Director of Operations

THE ROLE IS CONTRACT HOURLY TO START, FULL TIME IN 2027. The first 2.5 months are a trial period to see if this is the right fit that is hybrid. Then in Spring of 2027 you'd work on site Thursday - Sunday with one day remote. NONPROFIT EXPERIENCE IS NOT REQUIRED! Teapot Gardens has been organizing community around greenspace in South Los Angeles for six years, and after six long years of community organizing we've won the funding to build out a dream. Public Paradise is a SWANA-inspired tea garden at 4719 W. Washington Blvd in Mid City Heights, a neighborhood with almost no walkable greenspace, being built by hand using ancient earth-building techniques by the volunteers, artists, and neighbors who show up every weekend to make it real. It runs on reciprocity. It's intergenerational. It opens to the public in spring 2027 and belongs to the community that built it. The Director of Operations is the backbone of this organization. You run the business, build the systems, hold the team, manage cash flow, and make day-to-day decisions on your own. You are a leader who finds clarity and purpose in the complexity of building a cultural institution from the ground up. This role is funded through September 2027 by the City of Los Angeles' LA REPAIR grant, with a planned transition to earned revenue that you are directly responsible for ensuring meets its targets. WHAT THIS ROLE OWNS Grant compliance and reporting: Monthly financial reports and quarterly progress reports to the City of Los Angeles. If we miss the marks, the funding stops. This is priority one. Financial management: Budget tracking, receipt management, monthly reconciliation in Mercury. Automate the clerical. Keep the financials clean and the board informed. Business model development: Year 2 projections are assumptions. Your job is to turn them into a real model through market research, pricing calibration, and on-the-ground observation. People ops: Lead hiring searches, manage the garden intern and USC work-study pipeline, onboard every staff member, and build a feedback culture where everyone knows their expectations. Volunteer and community infrastructure: Own Garden Sundaze recruitment and organization. Be present at every event. Build toward 40 people per biweekly gathering. Build committees that let the community carry the work. Membership and space rentals: Build the Zeffy membership system, manage the rental pipeline, and develop the reciprocity model that connects volunteer hours to space access. Fundraising and grants: Prospect foundations, build relationships, submit applications, reach out to sponsors and in-kind donors. The org's survival past September 2027 depends on what you raise. Board reports and governance: Monthly board updates tied to data, metrics, and business outlook. Attend almost every board meeting. Help build a stronger board. Horizontal systems: Design how this org operates: membership tiers, reciprocity policy, space protocols, governance structures. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR Is in this for more than a year. The org needs someone committed to what comes after the grant Thrives on autonomy. Works when they want, as long as the work gets done and the marks are hit, the Executive Director will onboard you for the first 3 months, then you will manage yourself. Can build, manage, and read a budget. Not just track spending but understand what the numbers mean and what to do when they drift Can process, store, and analyze operational data. Foot traffic, revenue, membership, volunteer hours and turn it into decisions Excellent at technology. Can build systems from scratch: Notion databases, sheet flows, tracking dashboards, onboarding docs and maintain them consistently Has managed teams. Staff, contractors, interns, or volunteers and done it with clarity and care A problem solver. Likes being scrappy, doesn't just voice issues but also states solutions and is a positive person Nice to Have Has worked with grants or public funding and understands compliance, reporting cycles, and what it means to spend money in alignment with a scope of work Can run an event end to end: logistics, promotion, partner outreach, day-of execution without needing hand-holding Writes clearly and uses AI tools confidently: board updates, volunteer emails, grant applications Thrives in complexity and finds building from an existing foundation energizing not overwhelming Believes in horizontal organizing, shared power, and the idea that a tea garden can be a site of real community transformation What this role is NOT This is not a role for someone who needs structure imposed on them from outside. Someone who likes a corporate structure. This is free flowing. Someone who answers problems with money, we need creativity. This is not a programming role. The founder holds the creative filter and the brand experience. You hold the operational execution and the community relationship. Pay is $78,000 +benefits starting in Jan 2027. Contract hourly to start as early as mid October (flexible) #J-18808-Ljbffr