Vice President of Operations and Technology

About B Lab U.S. & Canada

The B Corp movement envisions an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economic system for all people and the planet. In 2006, B Lab Global began with the idea that a different kind of economy was not only possible, but necessary — and that business could lead the way towards a new, stakeholder-driven model. B Lab is building the global B Corp movement to change the economic system by creating standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behavior, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism.

B Lab became known for certifying B Corporations, which are companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. They mobilize the B Corp community towards collective action to address society’s most critical challenges. By harnessing the power of business, B Lab positively impacts companies around the world, helping them balance profit with purpose. Shifting from a system that profits few to one that benefits all. To date, there are over 6,000 Certified B Corps in 150 industries and 80 countries, and over 150,000 companies use the B Impact Assessment.

Recognized as one of Fast Company’s 2020 Most Innovative Companies, B Lab is home to an innovative and enthusiastic team committed to building an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. 

B Lab U.S. & Canada is one of six global partners in the B Lab global network. As a global partner, B Lab U.S. & Canada fosters and mobilizes a growing community of people and businesses working towards a more fair and inclusive economy in the U.S. and Canada. Over 2,000 B Corps make up the U.S. & Canada community.

B Lab’s teams are innovative and enthusiastic about building an inclusive and sustainable economy. You can learn more about B Lab U.S. & Canada here.

The Opportunity

B Lab U.S. & Canada is leading a growing movement of people using business as a force for good across the U.S. and Canada. To support that growth, B Lab U.S. & Canada is looking to add a Vice President of Operations and Technology to its senior leadership team. B Lab U.S. & Canada seeks a senior-level strategist and implementer with a strong background in technology and operations. This person will be a leader who brings technology expertise and product development acumen along with the cross-functional operations management experience needed to propel the business forward. This is an exciting moment for a strategic and systems-focused leader to build out B Lab U.S. & Canada’s technology and knowledge infrastructure for scale.

Serving as a thought partner and reporting to the CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada, the Vice President of Operations and Technology will oversee all organizational operations, along with technology, data, and knowledge management. Under the direction of the CEO, you will guide the organization through a digital transformation to leverage technology in order to meet its future goals and objectives. This leader will help the organization operationalize its vision through the integration of existing platforms and adoption of new systems, tools, and standard operating procedures. This role will liaise with B Lab Global and carry significant influence over the next chapter of the B Corp movement in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as it builds towards operational excellence.

Scope of the Role & Key Accountabilities

Strategic Organizational Leadership (50%)

• Co-create a long-term data vision, strategy and plan for B Lab U.S. & Canada.
• Oversee the management of the organization’s operations, information technology, cyber security, and data management.
• Identify, recommend, and implement new processes, technologies, and systems, including onboarding external technology and operations partners, providers and implementers, to improve and streamline organizational processes and use of resources and materials.
• Guide the creation of decision-making processes to build or adopt new processes, systems, technology, and/or products.
• Liaise with B Lab Global and Global Network counterparts to support overall business planning for B Lab U.S. & Canada.

Digital Transformation & Change Management (30%)

• Lead the process of bringing in operations and systems that are currently being housed within B Lab Global into B Lab U.S. & Canada; work in partnership with B Lab Global to identify what processes, systems, and data can be brought in-house and develop a seamless transition process.
• Lead an internal assessment of the data needs for B Lab U.S. & Canada to build, share, and adopt the necessary platforms and related technology for the organization to function more independently and operate with greater consistency and effectiveness.
• Serve as the Digital Privacy Officer with knowledge and understanding of B Lab U.S. & Canada’s responsibilities as a processor and necessary operations carried out to manage, control and protect processing of personal and confidential data.
• Promote a data protection culture within the organization, and lead organizational focus on growth and sustainability for systems and services in line with data privacy protocols.
• Improve B Lab U.S. & Canada’s ability to understand and serve the B Corp community via effective data gathering, management, and analysis through an equitable lens.

People Operations (20%)

• Serve as a thought partner to the CEO and lead the organizational design and resource allocation.
• Lead the development of new and improved policies, procedures and ways of working that support the employee experience lifecycle, in partnership with our Employee Experience Manager.
• Manage a team of staff, consultants and contractors to operationalize the vision for data and technology management, including evaluating the benefits and disadvantages of using specific tools and platforms (e.g., Salesforce), and looking for opportunities to invest in better systems and tools that meet our team needs.
• Lead organizational transformation through changing processes and workflows to make them more agile, adaptable, and effective.
• Collaborate with each Department Director on operational projects and systems, including the use of robust data to make informed decisions.

Ideal Candidate

This person will report to the CEO and is a key member of the leadership team.

The ideal candidate for the Vice President of Operations and Technology will:

• Create an environment that promotes operational excellence by attracting and retaining high-performing talent from diverse backgrounds and designing equity-centered and effective organizational structure, processes, systems, and tools.
• Foster a team-first attitude by building strong partnerships, collaboration, and alignment across functions and stewarding an anti-racist culture that values diversity, inclusiveness, ownership, boldness, and innovation. 
• Champion an experimental and data-driven mindset and promote practices that reward risk taking and afford rapid response to market feedback.
• Be an exceptional change management leader that models what it means to be a strong relationship manager, who is relational, emotionally intelligent, and gains consent from others when leading change.
• Be a valued strategic-thinker and strong communicator that can support the team by establishing improved ways of working by creating clear and accessible documentation, playbooks and guides that may be easily adopted.
• Develop and enhance an information security management framework, in partnership with B Lab Global.

This candidate is a seasoned leader who has played a significant leadership role within a purpose-driven company, social enterprise or revenue generating nonprofit through a period of growth.  They are a systems-thinker and operations professional who understands how to leverage technology to maximize impact. The ideal candidate has familiarity with and knowledge of product development and design; they have worked with technology engineers and are able to effectively translate the end-user experience to those teams as they oversee the building of technology tools and platforms.

The ideal candidate is an active learner who leads with curiosity, stays abreast of latest best practices and innovations in order to elevate operational systems. They will communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders from across the B Lab network and excel working in a  collaborative environment.

This candidate model’s supportive leadership, empathy, transparency, and belief in others while holding individuals and teams accountable. They have the confidence to show vulnerability, own their mistakes, and make hard decisions. They effectively manage up, advocate for change, and address issues of power and privilege as they arise. They are someone who is decisive when it comes to decisions they own, and also someone who understands, respects, embraces and shows a willingness to support team members in their decision making; while showing up as relational, adaptable, and receptive to feedback.