Part-Time Senior Operations Lead

About us

SFMade is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) supporting local manufacturers across San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay.

Our mission is to help manufacturers thrive, innovate, and create good jobs, for a more diverse and sustainable Bay Area. We foster a thriving ecosystem where manufacturers can flourish, creating quality jobs that benefit individuals and families in our community. Our network of over 730 local manufacturers sustain more than 10,000 jobs. We genuinely believe in the power of local manufacturing. Why? Because when manufacturing stays local, magic happens. It opens up equitable opportunities, strengthens economies, and adds an extra dose of vibrancy to our already amazing communities.

Role Summary

Status: Part-time to start, approximately 0.4 FTE (roughly 16 hours/week), with potential to grow in scope and hours as the organization's needs evolve.

Reports to: Interim Executive Director/CEO

Location: 150 Hooper, San Francisco, hybrid, some in-office time expected

Classification: Exempt; at-will

Compensation: commensurate with experience

This is an execution-focused role that builds the systems and processes behind business compliance and serves as connective tissue across Development, Programs, Retail Innovation, and Finance, ensuring major initiatives move forward with clear ownership and visible dependencies. The role identifies and removes friction, surfaces where cross-functional work is stalling, and synthesizes organization-wide insights to inform decision-making. It works closely with the Executive Director day to day as a direct extension of her operational priorities.

SFMade sits at a unique intersection of real manufacturing, city government relationships, and grant-funded programs within a small, ambitious team. As the organization invests in systems and infrastructure to support a multi-year strategic plan, we need a builder: someone who wants ownership over ambiguity and to see their work matter within months.

Scope of Responsibilities

Budget Management

• Oversee grant-based budget processes.

• Own budget-to-actual tracking across grant and program allocation.

• Support the annual budget development process.

Compliance & Regulatory Management

• Build a playbook/calendar to ensure we are tracking annual compliance tasks.

• Payroll and employment compliance monitoring.

• State and federal license renewals.

Grant & Funder Reporting

• Coordinate with the Director of Development to manage the grant reporting calendar and deliverables.

• Ensure financial reporting to funders reconciles with internal books.

• Subaward/subrecipient administration: budget tracking, invoicing, compliance documentation.

Financial Vendor & Systems Management

• Support the month-end close process and audit preparation

Systems & Process Infrastructure

• Build and maintain SOPs so institutional knowledge is retained.

Marketing

• Maintain a documented source-of-truth for public-facing statistics (manufacturer counts, job numbers, program outcomes) used on the website and in materials, so figures are sourced, current, and consistent across teams.

• Cross-functional project management — Serving as the connective tissue across teams (Development, Programs, Retail Innovation, Finance) so that major initiatives like the storefront launch, grant deliverables, and program milestones move forward with clear ownership, realistic timelines, and visible dependencies.

Must-Haves & Required Background

• Prior experience in a lean organization, nonprofit operations experience.

• A systems builder: someone who builds processes, documentation, and structure where none exist, rather than someone who maintains systems that are already working.

• Works well with data and systems: comfortable in databases, tracking tools, and reporting systems, and able to improve them rather than just use them as-is.

• Direct experience in program and grant compliance.

• Comfort with budget-to-actual tracking and grant-based budgeting.

• Able to project manage: can scope work, sequence it, and drive it to completion.

• Able to quickly prototype and execute: builds a working version fast, tests it, and iterates, rather than over-designing before starting.

• Experience coordinating with outsourced bookkeeping and accounting functions.

• Salesforce experience, or comparable CRM/database experience.

A Note on Fit

The preferred fit is nonprofit operations experience plus a systems-builder orientation, with real program and grant compliance experience underneath it. Someone who is strong with data and systems, has done grant compliance and budget-to-actual work, and can project-manage a fast prototype-and-execute cycle without heavy oversight is the right fit.