Senior Manager, Operations & People

House of Jewellery, a distinguished wholesale jewellery company based in Toronto, is seeking a Senior Manager, Operations & People to become the CEO’s operational right hand. Reporting directly to the CEO, this role is designed as a phased leadership transition. You will begin by shadowing the CEO to document how the business runs, then gradually take on direct ownership of specific departments as you demonstrate mastery, judgment, and trust.

This is a high trust, high visibility role for someone who wants to build real operating systems inside a growing, founder led company and who is comfortable earning expanded responsibility in stages rather than all at once. This role will also involve working closely with the CEO on operational priorities, attending select meetings, supporting follow up, and occasionally working or travelling alongside the CEO for business meetings, supplier meetings, client related meetings, industry events, or other business needs.

What You Will Be Doing: Phase 1: Shadow & Document Work closely alongside the CEO across all functions of the business to understand how decisions are made, how departments operate, and where key knowledge currently sits. • Translate that knowledge into clear, repeatable Standard Operating Procedures, with an eye toward what can eventually be streamlined or automated using AI tools. • Work with department leads to create SOPs for their respective departments within the first 6 months. • Build and maintain the company’s operational manual as a single source of truth for policies, processes, standards, and workflows so the business depends less on any one individual’s memory and more on documented systems. • Serve as a support to the CEO on select operational priorities, meetings, follow ups, documentation, and business initiatives. • Attend occasional business meetings, supplier meetings, client related meetings, industry events, or travel with the CEO where business needs require. • Identify operational gaps, inefficiencies, or areas of confusion across departments and propose practical improvements that strengthen both execution and team experience.

Phase 2: Take Direct Ownership Assume direct leadership of the Marketing, Procurement, and Front Office / Client Services functions, including their existing team members, once onboarding milestones are met. • Serve as the first point of contact for day-to-day operational questions and roadblocks from the team, resolving what you can and escalating only what genuinely requires the CEO’s judgment. • Recommend where department leads could be given more autonomy in their day-to-day decision making, for the CEO’s review and sign off. • Lead the daily and weekly operating rhythm of the business, including check ins, standups, priorities, deadlines, and follow through. • Hold team members accountable to deadlines and performance standards through direct, respectful coaching, in partnership with the external HR consultant on broader people strategy. • Help create KPIs for all staff based on their job responsibilities, duties, and business priorities. • Begin playing a more active role in reinforcing the company’s culture by observing team dynamics, identifying communication or accountability gaps, and helping ensure the working environment remains respectful, collaborative, and aligned with the CEO’s expectations.

Phase 3: Expand Ownership & Support Culture Over a multi year horizon, take on broader operational oversight across additional departments as business knowledge, trust, and leadership capability are demonstrated. • Support greater consistency across departments by ensuring leaders are aligned on expectations, communication practices, timelines, accountability, and follow through. • Act as a culture steward across the business by staying close to team dynamics, reinforcing professional standards, and flagging emerging people, communication, or accountability concerns before they become larger operational issues. • Help strengthen the leadership capacity of department leads by supporting clarity, accountability, follow through, and consistent decision making. • Continue improving systems, workflows, and documentation so the business depends less on individual memory and more on scalable, repeatable processes. • Key Accounts, including the company’s largest retail partnerships and the Canadian Jewellery Group relationship, will continue to report directly to the CEO in the near to medium term. Oversight of this function may transition to this role only in the longer term, once significant trust, business knowledge, and tenure are established.

Qualifications: We want to make sure you will succeed, and here are the qualifications that will set you up for success: • 3 to 5 years of experience in operations management, project management, business operations, or a Chief of Staff type role, ideally with some exposure to a small, founder led, family owned, or entrepreneurial business. • Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous, informal processes into clear, documented systems. • Comfort managing people and holding them accountable to standards and deadlines, even when it requires a direct conversation. • High emotional intelligence, discretion, and adaptability. • Ability to operate as a learner in the early phase and gradually step into stronger leadership as ownership expands. • Strong communication skills and the ability to work closely with a CEO, department leads, team members, suppliers, and external partners. • Working knowledge of AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity, and a genuine interest in using them to automate or improve manual processes. • High proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Suite. • Comfort learning new software quickly, including tools such as Trello and Odoo. • Excellent organizational skills and meticulous attention to detail. • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment while maintaining strong follow through. • Interest or experience in jewellery, fashion, wholesale, luxury retail, or product-based businesses is an asset but not required.

What Will Make You Successful Here: • You build trust through consistency, follow through, and good judgment. • You are comfortable working closely with a founder while also helping create structure that allows the business to scale. • You can be hands on and strategic in the same day. • You notice where communication is breaking down and where accountability needs to be strengthened. • You can support people while still being comfortable having direct conversations. • You understand that culture is shaped through daily expectations, communication, leadership habits, and follow through. • You are energized by building systems, improving processes, and helping a team work more effectively.

What’s In It For You: • A rare opportunity to help shape the operating backbone of a 25-plus year old, growing Canadian jewellery wholesaler. • Direct, close working partnership with the CEO and exposure to every part of the business. • A clear path of expanding responsibility and growth as you prove yourself in each phase. • Opportunity to influence operations, systems, team structure, accountability, and culture. • Fast paced, collaborative team environment. • Personal and professional growth opportunities. • Company provided benefits plan after the probationary period. • 3 weeks of vacation. • Eligibility for an annual bonus of up to 5%, based on company and individual performance. • Business casual dress in a professional downtown Toronto office.

About the Details: • Full time permanent position, with 3 (three) weeks vacation, prorated. • 37.5 to 44 hours per week. • Based primarily out of our downtown Toronto office. • Onsite first role due to the hands-on nature of operations, team support, and daily business flow. • Hybrid flexibility: up to 2 remote days per month. • Occasional business travel, offsite meetings, supplier meetings, client related meetings, industry events, or work alongside the CEO may be required. • Employment is subject to confidentiality and non solicitation agreements.

Accessibility & Inclusion: House of Jewellery is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Accommodation is available upon request for candidates participating in all stages of the selection process. We welcome candidates who bring diverse experiences, perspectives, and working styles, and who are excited to contribute to a respectful, collaborative, and high performing workplace.