Strategy & Operations Manager

Description

We are looking for a Strategy & Operations Manager to act as an independent execution and problem-solving partner to the business leadership team. This is not a traditional PMO role. The mandate is broader: create transparency, challenge performance, solve cross-functional problems, and make sure our most important initiatives actually get delivered.

You will work horizontally across Product, Operations, Commercial, Finance, Legal, and other functions, with visibility across the full portfolio of strategic initiatives. Your job is simple to describe but difficult to execute: know what matters, know what is happening, identify what is not working, and drive it to resolution.

Key Responsibilities

1. Own strategic execution

• Maintain an end-to-end view of the business’s most critical initiatives and their performance.
• Translate strategic priorities into clear projects, milestones, owners, KPIs, and deadlines.
• Drive high-priority projects directly when dedicated ownership is missing or additional execution power is required.
• Ensure commitments turn into measurable outcomes-not just meetings, updates, and presentations.
• Step into stalled or ambiguous initiatives and drive them back to execution.

2. Act as an independent performance partner

• Build a fact-based view of whether projects, teams, and initiatives are delivering against expectations.
• Challenge assumptions, timelines, priorities, and reported progress when necessary.
• Identify gaps between reported status and actual business impact.
• Diagnose underperformance and distinguish between strategy, execution, ownership, resource, and capability problems.
• Escalate material risks early and ensure corrective actions are defined and executed.

3. Solve cross-functional problems

• Step into the “messy middle” between functions where ownership is unclear and execution gets stuck.
• Structure ambiguous problems quickly and turn them into actionable decisions.
• Align Product, Operations, Finance, Legal, Commercial, and other stakeholders around a single execution path.
• Identify blockers, resolve dependencies, and drive decisions with pace.
• Act as a neutral partner focused on the overall business outcome rather than the interests of an individual function.

4. Build execution discipline

• Establish a lightweight but rigorous operating rhythm for strategic initiatives.
• Create a single source of truth for priorities, status, decisions, risks, and dependencies.
• Ensure every critical initiative has clear ownership, measurable outcomes, and transparent progress.
• Run project and portfolio reviews focused on decisions and actions rather than status reporting.
• Continuously improve how the organisation manages projects and executes strategic priorities.

5. Support strategic decision-making

• Turn complex operational and performance data into clear management insights.
• Build business cases and conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis for major strategic decisions.
• Evaluate new opportunities, growth bets, and operating-model improvements.
• Prepare concise, decision-oriented materials for senior leadership.
• Connect strategy with execution: understand not only what we should do, but whether and how the organisation can actually deliver it.

What success looks like
Success in this role is not measured by the number of projects tracked or meetings facilitated. It is measured by:

• Transparency – leadership always knows the real status of critical priorities.
• Accountability – every important outcome has an owner, deadline, and measurable result.
• Speed – blockers and unresolved decisions do not remain unresolved for weeks.
• Execution quality – strategic initiatives move from discussion to implementation.
• Business impact – the portfolio delivers measurable improvements in growth, efficiency, quality, or scalability.

Qualifications

You should be:

• Extremely structured and comfortable bringing order to ambiguity.
• Strong in project and program management, with the ability to lead multiple critical initiatives simultaneously.
• Highly analytical and able to independently challenge numbers, assumptions, and conclusions.
• Comfortable working directly with senior leaders and holding stakeholders accountable.
• Able to influence without formal authority.
• Pragmatic and execution-oriented-you naturally move from discussion to decision to action.
• Comfortable entering unfamiliar areas, learning quickly, and solving problems independently.
• Strong at communicating complex topics simply and concisely.
• Naturally curious and persistent: when something does not make sense, you keep digging until it does.

The ideal candidate does not simply track the business. They help the business execute better.

Why join us

• Help us challenge injustice by creating fair choices for millions of people across 47 countries.
• Develop your professional skills with access to mentoring, career consulting, and learning programs.
• Collaborate with teams around the world and gain international experience through our Global Talent Exchange Program.
• Engage in company-wide challenges, awards, sports activities, employee-led social impact and volunteering projects.
• Work alongside people who take initiative, speak openly, and challenge themselves to grow.
• Improve your language skills through co-financed courses and internal speaking clubs.
• Annual salary from 75600 EUR gross

Final benefits may vary depending on the location.