Looking for Philippines-based candidates
Job Role: Founding Product & Operations Lead
Compensation range: $2,500 AUD - $3,000 AUD / Monthly
Engagement type: Independent Contractor Agreement
Work Schedule: This role is expected to align with the AU business hours (approx. 9 AM - 5 PM, Monday to Friday) for collaboration, but as a contractor, you’ll have flexibility in how you manage your time.
Who We Are: At Hunt St, we help Australian companies hire top remote talent in the Philippines. For this role, you will be engaged directly by the client as an independent contractor. We are not an outsourcing agency. All of our roles are 100% remote so you'll be able to work from home.
Who The Client Is: Our client is an early-stage Australian SaaS company building software specifically for dental practices. The company helps dental teams bring overdue patients back, manage recalls and follow-ups, communicate with patients via SMS, and keep patient engagement organised in one place.
The platform is designed to make patient communication and recall management simpler and more effective, helping practices identify overdue patients, run targeted SMS campaigns, manage two-way conversations, track follow-ups and measure the bookings and revenue generated.
As an early-stage and growing software business, the company is focused on building an intuitive, practical product that solves real operational problems for dental practices. The team is moving quickly, working closely with customers and continuously improving the product, processes and overall customer experience as the business scales.
Role Overview: We are looking for an exceptional Founding Product & Operations Lead to join an early-stage B2B SaaS company and work closely with the founder to build and scale the business from the ground up.
This is a highly hands-on role suited to someone who has personally helped scale an early-stage SaaS company, ideally as an early employee, Founder’s Associate, Product Lead, Head of Product, COO, VP Product, VP Operations, Chief of Staff, or similar leadership role.
This role requires someone who is comfortable moving between strategy and execution. You’ll work closely with the founder, developers, designers, and customers to shape the product, improve processes, solve operational challenges, and establish the systems needed to support future growth.
Initially, you’ll be an individual contributor with significant ownership across product and operations. As the company grows, there will be an opportunity to build and lead teams across product, QA, customer support, and operations, with the potential to progress into a senior leadership position such as Head of Product & Operations, VP Product & Operations, COO, or CPO.
Key Responsibilities:
Product & Strategy
- Work directly with the founder to define product strategy, priorities, and roadmap
- Translate business and customer needs into clear product requirements and workflows
- Help shape product logic, processes, and user experiences
- Challenge assumptions and provide strong, commercially minded product recommendations
- Prioritise features and improvements based on customer needs, business impact, and scalability
Product Execution & QA
- Work closely with developers and designers throughout the product development lifecycle
- Review new features and releases to ensure they meet requirements and user expectations
- Conduct hands-on product testing and identify bugs, edge cases, and workflow issues
- Coordinate QA processes and help establish structured testing procedures
- Maintain product documentation, requirements, workflows, and release information
- Manage tools such as Jira, Confluence, or similar platforms
Customer & Product Feedback
- Speak directly with customers to understand their needs, challenges, and feedback
- Initially support customer queries and help resolve product-related issues
- Identify recurring customer problems and translate them into product improvements
- Monitor customer feedback and help prioritise improvements that drive retention and satisfaction
Operations & Process Development
- Create SOPs, manuals, workflows, and internal processes from the ground up
- Establish systems and operational processes that allow the business to scale efficiently
- Develop reporting and operational processes to improve visibility and decision-making
- Identify inefficiencies and implement practical solutions
- Help build the infrastructure and systems required as the company grows
Analytics & Reporting
- Monitor product and operational metrics and identify key trends
- Develop meaningful reports and dashboards to support business decisions
- Use data and customer feedback to assess product performance and opportunities
- Help establish processes for tracking key business and product KPIs
Team & Leadership
- Initially operate as a hands-on individual contributor and personally execute key responsibilities
- Recruit, onboard, and manage junior team members as the business grows
- Gradually build teams across product, QA, customer support, and operations
- Develop processes and systems that enable teams to operate effectively
- Take on increasing ownership of the company's product and operational functions over time
Requirements
- 6–15 years of relevant experience, with flexibility for an exceptional candidate
- Proven experience working in an early-stage SaaS startup
- Demonstrated experience personally contributing to the growth and scaling of a SaaS business
- Strong understanding of B2B SaaS products, workflows, customer needs, and product development
- Experience working closely with founders or senior leadership in a startup environment
- Strong product judgement with the ability to balance customer needs, technical considerations, and commercial priorities
- Hands-on experience across product, operations, QA, customer support, or similar functions
- Comfortable working as an individual contributor and getting into the detail rather than simply managing from a distance
- Experience working with developers and designers to deliver and improve software products
- Experience with tools such as Jira, Confluence, or similar product/project management platforms
- Strong understanding of product testing, QA, bug identification, and edge-case analysis
- Experience creating SOPs, documentation, workflows, and scalable operational processes
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use data to inform decisions
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
- Commercially minded and focused on measurable business outcomes
- Comfortable challenging ideas respectfully and constructively when you believe there is a better approach
- Highly organised, proactive, resourceful, and comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy
- Comfortable working in an environment where priorities can change quickly and processes are still being established
Strongly Preferred:
- Previous experience as an early employee, Founder’s Associate, Head/VP of Product, COO, VP Operations, Chief of Staff, or founder within a SaaS startup
- Experience helping a SaaS company scale from an early stage into a significantly larger customer base, revenue base, or team
- Experience building systems, processes, or functions from scratch
- Experience across multiple areas such as product, customer success, QA, operations, and strategy
Work Arrangement & Expectations:
This is a remote role that will be set up as an independent contractor engagement.
To ensure alignment and transparency, successful candidates will be expected to:
- Disclose any existing ongoing roles or client work
- Reflect this engagement on their LinkedIn profile (clearly marked as “Independent Contractor”)
