Strategic Initiatives Lead
Nationwide /
Product /
Full-time
/ Remote
About Ridwell
Ridwell is a service that inspires people to create a future without waste. Today, we make it easy to reuse and recycle more by identifying recyclable and reusable items that the city doesn't collect, picking them up from our customers' doorsteps, and matching them with local partners that can use them sustainably. Our future plans go much further and include making zero waste a reality for millions.
We are a social purpose corp, meaning sustainability is not just a company value - it's fundamental to the purpose and interests of our company. Our mission is to empower communities to waste less, and every success our product team celebrates means more waste saved from the landfill and more valuable donations in the hands of local non-profits.
We’re funded and growing quickly and can't wait to add to our team. We are a team invested in the personal growth of its employees and this is a unique opportunity to get in at the beginning and help build something special!
About the role
The purpose of this role is to lead key business initiatives. Responsibilities will include leadership, decision-making, collaboration, and project management needs. You will ensure that these initiatives run smoothly, all stakeholders are informed, and catch anything that falls through the cracks.
Success in this role will be measured by program success and an eye toward constantly improving how we work together as a team, driving speed and effectiveness of program execution. This role will work closely with the Co-founder to execute on the different programs and initiatives across our business. You will take projects from inception to delivery, across planning, analysis, stakeholder management, and execution. You don’t let balls drop and you eat chaos for breakfast. You are comfortable working in fast-paced, high urgency environments and don’t need explicit direction or hand-holding to succeed.
This is a remote full-time position with the opportunity to work from our Seattle office if you live in the area. You also need to be comfortable working digitally with teams around the country.
This position has a salary range of $90,000 - $120,000/year. This range is a good-faith estimate for this position. The final salary offer will be determined after reviewing relevant factors, which include a candidate's qualifications and experience, where appropriate.
Compensation includes both salary and equity options. At this time, we can only hire US-based candidates.
Our Values
- Our Member is our Hero. Our members are at the core of our company. Only by empowering them can we accomplish our vision.
- We Never Settle. We are relentlessly pursuing the exceptional and challenging the status quo–always making our service, experience, and company better.
- We Take Our Success Personally. We all have a stake in the success of Ridwell. You are empowered to make an impact.
- Purpose Drives Our Actions. Knowing why we are doing something enables us to focus on what is truly important.
- We Are Stronger Together. Every person is critical to our success. We need diverse perspectives to execute on creative solutions. By fostering collaboration and connection at every level, we can be phenomenal.
How to succeed in this role
- Strong organizational skills. Documentation is your safety blanket. You create sources of truth to align teams. Nothing falls through the cracks.
- Ability to work with anyone in the organization. You can flex from the leadership level to the drivers in the warehouse. You know how to pull the best from anyone.
- Fast learner and willingness to jump in. Not only do you identify what needs to be done, you make sure it gets done. If there’s no one to do it, you will figure it out!
- Clear communicator and willingness to challenge. You can make yourself clear in just a few words. You listen first and make space for all voices on the team. You don’t hesitate to challenge assumptions.
- Understands the ‘why’ and uses purpose to align teams. We rely on a shared purpose to move fast and create alignment between disparate parts of the organization.
- Could this have been an email? You look for ways to respect people’s time but you know when it’s important to meet to get everyone on the same page.
- Be productive and hard working. You are more productive than most people. You are efficient and effective with your time.
- Start-up experience and/or mentality. You know how to work quickly and never let perfect be the enemy of progress.
What you'll be doing
- Subject matter expertise: You know what projects are happening, why they are happening, and can make good product decisions quickly.
- Better Processes: Works cross functionally to improve processes on existing programs such that they run smoother and are more successful.
- Program execution: Builds on our current processes to manage initiatives, projects, and ongoing programs from start to finish.
- Cross-functional processes: Sets clear objectives and timelines to align cross-functional teams, keeps other stakeholders informed, keeps dependencies clear and people moving forward.
- Opportunity analysis: Identifies and analyzes new opportunities to improve what we do today. Puts frameworks around how we prioritize opportunities based on the goals of the business. Works with leadership to resource prioritized projects.
- Measuring success: Tracks and measures the success of initiatives to inform future projects or shifts in strategy. Is able to communicate and champion those decisions to leadership.
- Team building: Can successfully gather teams to do great work together, aligned toward a common goal or outcome.
- Creative problem solving: When presented with “either/or” scenarios, help teams find the “third way” forward.
We're open to a variety of backgrounds and experiences, but here are the general skills and experience we’re looking for
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent years of related experience, MBA preferred.
- Recent experience at a high-growth startup where responsibilities increased.
- Run many successful programs simultaneously from inception through delivery.
- Thrives in a chaotic and ambiguous environment where the customer comes first.
- Proven ability to manage both ongoing and experimental initiatives.
- Previous experience in: operations, design, product, analysis or marketing.
- Success driven/Purpose-driven/Why driven - Able to measure and speak to the success or failure of their initiatives.
- Learning mindset - always looking for ways to improve and expand their skillset.
- Understands the needs and goals of our members. Comes up with creative solutions to their needs and scales up programs that already work.
- Process builder and deeply organized - Everything would work smoothly if you disappeared tomorrow. You put projects and processes in place that are easy to follow and enable fast work that clears dependencies and blockers quickly.
- Stellar communication - Knows how to get buy in and alignment through communication, can champion their ideas. Keeps alignment through over communication, if there weren’t notes taken it didn’t happen.
- Takes success personally - Is the last line of defense for something getting done. If there aren't resources or a specialist to handle something, you figure out how to do it.
- Eats Chaos for Breakfast.
$90,000 - $120,000 a year
Benefits at Ridwell
We are committed to creating a supportive environment for our employees. We offer the following:
Flexible vacation and sick leave policy
Comprehensive healthcare benefits including vision and dental
Paid parental leave
401(k) plan
Individuals seeking employment at Ridwell are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or sexual orientation.
COVID-19 update for Ridwell employees
All Ridwell employees must be fully vaccinated except as necessary to accommodate disability or religious belief, candidates will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination (e.g., a copy of a vaccine card or other similar official document confirming vaccination status) prior to their first day of employment.
How we are protecting employees from COVID-19
At Ridwell, employee health and safety is our top priority. We have implemented processes and precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our facilities. For more information, please contact our HR department at HR@Ridwell.com.
