👋 Hey Diana here! Welcome to the #17 issue of the Operations Optimist newsletter. Each week I tackle questions about building operations functions in startups and share my lessons from working in venture capital. In today’s newsletter, we break down all the different operations roles as you scale up.
All early-stage operations teams start in the same way: one person doing everything on the non-technical side.
That first ops hire is onboarding teammates, setting up payroll, forecasting cash, booking travel, and prepping board decks... Sometimes all before lunch. But as your company scales, your operations function matures into Finance, Sales Ops, BizOps, People Ops, and more.
Let’s talk about what those roles actually look like, and how to evolve your operations organisation.
How startup operations roles evolve as you scale
Five common roles that grow out of Operations generalist positions.
1. Business Operations (BizOps)
Sometimes also known as Strategy & Operations Manager.
This is your strategy-execution hybrid. BizOps is part analyst, part project manager, part fixer.
They run point on critical projects, wrangle chaos into process, and partner cross-functionally to solve top-priority problems — from board decks to implementing pricing changes.
Why it matters: This is the person who makes sure smart decisions actually get implemented. They translate vision into actions, and fill the gaps that don’t fit anywhere else yet.
What to look for: Ex-consultants, investment bankers, or experienced startup generalists.
When to hire: When you're launching new initiatives, drowning in one-off ops fire drills, or need someone to own cross-functional execution.
2. Business Development (BizDev)
BizDev is often confused with sales, but they differ in finding and building new growth channels: partnerships, integrations, channel plays.
They think in levers, not just leads. And they unlock revenue opportunities that don’t come from direct sales.
Why it matters: If your growth relies on others — platforms, partners, channels, BizDev helps you unlock it.
What to look for: Strategic thinkers, good negotiators, strong communicators. Backgrounds vary — but they’ve usually done business development or partnerships before.
When to hire: When your go-to-market strategy needs leverage beyond your own direct sales or marketing.
3. Sales Operations
Sales Ops exists to make your sales team faster, better, and more efficient. They don’t close deals. They make it easier for others to do it at scale by handling CRM tools, compensation plans, pipeline reporting, forecasting — anything that helps sales reps sell.
Why it matters: Without sales ops, your revenue org becomes a chaos. With them, you get clean data, real visibility, and scalable systems.
What to look for: Analytical, process-obsessed, folks who love systems and spreadsheets. Backgrounds in consulting, finance, or data analysis are common.
When to hire: Once you have 3+ salespeople and want to track performance or forecast reliably. Or if your sales team starts spending more time on admin than selling.
4. People Operations
This is HR rebranded. People Ops owns the employee experience from onboarding to offboarding, and builds employee experience at your company. Think of these as culture amplifiers. Not only do they handle benefits, compliance, compensation, and performance feedback —they also foster an environment where talent can thrive.
Why it matters: Early culture gets set fast. People Ops gives structure to that chaos and focuses on how people get hired, work, grow, manage and lead at your company.
What to look for: Generalist operators, HR specialists, systems thinkers with strong EQ. Bonus if they’ve built processes from scratch or worked at a scaling company.
When to hire: Once you hit 20+ people and founder-DIY’ed HR processes are breaking down. Or if you’re starting to hire aggressively (multiple roles per month).
5. Finance
Startup finance isn't just bookkeeping. A strong finance lead helps you understand burn, runway, pricing, and planning. They make sure you stay compliant, taxes are filed and you actually know what’s going on in your bank account.
Why it matters: This one is obvious. Without clear financial visibility, you can’t make smart bets.
What to look for: Someone who’s done more than just close the books. Pure accounting won’t cut it, look for financial projections and analysis (FP&A), budgeting, and strategic finance experience.
When to hire: Most early stage companies can do just fine with fractional experts. Full-time is more common around Series A/B.
That’s it. Here’s what we covered today:
All ops teams start as one person doing everything
As your company matures, so does the operations function into more focused roles
BizOps, Sales Ops, People Ops, Finance, and BizDev all solve different problems, but can find home under the Operations umbrella
As you scale, don’t copy someone else’s org chart, Operations is the one department that is shaped by your founding team’s and business needs.