Thinking Machines is a technology consultancy building AI & data platforms to solve high-impact problems for our clients. Our vision is a future where data-driven decision-making is a norm and where AI is used to support humans in making excellent decisions. To do that, we create data cultures one organization at a time.
We’re a company made up of intellectually curious, civic-minded, forever-learning individuals. We believe that great data technology products are built with care for people and that the best way to drive inclusive innovation is to start with a diverse team.
Our field of work is incredibly dynamic, so we want to work with people who are committed to growing with us. We want to hire people who can demonstrate an ability to learn, then provide them with personalized coaching, growth opportunities, and a great working environment to get them to world-class.
The Business Operations Analyst will be part of the Business Operations Unit, under the Growth Team.
The Growth team is TM’s Sales Organization spanning multiple functions: Marketing, Sales, Talent Development, Relationship Management, Enterprise Solutions Engineering, and Data Strategy Consulting. The team is committed to driving sustainable growth for Thinking Machines by matching our clients’ needs with leading-edge data solutions.
The Business Operations (Biz-Ops) Team wins by making teammates win. Our responsibility is to grow the company’s revenue by maintaining and optimizing two key infrastructures: (a) business processes that the sales teams need to win deals and (b) information systems that enable executives to make high-quality internal decisions and develop their own strategies.
BizOps’ mission is to achieve operational excellence and efficiency in the following areas of responsibility:
Sales and Revenue Reporting: Data infrastructure and lifecycle from collection and reporting systems that enable the company’s senior leadership, country managers, and industry leads to assess the company’s performance and push, pivot, or terminate their plans just in time to meet their targets.
Sales Operations: Govern and run the facilities, procedures, and processes and equip the sales teams with the tools and knowledge they need to win deals.
Partner Relations and Operations: Grow our professional relationships and commercial engagements with technology partners
Chief of Staff to the VP of Growth: Ensure alignment of multiple business units in Growth, and across other teams. Execute the VP’s key initiatives.
As a member of the BizOps team, you can expect a mix of individual contributor and project management roles.
Run, maintain, improve, and design our standard and business-critical processes. These assignments can include generating sales reports, running sales retrospectives, managing access to our assets, responding to client inquiries, managing vendor accreditation processes, maintaining partnership requirements, and responding to sales team requests. We rotate and assign this based on interest and skills.
Design and stabilize a new process or policy based on new and urgent high-impact needs that will reduce wastage and drive efficiency to the organization.
Facilitate information gathering and reaching consensus among cross-functional teams to determine the way forward. Run effective leadership meetings and sales standups. Coordinate cross-functional changes and projects that span multiple business units within Growth and with other departments (e.g. Data Platforms Delivery, Machine Learning, Security, Finance, People Operations) especially as they relate to Growth’s processes.
Measure company performance on sales and revenue KPIs and monitor the progress of Growth teams’ OKRs.
Leverage tools or software (CRM, Staffing tools, issue, and ticket management) or internal tools we can develop ourselves (data warehouses, automation, and dashboards). Sometimes, we build, sometimes we buy, but what is sure is we don’t automate faulty processes.
Seasonally, you can also be assigned as lead or contributor to internal projects of varying size and complexity.
We run the full course of research (turning data to insights), alignment (getting stakeholders on board), execution (getting things done), and performance management (tracking and sustaining success). Biz-Ops’ first act is as internal consultant, parachuting into a problem area and digging in. Understand the space, blockers, and key elements to turn it around. Biz-Ops’ second act is as project manager to develop and execute a right-sized action plan based on the problem’s urgency and complexity and deliver what it takes to sustain success in these programs.
Internal projects could be:
Leveling up our internal analytics capabilities - sales and resource forecasting
Researching and evaluating potential revenue from a new source
Passing the audit from international audit organization to gain credentials and certifications
Setting up a new function or role in Growth
At least 2 years of experience in sales operations, sales, business development, or account management roles. We will also consider experience in project management, business operations, management consulting, or chief of staff if you are able to apply your skills in a sales environment.
Track record in solving a high-impact and complex problem or running a key internal initiative with multiple stakeholders
No coding experience is necessary
We’ve doubled in size in the last 2 years. We are also now operating in 3 Southeast Asian Cities and serving clients worldwide. You’d be a great fit for this key role in a fast-growing team if you have the following qualities:
Service-oriented nature. Solve users’ pain points to make them effective and efficient in their roles. Do you derive professional satisfaction from being of service to others and designing processes that are pleasant and rewarding to use?
Creativity and resourcefulness. Knack for finding structure in chaos and responding to requests that no one else has figured out before you. Can you think on your feet when receiving a new request or requirement with no existing template or procedure? Can you design experiments to see which approach we should take before bringing in more resources or rolling them out to the rest of the team?
Strong advocate of data-driven decision-making. Belief that data can change people’s minds and help them make better decisions.
Project Management. A burning desire to get things done. You are the number one champion of your project and you can rally your teammates to meet the project outcomes and navigate new challenges discovered in the course of the project.
Ability to structure complex and ambiguous business issues. Diagnose problems and pain points in the processes across different stakeholders and levels of seniority. Discover root causes through various means such as interviews, small group discussions, and data investigation.
Collaborative and Adaptive Problem Solver. Energized in being in a highly collaborative role and diverse types of problem-solving with varying team composition, stakeholders, and problem areas. The problems could take different areas in different parts of the company (e.g. learning, finance, people engagement, pricing, billing).
Systems Thinking and Change Management Champion. Systems are not locked in place and we’re continuously improving. Develop strategy and implementation plans to ensure the team’s adoption of new policies or processes.
Internal stakeholder management and diplomacy. Tactfully opinionated and able to hold your own in leading projects and confidently communicate with leaders and executives in the company. This is not a client-facing role, but there are times when there is correspondence with client, partner, and vendor counterparts to set up or figure out our own processes, or troubleshoot a problem area.
Industry: Fast-growing startup, Technology, Cloud hyperscalers
Skills and familiarity with tools of the trade: Client Relationship Management, Data Transformation, Data Analysis, Data Visualization
Competitive salary— the compensation amount is positively correlated with the difficulty of the job, relevant experience, fit, and skill factors.
Remote first — due to the global pandemic, we have shifted to a remote-first company for the foreseeable future while we monitor the situation.
Individual professional development budget— an annual budget for conferences, training courses, books, and software is available to sharpen your skills and build new ones to help you grow in your role.
Full health benefits — generous health insurance package upon hiring and with options to include dependents.
Regular 1:1 meetings and yearly performance reviews with the leadership team to discuss career and personal goals, job progress, and any questions and concerns.
A BizOps role gives you a front-row seat to how a technology company expands to multi-country operations and evolves to changing landscapes. At Thinking Machines, you can expect this role to give you:
Exposure to the business operations of a technology company. Multi-faceted experience in the BizOps team can expose you to multiple parts of the business and give you the opportunity to find which disciplines you are most interested in specializing in and grow your roots. A Business Operations Analyst Role in the Growth Team can prepare you for a future career as a Sales Operations Manager or Chief Operations Officer.
Exposure to the Southeast Asia market and technology players. See how the regional ecosystem, composed of large data firms, start-ups, conglomerates and small to medium enterprises, government, and development sectors, is shaping up in terms of Data Transformation and Artificial intelligence. We serve a broad range of industries spanning across telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, retail, and transportation.
Opportunity to develop your Technical Knowledge. You will have several opportunities to understand major and up-and-coming players in the technology space. Learn from our internal teams on the innovations in Artificial Intelligence, Data Visualization, Data and Software Engineering, and UX/UI Design. There are technologies you will not use hands-on but you can gain an understanding conceptually and know their capabilities and limitations.