Director of Program Operations

About First Round

First Round is a venture capital firm that works with founders exclusively at the earliest stages of company building, often when all they have is an "imagine if." We fill in where we can until the team is filled out, tackling crucial early hiring and equipping those who are great at building product with the skills to sell it, too. By getting the foundational firsts right, we increase the odds of finding extreme product-market fit. Our founders' "imagine ifs" have turned into companies like Notion, Roblox, Uber, and Square.
About the Director of Program Operations Role

As Director of Program Operations on the Enablement team, you will play a pivotal role in managing and executing flagship programs and events that bring together future founders, industry leaders, investors, and other key members of the tech ecosystem. From playing a key role in delivering our Product Market Fit Method and Angel Track programs to curating intimate Supper Clubs, Salons, and Retreats, you will collaborate directly with our Partners and leadership to bring remarkable experiences to life. Your focus will be on managing the many moving parts behind the scenes - from designing seamless systems, to tracking and reporting on results, to getting hands-on with day-of event execution.

Your Core Responsibilities

Program Development

• Collaborate with leadership and key stakeholders to define program priorities, formats, and goals, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
• Analyze program performance using qualitative feedback and data to refine, scale, or sunset initiatives.

Program Operations

• Plan, manage, and track program and event timelines, budgets, vendors, and logistics.
• Optimize and maintain core resources, including event processes, calendars, templates, guest and vendor directories, and planning playbooks.
• Own internal communication and alignment, ensuring stakeholders stay proactively informed and on deadline.
• Ensure flawless management of key data about relationships, referrals, and results.

Relationship Management

• Build and manage systems (like a dynamic People & Relationship Directory) that make it easy to curate guest lists, prep hosts with meaningful context, and facilitate high-value introductions across our ecosystem.
• Track, analyze, and surface key signals from our network to help the team identify relationship opportunities, measure program impact, and ensure our efforts lead to lasting value for our communities.

Event Execution

• Serve directly as our on-the-ground facilitator for retreats and events when needed, and collaborate with our incredible Events Coordinator, Office Managers, EAs, and other team members to ensure flawless execution and an incredible experience for attendees.
• Bring energy and presence as the event MC, ensuring smooth transitions and engaging interactions.
• Nail the details - everything from vendor management and last-minute seating adjustments to designing thoughtful conversation cards, creating a flawless event timeline, and ensuring every detail is perfect, down to the name tags and table settings.

You Could Be a Great Fit If:

• You're an exceptional project manager and executor, balancing creativity with rigorous operational execution.
• You're confident in leading executive stakeholders, setting clear expectations, and ensuring accountability for deadlines.
• You have excellent communication skills and can seamlessly collaborate across multiple teams and stakeholders.
• You are extremely detail-oriented and identify with flawless execution and impeccably designed experiences.
• You embody extreme ownership, driving initiatives forward with autonomy and accountability.
• You are energized by experimentation and innovation across a large volume of event types and formats.
• You thrive in fast-paced, dynamic environments and are able to adapt quickly to changing priorities.
• You love working behind the scenes, taking pride in facilitating meaningful connections - even when they're not directly with you.

This role is based in San Francisco and requires at least three days per week in-office, as well as availability to travel for select events in other key markets.
Our Values

At First Round, we value resourcefulness, team-play, excellence and hustle. To give you a sense of what our team is all about, check out our values that guide our work:

• Try harder for founders. They're our customers - LPs are our shareholders. Going above and beyond for our founders is what we do. We strive to be a founder's most valuable investor. That's why we don't pull term sheets, and we're always in for their second round. We respond to their emails in hours, not days. We build candidate pipelines, unprompted. We arrange meal deliveries when they become a new parent. Simply put, we go above and beyond to earn that right to be their first call every time there's a bump in the road.
• Give your unvarnished opinions and unwavering support. We strive to be kind, not nice. One of the most (counterintuitively) compassionate things you can do is to offer your unvarnished opinion - along with your unwavering support. That willingness to risk a fleeting moment of discomfort in exchange for someone else's growth is long-term kindness.
• Treat the little things like big things. Everything can always be made better. We're all about the carefully crafted, the nitty-gritty, and the bespoke. Whether it's hand cutting each nameplate, or debating the optimal shape of the dinner table, no detail is too small to sweat.
• Make speed a habit. Whatever you're building, remember that now is better than two weeks from now. We're fans of starting small and iterating quickly. No matter what we're launching, you'll likely hear this question in a meeting: "How soon can we get something out there?"
• Invent and wander. Never stop experimenting. The best ideas are born out of experimentation. Our flagship programs have always come from our penchant for going out on a limb and approaching problems with a different perspective.
• Build wider doorways and longer tables. We're in the business of backing people and betting on their ideas - no matter where they come from. While talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. First Round is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workspace and we encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply!