Emma David

Strategic Projects Manager

Paraform

Revenue Operations
Posted by Emma David

Overview

You work on strategic projects that help Paraform scale their marketplace operations. Emma David mentions moving from "scrappy ops experiments" to structured processes - that's what this role does. You're not in a traditional sales ops seat; you're tackling cross-functional problems like improving recruiter-client matching, streamlining placement workflows, or launching new marketplace features.


Role Snapshot

AspectDetails
Role TypeStrategic operations / internal projects
Sales MotionN/A - internal role
Deal ComplexityN/A
Sales CycleN/A
Deal SizeN/A
Quota (est.)Project delivery milestones, not revenue

Company Context

Stage: Series B (just raised $65M led by Scale Venture Partners)

Size: 191 employees

Growth: 10x'd revenue in past year, scaled from 15 to 90+ in standups, rapidly building infrastructure

Market Position: High-growth recruiting marketplace moving from scrappy startup to scaled operations


What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Project Work (50%) | Cross-functional Meetings (30%) | Analysis/Reporting (20%)

Key Activities

  • Marketplace optimization: Working on improving ParaAI matching algorithms, recruiter quality scoring, client satisfaction metrics. You're analyzing data on what makes successful placements and trying to systematize it.
  • Process design: Taking things that currently happen through Slack messages and spreadsheets and building actual workflows. Examples: how clients onboard, how recruiters get paid, how disputes get resolved.
  • Special projects: Whatever the leadership team needs investigated or launched. Could be new pricing models, expansion into new job categories, partnerships, competitive analysis. Projects change every quarter.
  • Cross-functional coordination: You sit between sales, operations, product, and the recruiter network. Lots of meetings aligning stakeholders, gathering requirements, and pushing projects forward when they stall.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

  • Scope is deliberately vague. You're expected to figure out what needs fixing and how to fix it. If you need clear job descriptions and defined processes, this will frustrate you.
  • Priorities shift constantly in a hypergrowth environment. Projects you start in January might get deprioritized by March when a bigger fire emerges.
  • You don't own a team or budget - success requires influencing people who don't report to you and getting buy-in from busy executives.
  • Marketplace dynamics are messy. Balancing recruiter needs vs client needs vs company economics is a constant three-way tradeoff with no perfect answer.

What Success Looks Like

  • Launching 2-3 major initiatives per year that measurably improve marketplace metrics (placement speed, recruiter retention, client NPS)
  • Being the person executives pull into strategic conversations because you understand how the business actually works
  • Building processes that scale - things that work for 90 people and will still work at 300

Who You Work With

Key Stakeholders:

  • Operations leaders managing day-to-day marketplace operations
  • Product team building the platform and ParaAI features
  • Sales/GTM leaders who need better tools and processes
  • Finance/analytics for data and business modeling
  • External recruiter network for marketplace supply-side initiatives

What They Need From You:

  • Clear project plans with realistic timelines
  • Data-driven recommendations, not opinions
  • Ability to execute without constant direction
  • Translation between technical/product teams and business stakeholders

Requirements

  • 3-5 years in consulting, operations, or strategic projects at a tech company
  • Experience with marketplace or two-sided platform businesses helpful
  • Strong analytical skills - comfortable with SQL, Excel/Sheets, data analysis
  • Project management ability without formal PM training or resources
  • Comfortable with ambiguity and changing priorities in fast-growth environments
  • Bonus: Understanding of recruiting/HR tech, sales operations, or revenue operations