Strategy & Ops Lead at a Union Square Ventures-Backed Sports Collectibles Startup

Job summary

Lead financial forecasting, cash flow planning, financing strategy, and fundraising preparation while making inventory decisions and modeling unit economics. Identify business risks and growth opportunities, negotiate partnerships and market expansion, and help leadership build and scale the team.

Job details

About The Job The client is hiring for this role, and Harper, an AI career agent, is on your side of the table. Skip the application form: just talk to Harper, and in a few minutes it learns your background, then puts the strongest profiles directly in front of the client's decision-makers. 👉 Start with Harper Job Title Strategy & Ops Lead (Toronto) Level Mid-Senior: 4-8 years in strategy, BizOps or finance. Reports directly to the CEO as the company's first dedicated strategy hire. Salary CAD 120K-160K base + equity Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada (On-site) Company Description The client is a Toronto-based consumer startup turning collecting into play: users rip packs of real trading cards (TCG and sports) from anywhere and earn rewards along the way. It is built by the team behind a sports prediction app with millions of users. Backed by Union Square Ventures, KB Partners and Kevin Durant's 35 Ventures, it has raised roughly $15M to date and has crossed eight figures in GMV. What You'll Do Own forecasting, cash flow and financing options, and help tell a sharp story when the company raises. Make the inventory bets, model unit economics and make sure operations scale ahead of demand. Spot tax, legal and regulatory risks early, including the ones nobody has thought of yet. Build the case for new markets, categories and partnerships, then negotiate the terms and chase the timeline until it lands. Help leadership work out who the team is missing, how to find them and how to keep everyone shipping. Who You Are 4-8 years in strategy, BizOps or finance, ideally consulting, banking or PE followed by a high-growth consumer, e-commerce or marketplace company. Exceptional drive and agency: you see what needs doing and do it without waiting for a brief or a perfect dataset. AI-native: you use AI tools daily to research, model, analyze and automate. Fluent in the numbers: you can build a forecast, unit economics and a cash-flow model without a template. Experience with physical goods, inventory or logistics, or the appetite to get your hands dirty in them. Real deal-negotiation experience, and the willingness to bring the counter-argument to leadership. Excellent written communication, and some interest in TCGs, sports cards or collectibles. Why Join A seat at the leadership table of a high-velocity startup with real revenue and real users, reporting directly to the CEO. Unusually broad scope that quickly shows you which parts of the business you want to lead long-term. A shot at defining the platform for gamified collectibles and sports commerce, with competitive compensation and equity.

What you’ll do

Lead financial forecasting, cash flow planning, financing strategy, and fundraising preparation while making inventory decisions and modeling unit economics. Identify business risks and growth opportunities, negotiate partnerships and market expansion, and help leadership build and scale the team.

Requirements

Candidates should have 4–8 years of experience in strategy, business operations, or finance, ideally including work in a high-growth consumer, e-commerce, or marketplace company. They should be highly self-directed, comfortable building financial models, familiar with AI tools, and willing to work hands-on with physical goods, inventory, or logistics; negotiation experience and strong writing skills are also expected.

Benefits

• Equity

Listed skills

• written communication · Preferred
• Inventory management · Preferred
• Team building · Preferred
• Fundraising · Preferred

Other relevant skills

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Strategic Planning
• Business Operations
• Financial Forecasting
• Cash Flow Modeling
• Unit Economics
• Fundraising
• Inventory Management
• Operations Scaling
• Risk Assessment
• Tax and Regulatory Risk
• Market Expansion
• Partnership Development
• Deal Negotiation
• AI Tools
• Written Communication
• Team Building

Job areas

• Management & Leadership
• Finance & Accounting
• Sports & Recreation
• Retail
• Logistics