Head of Operations

Location: Remote 

Employment type: Full time

Hours: New Zealand business hours (NZT) 

Reports to: Founder & CEO 

About the Role

We are looking for a Head of Operations to run Deskwork's operational engine end to end.

This is a broad, senior role. You will own day-to-day operations and service delivery, lead recruitment for client roles, manage a small internal team, hold the client relationship at an operational level, and work directly alongside the Founder & CEO as his executive support — keeping his priorities, follow-ups and commitments moving.

You will spend as much time delegating and quality-checking as executing. Much of the work below is delivered through your team; your job is to make sure it happens, on time and to standard.

Operations and service delivery

• Own daily operational compliance across the team: attendance, timekeeping, leave filing and timesheet accuracy
• Review and approve timesheets, and produce timesheet and staffing reports
• Run onboarding end to end: documentation, checklists, system setup and orientation for new team members
• Prepare engagement and service agreements, issue them for signing, and keep records current
• Manage client handovers, and resolve operational escalations from both clients and team members
• Run client offboarding end to end
• Run contractor offboarding end to end

Recruitment

• Lead recruitment for client roles from brief to placement
• Draft job descriptions, publish job advertisements and manage the applicant tracking pipeline
• Conduct CV screening, initial interviews, candidate preparation calls and background checks
• Review candidate profiles and present shortlists to clients, then coordinate client interviews through to offer
• Make sure every candidate, successful or not, hears back promptly and professionally

Client relationship

• Run quarterly client check-ins and temp-check surveys, and act on what comes back
• Own operational escalations and keep clients informed before they have to ask
• Support new client onboarding, including welcome communications and account setup

Team leadership and engagement

• Manage and develop a small internal team, setting priorities and holding standards
• Run regular catch-ups with offshore team members and new hires, and act on what surfaces
• Plan and host quarterly social events, run engagement surveys, and manage company merchandise and recognition for birthdays, anniversaries and new starters

Executive support to the CEO

• Act as executive assistant to the Founder & CEO: manage priorities, prepare him for meetings, and track delegated work through to completion
• Attend prospective client calls with or on behalf of the CEO, and follow up on pipeline activity
• Support outbound lead activity on LinkedIn and through our outreach tools

Process, systems and automation

• Write and maintain the process documentation the business runs on, reviewed quarterly
• Keep our HR system, CRM, task boards and Google Drive structure accurate and organised
• Identify manual work worth automating, then help scope, test and roll out the results

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years in operations, with at least 2 years leading a team
• Experience in recruitment, staffing, BPO, outsourcing or a similar people-heavy services business
• Strong end-to-end recruitment exposure: screening, interviewing and presenting candidates to stakeholders
• Confident dealing directly with business owners and senior client contacts, in writing and on calls
• Genuinely organised: you track your own commitments and other people's without being chased
• Clear, direct written English: most of our client and team communication is written
• Comfortable with modern business tools and a strong interest in AI and automation. We use Employment Hero, monday.com, Google Workspace, Canva and LinkedIn Recruiter, and we build with AI daily
• Able to work New Zealand business hours from a reliable home office with stable internet

Nice to have

• Experience supporting a founder or executive directly
• Experience working with New Zealand or Australian clients
• Hands-on experience building or running automations