Operations Coordinator

Overview

You support the day-to-day operations of an immigration services firm that helps founders and STEM professionals get U.S. work visas and green cards. You'll coordinate between clients, attorneys, and government agencies, manage case timelines, and help with marketing/event execution. This is a small team (14 people), so you do whatever's needed—client comms, admin work, event planning.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Early-stage startup (funding unknown)

Size: 14 employees

Growth: Actively hiring multiple roles

Market Position: Niche player in immigration services market, targeting high-value clients (founders, academics, STEM professionals) with emphasis on speed and transparency

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Client Coordination (40%) | Case Administration (30%) | Events/Marketing (20%) | Misc Admin (10%)

Key Activities

• Client Communication: Responding to emails from visa applicants, scheduling consultation calls with attorneys, sending status updates on petition filings, chasing clients for missing documents
• Case Management: Updating spreadsheets with petition deadlines, tracking USCIS filing dates, organizing client documentation, ensuring attorneys have what they need for filings
• Event Coordination: Planning webinars or client events, booking venues, managing guest lists, coordinating with vendors, handling logistics for marketing initiatives
• Administrative Cleanup: Whatever falls through the cracks—fixing data entry errors, organizing file systems, updating internal wikis, helping with onboarding new hires

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Immigration cases have hard government deadlines and missing one has serious consequences—you're constantly checking dates and following up
• Clients are anxious about their visa status and will email multiple times per day asking for updates you don't have yet
• You're doing a lot of repetitive admin work (data entry, document organization, email follow-ups) with high stakes for accuracy
• At a 14-person company, processes aren't fully built—you'll be figuring things out and creating systems as you go
• Events and marketing are "whenever there's time" projects that get deprioritized when case deadlines hit

What Success Looks Like

• No missed USCIS deadlines or filing errors in your cases
• Clients get timely responses (within 24 hours) and feel informed about their petition status
• Attorneys have everything they need before they need it—you're proactive, not reactive
• Events run smoothly without last-minute fires

Who You're Supporting

Primary Stakeholders:

• Immigration attorneys (preparing and filing petitions)
• Clients (founders, STEM professionals, academics waiting on visa approvals)
• Internal team (founders, other ops staff)

What They Care About:

• Attorneys: Accurate documentation, hitting filing deadlines, no errors that could jeopardize cases
• Clients: Clear communication, knowing where their petition stands, getting their visa approved
• Founders: Efficient operations, happy clients, no balls dropped

Requirements

• Extreme attention to detail (this is explicitly stated—mistakes in immigration filings have real consequences)
• Comfortable with ambiguity and building processes from scratch at an early-stage startup
• Strong written communication for client emails and documentation
• Ability to juggle multiple deadlines and prioritize urgent vs important
• Driven and ambitious (they want someone who will grow the role beyond the initial scope)
• Early in career but hungry to take on responsibility