Strategy & Operations Associate

Required

• Experience: 2–6 years in management consulting, federal programs, manufacturing, or operations/strategy roles, within aerospace, defense, or industrial environments. Strategy & Operations, BizOps, or program operations roles at high-tempo startups, particularly in defense tech, also fit. You've run a workstream with real deliverables, not just supported one
• Education: Bachelor's in Business, Economics, Operations, Engineering, or a related field
• Travel: Willingness to travel 20–40%
• A&D and manufacturing exposure: Experience in aerospace, defense, or industrial manufacturing (Primes, OEMs, Tier 1/2 suppliers, or large industrial programs) is strongly preferred. At minimum, a real interest in how manufacturing works
• Communication: Strong written and verbal skills. You build clear, well-structured PowerPoint and written updates on your own, and you're comfortable presenting to and following up with senior stakeholders
• Analytical self-serve: Strong Excel and AI tools
• Ownership & Ambiguity: You thrive in fast-paced, evolving environments. When a problem is underspecified, you create structure fast and deliver a usable v1 without waiting for perfect data or complete direction
• Help-anywhere mindset: Low ego, high ownership, and willing to do whatever it takes to meet the mission, including hands-on operational support
• What Will Set You Apart
• Steady when things shift: When priorities change or you need to make decisions with limited information, you update the plan, tell people what changed and why, and keep moving instead of defending the old answer or being stuck
• Strong judgment: You know when to be scrappy and when to formalize, and you can define a “good enough” v1
• Shop floor curiosity: You enjoy learning from engineers and factory technicians to ground plans in reality; you find manufacturing fascinating and want to sit on the shop floor every day