Chief Operating Officer (Kansas City)

About Celerity

Celerity Enterprises is transforming the way money moves through the Wholesale Distribution Ecosystem. Our platform enables Manufacturers, Distributors, and Rep Agents to manage Special Pricing Agreement (SPA) reconciliation and rebates in real time — streamlining workflows, delivering end-to-end integration, accelerating claims validation, increasing data transparency, and improving financial accuracy at scale.

Because we process millions of records each year, every challenge we face — compliance, data quality, speed, and reliability — is a challenge we face at scale. We are driving to be the single source of financial reconciliation, analytics, and validation for our partners, interacting with data from hundreds of sources daily.

We are growing fast, backed by strong market traction, strategic industry partnerships, and investor confidence. Our mission is to improve our customers\' financial performance and operational efficiency so profoundly that they would not consider doing business any other way.

About the Role

We are hiring our first Chief Operating Officer to serve as the operational backbone of Celerity as we scale from early traction to a repeatable, high-growth business. As the company\'s second-in-command, you will partner directly with the CEO and founding team to translate vision into execution — building the systems, teams, processes, and technology platforms that underpin durable growth across Sales, Customer Success, Finance, and G&A.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone equally comfortable setting strategy and rolling up their sleeves. You will bring the operational rigor that lets our go-to-market team move fast, our customers succeed, and our founders stay focused on product and vision.

What You\'ll Own

Revenue Operations & GTM Infrastructure

• Own the revenue operations function end-to-end: CRM architecture, pipeline reporting, forecasting cadences, and comp plan design.


• Partner with Sales leadership to build and scale the GTM engine — outbound sequences, territory design, quota modeling, and onboarding playbooks.


• Serve as the operational bridge between Sales, Customer Success, and Product, ensuring customer feedback loops are closed and insights drive prioritization.


• Measure and analyze current revenue streams, offerings, and relationships to optimize business growth and revenue strategy.

Technology, Platform & Systems

• Champion the strategic use and continuous evolution of Celerity's technology platform to build, scale, and differentiate the business.


• Oversee the evaluation, selection, and implementation of technology solutions across the organization — from core SaaS infrastructure to workflow automation and integrations.


• Partner with the technical and product teams to ensure platform roadmap objectives align with customer needs and operational capacity.


• Drive adoption of automation tools (including Atlassian and equivalent platforms) to eliminate operational drag and increase throughput as we scale.


• Maintain deep familiarity with the company\'s API/EDI integration stack and data architecture to make informed build vs. buy decisions.


• Leverage data analysis and operational metrics to identify platform bottlenecks and improvement opportunities before they impact customers.

Financial Operations & Planning

• Own the company\'s financial operating model in partnership with the CEO: headcount planning, budget allocation, burn rate management, and board-level reporting.


• Establish financial controls, vendor management processes, and organizational policies appropriate for an early-stage SaaS company preparing to scale.


• Implement financial procedures to drive operating capabilities that surpass industry benchmarks.


• Assist the CEO in fundraising ventures and investor relations.


• Evaluate and manage relationships with external finance, legal, and HR resources.

Talent & Culture

• Lead recruiting operations — define the hiring roadmap, build structured interview processes, and ensure we attract and retain exceptional people.


• Design onboarding, performance management, and career development frameworks that scale with the team.


• Build a highly inclusive culture where team members from diverse functions and locations thrive.


• Steward Celerity\'s builder mentality and accountability as headcount grows.

Operational Systems & Execution

• Establish KPIs and reporting dashboards that give the leadership team real-time visibility into pipeline, retention, and financial health.


• Strategically manage and coordinate employees across departments and locations to ensure efficiency and alignment.


• Translate quarterly and annual strategic priorities into actionable operating plans with clear owners and milestones.


• Set comprehensive performance and growth goals by department in partnership with functional leads.


• Establish policies that promote and reinforce company culture and vision.

What We\'re Looking For

You are a builder and an operator. You likely have:

• 8+ years of progressive operating experience, with at least 2–3 years in a senior leadership role at a B2B SaaS or technology company.


• Proven track record of building operational systems from the ground up in a startup or high-growth environment.


• Strong fluency with technology platforms: you understand how software products are built, can evaluate technical tradeoffs, and know how to leverage tooling to scale operations.


• Hands-on experience implementing and optimizing tools such as CRMs, automation platforms (Atlassian, Jira, or equivalent), BI/reporting dashboards, and data pipelines.


• Strong financial acumen — comfortable owning a budget, reading a P&L, and making resource allocation decisions.


• Experience hiring and managing high-performing teams across Sales, Customer Success, and G&A functions.


• Understanding of business functions including HR, Finance, Marketing, and IT/business infrastructure.


• Familiarity with the electrical distribution, industrial distribution, or manufacturing verticals is a meaningful advantage.


• Experience in fundraising is a plus.

Industry Domain Knowledge (strongly preferred):

• Working knowledge of Special Pricing Agreements (SPAs), rebate programs, and channel pricing structures as they operate in wholesale distribution and manufacturing.


• Familiarity with how pricing agreements flow between Manufacturers, Distributors, and Rep Agents — including the reconciliation, validation, and dispute resolution processes that make or break these relationships.


• Understanding of the financial stakes and operational complexity involved in managing high-volume SPA and rebate claims, and the market pain Celerity\'s platform is purpose-built to solve.


• Ability to speak credibly with prospects, customers, and partners about industry-specific challenges in pricing accuracy, claims data, and financial reconciliation — accelerating trust and shortening sales cycles.


• Experience with EDI/API data exchange standards common in distribution and manufacturing supply chains is a plus.

You demonstrate:

• Bias for action — you move fast, define success clearly, and hold yourself and others accountable to outcomes.


• Comfort operating without perfect structure; you build the process while running the business.


• Executive presence and strong communication skills across internal teams, customers, and investors.


• Demonstrable competency in strategic planning and business development.


• Excellent analytical and planning skills with aptitude for data-driven decision-making.


• Ability to adapt to changing environments and thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving conditions.


• A collaborative operating style — you make founders better, not dependent.

This Role Is Not for Someone Who

• Needs a fully built organization to run.


• Prefers to delegate execution rather than model it.


• Is uncomfortable being measured against business outcomes.


• Struggles with ambiguity or the pace of an early-stage company.


• Views technology as someone else\'s responsibility rather than a strategic lever.

You Will Love This Job If

• \'re passionately and thoughtfully about building a company that enhances work processes through smart use of technology.


• You have an owner\'s approach — proactive, risk-embracing, and relentless in the pursuit of goals.


• You have a beginner\'s mindset and always seek to learn; you\'re flexible and embrace pivoting.


• You are passionate about growth and can thrive on uncertain circumstances and uncharted territory.


• Working across multiple high-stakes challenges in a single day energizes rather than exhausts you.

Why Join Now

• Foundational leadership role at a company modernizing a massive, underserved market.


• Direct influence over company trajectory, culture, operating model, and technology platform from day one.


• Meaningful equity and the opportunity to grow into a permanent C-suite seat as the company scale]]>