Business Operations Associate

Site Operations Associate

Arlington, VA

Nooks is pioneering Classified-Infrastructure-as-a-Service (CIaaS) designing, building, and operating Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and other secured, classified environments for the defense and national security community. We work with the agencies, contractors, and mission-driven organizations that keep the nation safe, delivering the physical infrastructure that makes classified work possible. We're growing fast, operating across multiple markets, and building a company that takes both the mission and the business seriously.

About the Role

You are the person a Nooks site runs to the one every employee and customer associates with what it's like to be there. You define how someone is welcomed, and how quickly and professionally they get into their authorized space to do the work they came to do. You hold a high standard for the site, not based on who's watching. This role is also intentionally designed as an entry point into the company: a high-visibility seat where you learn how the Nooks business runs from the ground up, with a real track to grow into sales, operations, security, or another function as your interests and our needs come together.

While this role has defined ownership areas, priorities can shift quickly in a growing company, and you'll often be the one who spots a gap before anyone tells you it's there. We're looking for someone who can take a general sense of what the site needs and run with it solving what's within your authority, flagging clearly what isn't, and doing both without waiting to be asked.

Key Responsibilities

Customer & Site Experience

• Own the front-of-house experience for every customer, member, and visitor greet them personally, understand what they came in for, and make Nooks the easiest part of their day.
• Serve as the customer's first point of contact for routine administrative and logistical support, resolving straightforward requests independently and escalating security, IT account-level or commercial matters to the respective functional teams.
• Build real relationships with regular customers and members, learn their patterns well enough to anticipate needs, and plan and run site engagement moments from small daily touches to full events adjusting based on turnout and feedback.

Office & Facility Management

• Own day-to-day office operations: keep supplies, badges, keycards, and conference rooms stocked and ready, and hold the space to a standard that's always ready for a customer walkthrough.
• Run opening and/or closing procedures as assigned, and manage mail, deliveries, and other daily logistics per site protocol, including handling procedures for items entering controlled areas.
• Spot and report facility issues broken items, maintenance needs, anything out of standard and track work orders through to completion rather than just flagging them and moving on.

Vendor & Contract Management

• Own the day-to-day relationship with the site's cleaning and maintenance vendors, confirming delivered work matches the contract and holding vendors to the standard the site needs.
• Monitor vendor performance over time, flag service gaps or recurring issues to the vendor and the Site Lead before they affect the customer experience, and provide input during contract renewals.
• Coordinate vendor scheduling and access so their work doesn't disrupt customer visits or classified activity happening on-site.

Site Security Support

• Support visitor control procedures: verifying approved Visitor Authorization Requests (VARs), issuing and tracking badges, and coordinating escorts for uncleared visitors per site protocol.
• Conduct routine walk-throughs of common areas and entry points, flagging anything out of standard propped doors, unbadged individuals, unattended materials to the security team.
• Recognize and escalate potential security concerns promptly, documenting per Nooks procedure, and leave investigation and resolution to the security team.

What Success Looks Like in This Role

Twelve months in, customers and members know you by name, and the front-of-house experience is something people mention when they talk about why they like coming into this Nooks site. The vendor relationships you manage run smoothly cleaning and maintenance meet standard without you having to chase it, and gaps get caught and fixed before anyone else notices them. The Site Lead trusts you to run the day-to-day of the site without oversight and brings you into planning conversations because you understand how the site actually works. Visitor control and badge records are clean, with no findings traced back to front desk operations. And you've built enough of a picture of how Nooks runs the customer side, the operations side, the security side that you're ready to point yourself toward what's next, whether that's sales, operations, security, or another path inside the company.

Cross-Functional Expectations

You work daily with the Site Lead, executing on their direction while owning the front-of-house, office, and vendor domains independently. You coordinate with the security team on visitor control, badge issuance, and incident escalation, and with the Growth team on account-level customer and member matters. You manage cleaning and maintenance vendors directly, and support HR and leadership on site events and visiting executive logistics.

The Skillset

Hard requirements:

• Experience in a customer-facing, hospitality, or office administration role comfortable being the face of an organization to people you've just met.
• A demonstrated habit of noticing problems or gaps before being told about them, and solving what's within your authority rather than waiting for direction.
• Strong organizational follow-through: able to track multiple open items at once a work order, a vendor issue, a customer ask without letting any of them slip.
• Clear, professional written and verbal communication across a wide range of people, from customers and vendors to security personnel.
• Comfort operating in, or genuine willingness to learn, a defense/security-adjacent environment, including why access control and protocol matter.
• Ability to work on-site full-time during business hours.
• Ability to remain stationed at a front desk or reception area for extended periods during business hours, with occasional lifting and carrying (supply deliveries, mail, event materials) up to 2535 lbs.

Preferred, not required:

• Experience coordinating or managing vendor or contractor relationships.
• Familiarity with visitor control, badging, or access-control systems (VARs, DISS) is a plus.
• Genuine interest in growing into a sales, operations, or security role at Nooks.
• Experience at a cleared facility.
• Experience in flexible workspace, co-working, or premium hospitality environments.

Eligibility & Clearance:

Candidate must be a United States citizen and capable of maintaining eligibility up to the Top Secret/SCI level within 180 days of hire.

Salary Range

$55,000 - $65,000 USD