll plant your roots, including:

• Completing Sprout Social’s new hire training & onboarding program alongside other new Sprout team members. You’ll gain a broader understanding of our products and how your role fits into the organization
• Partnering with the CPO to define key success metrics for your role and how you will be measured against them
• Diving into our products to learn about what makes our software unique and why customers love our products
• Establishing relationships with other product, engineering, design and revenue leaders and identifying areas of opportunity

Within 3 months, you’ll start hitting your stride by:

• Understanding the inputs/outputs of the business and developing a perspective on where we can improve
• Assessing the impact of AI advancements on market dynamics and identifying opportunities for leveraging AI technologies to enhance product offerings, improve customer experience, and drive competitive differentiation
• Taking ownership of major initiatives already in flight and partnering closely with analytics counterparts elsewhere at Sprout to accelerate improvements
• Establishing KPIs and success metrics to measure GTM effectiveness and operational performance
• Leading a competitive landscape analysis to refine positioning, targeting, and potential market expansion opportunities
• Developing a roadmap for scaling resources and capabilities to support future growth

Within 6 months, you’ll be making a clear impact through:

• Conducting and developing comprehensive monthly business reviews that provide actionable insights
• Leading the annual planning process by setting strategic priorities and aligning departmental goals with company objectives to drive sustainable growth and operational efficiency
• Establishing and building the Strategy & Operations function by defining its core objectives, structuring the team, implementing processes, and creating frameworks for continuous alignment, measurement, and improvement across the organization
• Evaluating potential strategic partnerships by assessing alignment with business objectives, analyzing market impact, and forecasting ROI to ensure partnerships drive growth and enhance competitive positioning

Within 12 months, you’ll make this role your own by:

• Continuing to enhance and refine Sprout’s Strategy & Business operations function to drive greater efficiency, alignment and effectiveness in achieving its organizational goals
• Obtaining (solicited and unsolicited) and acting upon peer, customer and leadership feedback 
• Establishing and executing against a long-term plan for the business
• Surprise us! Use your unique ideas and abilities to change our team in beneficial ways that we haven’t even considered yet

Of course what is outlined above is the ideal timeline, but things may shift based on business needs and other projects and tasks could be added at the discretion of your manager.

Our Benefits Program

We’re proud to regularly be recognized for our team, product and culture. Our benefits program includes:

• Insurance and benefit options that are built for both individuals and families
• Progressive policies to support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave program 
• High-quality and well-maintained equipment—your computer will never prevent you from doing your best
• Wellness initiatives to ensure both health and mental well-being of our team
• Ongoing education and development opportunities via our Grow@Sprout program and employee-led diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
• Growing corporate social responsibility program that is driven by the involvement and passion of our team members
• Beautiful, convenient, and state-of-the-art offices in Chicago’s Loop and downtown Seattle, for those who prefer an office setting

Whenever possible, Sprout wants to provide our team with the flexibility to work in the location that makes the most sense for them. Sprout maintains a remote workforce in many places in the United States. However, we are not set up in all states, so please look at the drop-down box in our application to see whether your state is listed. Few roles require an office setting. If your position requires a physical presence in a Sprout office, it will be evident in the job listing and your offer letter.

The base pay range for this role is $250,000 to $310,000 USD annually. Individual base pay is based on various factors, including relevant experience and skills, the responsibility of the role, and job duties/requirements. In addition to base pay, some Sales and Success roles can earn sales incentives. 

Sprout’s compensation ranges are intentionally broad to allow for our team members' growth within their role. These ranges were determined by a market-based compensation approach; we used data from trusted third-party compensation sources to set equitable, consistent and competitive ranges. We also evaluate compensation bi-annually, identify any changes in the market and make adjustments to our ranges and existing employee compensation as needed.

Base pay is only one element of an employee's total compensation at Sprout. Every Sprout team member has an opportunity to receive restricted stock units (RSUs) under Sprout’s equity plan. Employees (and their dependents) are covered by medical, dental, vision, basic life, accidental death, and dismemberment insurance, and Modern Health (a wellness benefit).  Employees are able to enroll in Sprout’s company’s 401k plan, in which Sprout will match 50% of your contributions up to 6% with a maximum contribution. Sprout offers “Flexible Paid Time Off” and ten paid holidays. We have outlined the various components to an employee’s full compensation package here to help you to understand our total rewards package.

Sprout Social is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and an Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate based on identity- race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual identity), age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship status, arrest record or expunged or sealed convictions, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our latest DEI Report.

If you require a reasonable accommodation for any part of the interview process or to submit your application, please email us at [email protected]. Include the nature of your request and your preferred contact information. We'll do everything we can to support your success during our recruitment process while upholding your privacy. Please note that only inquiries regarding accommodations will receive a response from this email address; other inquiries will not be addressed (e.g., you send your resume but are not requesting an accommodation). 

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please click here (1) Equal Opportunity Employment Poster  (2) Sprout Social's Affirmative Action Statement (3) Pay Transparency Statement. 

When you apply for employment with Sprout Social, we will process your job applicant data, including your employment and education history, transcript, writing samples, and references as necessary to consider your job application for open positions. Your personal data will be shared with Greenhouse Software, Inc., and Crosschq, Inc., cloud services providers located in the United States of America and engaged by Sprout Social to help manage its recruitment and hiring process on Controller’s behalf. Accordingly, if you are located outside of the United States, by clicking “Submit Application” on this site, you consent to the transfer of your personal data to the United States. For more information about our privacy practices please visit our Privacy Policy. California residents have additional rights and should review the Additional Disclosures for California Residents section in our Privacy Policy.

Additionally, Sprout Social participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law. 

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