Head of Operations

About Prior Labs

Prior Labs is pioneering the next shift in AI by developing foundation models specialized for structured data, such as tables, a critical component in sectors like clinical trials, finance, scientific research, and business decision-making. Their innovative TabPFN v2 model has achieved a Nature cover story and set a new benchmark in tabular machine learning with over 3.5 million downloads and 7,500 GitHub stars. The company works with prestigious clients to apply AI in impactful ways including healthcare and industrial applications. Prior Labs is growing rapidly with a recent €9 million pre-seed funding round, aiming to expand their team and scale operations to handle complex data challenges in real-time across demanding industries.

Role Overview

The Head of Operations will report directly to the Co-CEO responsible for GTM and Operations. This leadership role entails overseeing operational excellence across the organization, partnering with leaders of Finance, Legal, People, IT, InfoSec, and Compliance as these teams mature into distinct functions. The incumbent will be accountable for designing scalable processes ensuring the operational backbone supports rapid growth in revenue, employees, and complexity. They will lead and expand the operations team to support Prior Labs' ambition to become a significantly larger enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain an efficient operational framework that anticipates scaling challenges and restructures processes ahead of organizational growth phases.
• Ensure operational excellence spans all functional areas, coordinating among finance, human resources, legal, IT, and compliance to eliminate gaps and bottlenecks.
• Manage complex cross-functional issues by aligning diverse stakeholders around common goals, inspiring collaboration, and driving projects to completion.
• Act as a strategic partner for decision-making by highlighting trade-offs and risks early, facilitating informed and timely actions.
• Recruit, mentor, and lead the operations team, building a culture of high performance and engagement.

Candidate Profile

• Proven experience managing operations within high-growth organizations, adept at recognizing and solving scaling challenges.
• Experience with global operations encompassing multiple countries and time zones.
• Generalist operational expertise across at least two areas such as finance, people, legal, or business operations, comfortably collaborating with specialists.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to attract and retain top operational talent.

Desirable:

• Familiarity with data, developer tools, or AI industries, enabling credible collaboration with technical teams.
• Track record of developing an operations function that scales alongside a company’s evolution from startup phase to mature organization.

Traits for Success

• Motivation to create scalable systems that enable growth rather than maintain existing methods.
• Ownership mentality, tackling difficult problems directly instead of deferring them.
• Pragmatic approach focused on building streamlined, effective processes suited to the company’s needs at any stage.
• Ability to remain calm and decisive when confronted with ambiguity and competing priorities, setting a standard for the entire team.

Location & Work Setup

The preferred base of operations is either New York or Berlin hubs. Exceptional remote or hybrid arrangements may be considered, requiring frequent presence in one of the offices and participation in company-wide events and offsites.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

Prior Labs values diverse backgrounds and experiences and actively encourages applications from individuals who may not meet all listed qualifications but bring unique perspectives. The company is dedicated to fostering a safe, inclusive workplace that provides equal opportunities irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, origin, disability, or other personal characteristics.