Operating Principal

S

Sumeru Equity Partners

Operating Principal

San Mateo, CA
Full Time
Paid
  • Responsibilities

    Sumeru is searching for an Operating Principal based in the San Francisco Bay Area to lead AI first business process re-engineering across the portfolio. The successful candidate will enjoy exposure to multiple B2B software industries designing and executing programs that:

    • Map people, process, and technology to current business workflows
    • Redesign those workflows for AI, automation, and straight‑through processing
    • Deliver hard, auditable ROI impact within 6–18 months per company

    Ideal candidates have led complex software delivery and operations transformations (backoffice ERP/FP&A, professional services, supply chain software), and in the last two years have shifted to automation using recent workflow automation + AI tools including Claude Code, xClaw, RPA's/N8N and LLM‑based solutions to reduce manual work while improving value delivery. We are looking for an individual with depth similar to executives who have run global SaaS delivery / professional services organizations and led large‑scale modernization programs.

    As part of Sumeru's Growth Team of software operating executives, this passionate expert will be detail oriented, assemble disparate stakeholder views into a comprehensive plan, and be hands on as well as able to influence up and down the organizational structure. Critical to success, will be a history of deep collaboration within and across functional organizational boundaries such as Sales, Marketing, Product, IT, Finance.

    Responsibilities:

    • Portfolio AI automation roadmap – Maintain a portfolio‑wide AI and automation roadmap across business functions within portfolios and ranking efforts by savings, revenue lift, and payback period (e.g. support, onboarding, finance ops, field service, professional services, service delivery). Collaborate with other operating team members to maintain AI transformation best practices (e.g., Tier 1 support automation, order‑to‑cash automation, customer onboarding copilot, knowledge management + LLM search).
    • Deal team partnership and diligence – Participate in pre‑deal operational diligence , with specific focus on automation potential and AI readiness of core processes, quantifying AI and automation value creation cases (e.g., “$3–5M annual EBITDA uplift via 40% automation of Tier 1 support within 18 months”) and defend assumptions with management and IC and recommend critical leadership or org changes post‑close.
    • Delivery of AI Automation programs – Lead 1-3 flagship transformation programs per year as executive sponsor and SME working side by side with portco CEOs, COOs, CTOs, CPOs, and Heads of CX/Support/Operations. Own end‑to‑end program lifecycle including **discovery & baselining (**time‑in‑motion studies, process mining, data quality assessment, ticket/call analysis, funnel analysis), design ( future‑state processes, automation scope, target KPIs, and P&L impact), **build & integrate (**orchestrate vendors and internal teams across workflow tools, RPA, APIs, data platforms, LLM stacks, and existing SaaS applications), **pilot & scale (**structured pilots with A/B metrics; industrialize successful use cases across regions, customers, and products) while ensuring programs move material portions of work from human to machine (for example, increasing automation coverage from <20% to >60% of target transaction volumes without degrading CX).
    • Business process redesign – Re‑architect end‑to‑end business processes (not just point automations) across business functions, standardize KPIs, SLAs, and governance across multiple product lines, and embed ITIL / ITSM best practices where relevant, with AI tools augmenting service and ticket management.
    • AI workflow tooling and vendor strategy - Define reference architectures for standard automation tools (e.g. Claude Cowork/Code xClaw, n8n, UIPath, etc) and build a preferred vendor ecosystem (implementation partners, consultants, AI platform providers) and negotiate portfolio‑wide commercial terms.
    • Change management and capability building – Work with portco CEOs and HR leaders to design org and talent changes (e.g. automation product owners, citizen developers, prompt engineers), and FTE redeployment strategies and establish AI / automation COE's in key companies; codify and share learnings across the portfolio (patterns, code snippets, process designs, KPIs). Create and deliver executive and manager‑level training on AI/automation concepts, business case creation, and data‑driven decision‑making. Coach functional leaders to own and extend programs after initial deployment, avoiding dependence on external consultants.
    • Measurement and outcomes story – Build standard ROI tracking frameworks and incorporate AI and automation achievements into board materials, portfolio reviews, and outcomes narratives (e.g., “automated X% of tickets,” “cut MTTR by Y%,” “improved gross margin by Z pts”), directly supporting valuation re‑rating at exit.

    **Desired Qualifications
    ** Senior leader with Director/VP level experience in domains involving delivery of complex business process software such as ERP's/CRM's, FP&A systems, supply chain systems, on-premise to cloud migrations, or RPA's with recent experience in agentic tooling.

    • Experience:
      • Operating Principal level: 10–15 years with at least 5+ years owning large‑scale software delivery, operations, consulting, or product delivery, or support organizations.
    • Transformation Track Record: * Led at least 2–3 end‑to‑end enterprise‑scale transformations where you redesigned processes, technology, and org structure (not just tools implementation). * Demonstrated quantitative impact with provable measures, such as, reduction in volume, handle time, or implementation cycle time, gross margin/EBITDA improvement, or customer satisfaction.
    • AI / Automation Expertise: * Hands‑on experience using workflow automation/RPA/Agentic tools (e.g., Claude Code/Cowork, xClaw, ServiceNow, Zapier, UIPath, N8N, or similar) to orchestrate cross‑system flows. * Practical experience deploying LLM‑powered solutions in production, such as:
      • Support bots / intelligent virtual agents
      • Knowledge base search and summarization
      • Sales / success / implementation copilots
      • Document understanding (contracts, invoices, tickets).
        • Strong understanding of data, logging, and telemetry requirements for AI and automation; familiarity with RAG architectures and prompt design.
    • Functional Breadth: * Significant leadership responsibility over at least two of the following: CX, Revops, FP&A, DevOps/SRE, professional services / implementation, field service, or back‑office operations. * Comfort working with and influencing across functional leaders.
    • Leadership & Influence: * Proven ability to operate at Board and C‑suite level while also engaging deeply with frontline managers and technical teams. * Experience leading organizations of several hundred people or more (direct + indirect) and managing budgets. * Strong change‑management capabilities: restructuring teams, shifting work across regions, and leading cultural change around automation.
    • Financial & Strategic Acumen: * Ability to build robust business cases , interpret P&L and unit economics, and translate AI/automation outcomes into valuation impact. * Familiarity with SaaS metrics (ARR, NRR, CAC, LTV, gross margin, support cost per ticket, implementation margin).
    • Education: * BS in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience). * MBA or other advanced degree a plus, but not required.

    **Compensation
    ** The salary range for this position reflects base salary only. This role is also eligible for a discretionary bonus and offers a competitive benefits package.