Job Description: Chief Operating Officer
Office: Boston, MA; must currently reside in the Boston metro area or be willing to relocate there before starting; must have U.S. Citizenship or Visa
Overview:
Locust Walk is a global investment bank that integrates corporate development strategy and execution with capital raising for innovative life science companies of all stages. We partner with founders, executives, and board members through all aspects of corporate development across company, asset, and deal lifecycles. Through our extensive market intelligence interfacing with investors, large pharma, biotechs, and academic leaders, we have a deep understanding of how science and data translates into actionable transactions and business strategy.
Why is this role right for you?
If you are looking to leverage your significant experience with a fast-growing and highly entrepreneurial professional services firm, we’re looking for you. You have experience leading the finance, sales, marketing, and operations teams. You have an ability to motivate and engage teams and foster excellent cross-functional working relationships. You have experience dealing with complex problem solving and creative out-of-the-box solutions to growth and teaming. If you are currently a COO at a small to midsize firm or at a large firm and looking to take on a more entrepreneurial role Locust Walk is an ideal fit. We are looking for someone who has a growth mindset and can take ownership of the operations of the firm.
A week in the life for this role?
The focus for this role is to manage the operations of the firm as the liaison with the senior deal leadership. He/she will own the strategy and oversight for both the Finance and Operations of the firm as well as helping to guide the marketing, sales and deal execution processes to keep the trains running on time. As we continue to grow, so will our complexity. We are starting new biotech companies and launching a fund, which will require thinking through business models and the associated financial and operational implications. He/she will work closely with the CEO and CPO and will be responsible for implementing new growth initiatives and streamlining how we do business so we can run and grow more profitably. A major objective is to get the CEO out of the operations of the business so he can look for new growth opportunities.
Key career background & experience for this position?
- Successful track record at a leadership level within finance and operations with experience working with sales and marketing
- Finance: understands how finance integrates with the rest of the organization including all aspects of accounting and tax. Must have overseen the finance function but a CPA or direct finance/accounting experience is not necessary. Will lead our external finance consulting team and adapt SOPs as necessary. Has experience managing firm budgets and profitability forecasting.
- Operations and project management: experience running the operations of a firm from the client facing activities to the back-office systems to facilitate scaling including oversight of data management, dashboards, AI automations, compliance, legal (fluency with legal contracts)
- Sales and marketing: understands thought leadership, lead generation and sales execution as it relates to driving revenue
- Experience in the professional services industry. We operate in an environment like other professional services firms such as investment banks and management consulting firms. Experiences in these or similar organizations will provide you with a good understanding of how we operate, best practices, and learnings you can contribute to our organization. Someone who has helped scale a similar company will be highly valued.
- Small firm experience. We’re a small but rapidly growing nimble organization of ~30 people with offices in Boston and Tokyo and plans to reopen an office in San Francsico. While experience in larger corporate frameworks will be valuable in bringing additional systems, organization and consistency into our firm, an understanding and experience in a smaller growth environment is critical for success as is our roll-up our sleeves mentality. We need a leader who is also a doer; even if someone comes from a large firm, they need to possess a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit of a smaller firm.
- Passion for operational excellence. Whether interacting with finance, marketing, operations, project management and other similar activities, this person needs to have 3 things:
- A sense of urgency to get things done; a “doer”
- Curiosity, an innate drive to figure out “how things work”
- Attention to detail, getting things done on time and correctly
- Self-starter looking to influence and drive the future of Locust Walk. We’re looking for a high-integrity individual who puts the Firm’s interests first and is transparent in their communications. A poised professional who effectively collaborates with other team members, clients and prospective partners and displays self-awareness, compassion, and especially a desire to have fun and use humor as both a relief valve and tool.
Prior positions of responsibility that might be good experience for this role?
Eight years or more of relevant professional services experience is a prerequisite. If you held one of the below positions of responsibility at a professional services firm, you might have generated the knowledge required to be successful in this role. Senior finance experience is the prerequisite. However, this does not mean that if you haven’t had any of the titles below, you’re not qualified. Read between the lines, for intent and not literally:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Financial Officer (but with operations oversight and responsibilities)
- VP of Operations (and ready for the next step in your career)
Who is a cultural fit for Locust Walk?
This person needs to live the Locust Walk values. We are looking first for people who fit our culture. Culture is very important to us, and that fit is critical. A brief overview of our core values and who we are looking for is below:
- Commitment to the Success of Others
- Global team-based culture with individual accountability
- No team member is left behind: we are committed to succeeding together for the benefit of both our clients and the company.
- Open and Courageous Communication
- In the spirit of caring for each other's success, we commit to being truthful and transparent in our communication and feedback, both to clients and inside the company and we do so with empathy and success.
- We commit to thoughtful and rigorous debate and feedback at all levels of the company.
- The Locust Walk Leadership Team always strives to be as transparent as possible with the company.
- Growth Mindset
- We thrive on challenge and are life-long learners. We are not afraid of failure yet see it as a springboard.
- Honest bi-directional feedback is important for building trusted, productive relationships.
- Feedback should be given as soon as possible after an event or situation occurs rather than waiting for the moment to pass.
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
- We are self-motivated to succeed and will do whatever it takes for our clients to succeed in an ethical manner.
- We will always have a small firm ethos with an entrepreneurial mindset and minimized bureaucracy.
- Enjoy the Ride
- We care about and for our clients and each other.
- We work hard and integrate fun into the core of what we do. We all have unique interests and find common ways of sharing that with each other.
- Wins should be celebrated.
- It is about the journey, not the destination.
How much could someone earn in this role?
Our firm has a multi-part compensation structure:
- We pay a competitive base with other transaction focused professional services firms
- Every person at Locust Walk has goals and will be eligible to earn a bonus based on exceptional individual and firm performance that encourages both accountability as well as teamwork and helping to grow the overall business
- We offer a great competitive Total Benefits package which includes health, dental, and vision
- We have a flexible vacation policy and currently offer 9 official company holidays
- We offer a 401k match
