Manager, Operational Foundations

THUMBTACK HELPS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE CONFIDENTLY CARE FOR THEIR HOMES. Thumbtack is the one app you need to take care of and improve your home — from personalized guidance to AI tools and a best-in-class hiring experience. Every day in every county of the U.S., people turn to Thumbtack to complete urgent repairs, seasonal maintenance and bigger improvements. We help homeowners know which projects to do, when to do them and who to hire from our growing community of 300,000 local service businesses. If making an impact inspires you, join us. Imagine what we’ll build together. ABOUT THE COMMERCIAL STRATEGY TEAM The Commercial Strategy team sits within the Business Development & Commercial Programs org and is responsible for helping take ideas from 0 to 1 by leading strategic initiatives and bets, and partnering cross functionally with other teams to test, experiment, and implement new strategies. The Partner Operations sub-team is the engine behind Thumbtack's partnerships business. We build the scalable systems, processes, and infrastructure that turn partner opportunities into operational reality. Beyond running the day-to-day, we lead high-priority strategic initiatives and early-stage pilots that don't fit neatly into existing lanes, coordinate cross-functionally to align workflows and ownership for new capabilities, and drive the transition from pilot to scalable operations. When we do our job well, partners grow, capabilities expand, and revenue grows. ABOUT THE ROLE As the Manager, Operational Foundations, you will lead the team responsible for the systems, processes, and support capabilities that make partnerships easier to launch and scale. Reporting to the Senior Manager of Partnership Operations, you’ll manage a globally distributed team of three to four people across the U.S. and the Philippines and own core functions spanning partner onboarding, integrations, partner finance, reporting, and internal tooling. You will own the developer and partner onboarding experience from application through launch, establishing clear acceptance criteria, service levels, approval workflows, and performance measures. You will work closely with Product and Engineering to remove integration blockers, improve our APIs and partner-facing capabilities, and turn recurring support issues into scalable solutions and product insights. You will also set the internal tooling and automation strategy for Business Development, improving how teams use platforms such as Salesforce and Salesloft while identifying opportunities to apply new tools and AI to existing workflows. This is a high-impact player-coach role for a systems-minded operator who can improve today’s execution while building the durable operating foundation required for future growth. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Own developer and partner onboarding: Lead the end-to-end intake process from application through launch, defining acceptance criteria, review SLAs, approval workflows, ownership, and handoffs. - Improve onboarding performance: Track application-to-launch time, conversion, drop-off points, and time in stage; identify bottlenecks and drive improvements that reduce time to integration. - Lead integration support: Oversee the team that resolves partner integration issues and establish a clear, prioritized escalation path with Product and Engineering for API issues, bugs, and feature gaps. - Scale the support experience: Build a knowledge base and self-serve troubleshooting resources that improve the partner experience, deflect repeat tickets, and allow support to scale efficiently. - Turn operational insights into product improvements: Report on ticket volume, resolution time, satisfaction, and recurring issue themes; quantify systemic problems and translate them into clear roadmap input for Product and Engineering. - Own Business Development tooling and automation: Set the strategy for Salesforce, Salesloft, ticketing systems, dashboards, API monitoring, and AI-enabled workflows that improve visibility and scale the organization without linear headcount growth. - Lead core Partner Operations functions: Manage and develop a globally distributed team responsible for partner finance, reporting, onboarding, integration support, and Business Development workflow enablement, with clear priorities and accountability for SLA targets. IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU MUST BRING - 5+ years of experience in partnership operations, developer operations, technical program management, business operations, revenue operations, or a related field. - 2+ years of people-management experience, with a demonstrated ability to set direction, develop talent, and lead a team of operators. - Experience designing and improving onboarding, implementation, or support processes, including clear workflows, service levels, ownership, and performance measures. - Technical fluency with APIs, integrations, data flows, and business systems, with the ability to partner effectively with Product and Engineering. - Experience developing tooling and automation strategies across platforms such as Salesforce, Salesloft, ticketing systems, reporting tools, or AI-enabled workflows. - Strong analytical and program-management skills, with the ability to diagnose root causes, prioritize competing needs, and drive complex initiatives from concept through execution. - Clear, influential communication skills and an owner mentality, with strong learning agility, a bias for action, and a low-ego approach to leadership and collaboration.   EXPECTED SALARY RANGES - For candidates living in San Francisco / Bay Area, San Jose, New York City, or Seattle metros, the expected total cash compensation (base salary + variable pay, if applicable) range for the role is currently $153,000.00 - $198,000.00. - For candidates living in Austin, TX or Washington DC metros or in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Washington states, total cash compensation (base salary + variable pay, if applicable) range for the role is currently $137,700.00 - $178,200.00. - For candidates living in all other US locations, total cash compensation (base salary + variable pay, if applicable) range for the role is currently $130,100.00 - $168,300.00. Actual offered salaries will vary and will be based on various factors, such as calibrated job level, qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role. Thumbtack embraces diversity. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, age, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic information, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, provincial, state, or local law. We also will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable law. Thumbtack is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a medical condition or disability during any part of the application process, please contact: [email protected]. For information about how Thumbtack collects, uses, and shares personal information about job applicants, please see our Job Applicant Privacy Policy https://www.thumbtack.com/job-applicant-privacy-policy. We put as much craftsmanship into candidate safety as we do into the hiring experience itself. While scammers may try to impersonate our team, we’ll never ask you for money, banking info, or SSNs during hiring. Check out our blueprint on how to spot the fakes. https://careers.thumbtack.com/recruiting-scams