Business Operations Associate

Who We Are:

Aurelius Systems is a VC backed defense tech startup building autonomous, edge deployed directed energy systems for counter-UAS. We build laser weapons to shoot down drones.

We're a small team of engineers, former US military operators, and subject matter experts scaling America's directed energy dominance. The first cost effective, reliable and robust laser weapon system.

Our namesake isn't an accident. Marcus Aurelius wrote about doing the work in front of you, every day, without excuses. Henry Ford didn't wait for permission to reinvent manufacturing. That's how we operate, small team, unreasonable output, no hiding behind the unachievable.

In addition to our San Francisco lab, we've opened a Detroit manufacturing hub and we field test weekly on our own 400-acre private range.

The Role and Your Impact:

We need a Business Operations Associate to be the connective tissue of the company and the person who makes the whole team move faster. This is not an EA role. You'll own the systems, the scheduling, the internal tooling, and the cross-functional problems that don't fit neatly on anyone else's desk.

When something is broken or ambiguous, you're the one who steps in and fixes it before it becomes a problem. Where our Logistics & Operations Specialist owns the hardware floor and facilities, you own the software, systems, and the operating rhythm that lets everyone else run. The two roles work hand in hand, and as we grow, responsibilities will flex to each person's strengths.

What You'll Own:

• Executive and team scheduling, calendaring, and meeting coordination across the org, including for the CEO
• Internal tooling and SaaS administration, including provisioning, renewals, and access
• Internal documentation, knowledge bases, and org-wide resources that stay current and findable
• Internal workflows and process design as the company scales
• Visitor coordination on the admin side, including NDA documentation and scheduling for site visits
• Office transition and onboarding logistics as we scale into the a new space
• Special projects and cross-functional execution, the messy high-priority things that need an owner
• The administrative and operating systems everyone defaults to

What We're Looking For:

• 2-5 years in business operations, management consulting, banking, internal ops, chief of staff, or a high-output generalist role at a startup. Military S-1, adjutant, or operations backgrounds welcome
• Exceptional organizational horsepower, comfortable holding many threads at once and bringing structure to ambiguity
• Strong judgment, you can take a vague problem and turn it into a plan without being handed one
• Direct, clear, trusted communicator who works cleanly across teams and with leadership
• Proactive problem-solver who closes loops without being chased
• Comfortable with ambiguity in an early-stage company still figuring out its processes

Where you probably come from: BizOps or chief of staff adjacent roles at a startup, consulting or banking where you learned to structure problems fast, founder's associate or ops generalist roles, or military admin and personnel trades where you ran the unit's systems and kept everything tight.

We want to talk if: You're the person everyone already comes to when they need something solved, scheduled, or figured out. You see a broken process and fix it instead of filing a ticket. You think in systems and you just move.

Not a fit if: You want a pure EA or calendar-only role, you need hardware or facilities work (that's our Logistics & Operations Specialist), or you wait for written process before you'll act .

Nice to Haves:

• Experience at a startup or high-growth tech company
• Familiarity with project management tools
• Veteran with military admin, personnel, or S-1 background
• Experience administering SaaS stacks and access controls

Education: No degree required. Proof matters here.

How You Operate:

• Extreme bias for action. You'd rather solve it now than schedule a meeting about it
• You handle problems before they hit anyone's inbox
• Comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration in a startup environment
• Clear communicator across the team, leadership, and vendors
• Self directed. You identify what needs to happen next and do it without being told

Why Join Aurelius Systems?

• Build more in 1 month than most people build in 1 year. We field test weekly. Your work makes the whole team faster.
• Career velocity is real. At ~10 engineers, there are no layers between you and impact.
• Work on a problem that actually matters. Small cheap drones are changing warfare. Our laser systems are the asymmetric answer — infinite magazine, near zero cost per shot, scalable to every base, border, facility, and truck.
• Join the densest defense startup ecosystem in the country. California is where the next generation of defense companies are being built.

How We Work:

Core hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 6. Non-technical roles are not tied to the engineering sprint schedule, but tied to the pace of the company. However, that doesn't mean the workload is constant. This regularly includes Saturdays, and at times evenings, to make sure the company has what it needs to move forward. We don't manufacture intensity for show.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary + equity
• United Health Care medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Flexible 18 days PTO + 5 sick days
• Travel to field test events and range days
• Covered daily lunches and office snacks + drinks
• E-bike / scooter stipend (Up to $500)
• Direct access to leadership and real ownership over your work

Export Control Notice:

This role requires access to export-controlled information or items that require "U.S. Person" status. As defined by U.S. law, individuals who are any one of the following are considered to be a "U.S. Person": (1) U.S. citizens, (2) legal permanent residents (a.k.a. green card holders), and (3) certain protected classes of asylees and refugees, as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3).