Business Operations Lead

Job Description
Business Operations Lead

Location: Toronto, ON
Employment Type: Full-Time, Permanent
Department: Programming & Partnerships
Reports to: Director of Programming

Vacancy: This posting is for a new vacancy

Salary: 80-95K

Company Overview

The Toronto Business Development Centre (TBDC) is Canada's first business incubator, with over 35 years of experience supporting more than 9,000 local and international entrepreneurs, including two that became unicorns. Focused on driving meaningful outcomes, TBDC equips high-potential startups with the resources, clients, and capital they need to grow.

About Horizon

TBDC's flagship is Horizon — a program that helps high-potential international scale-ups land and expand in North America. The goal isn't better events or better programming; it's real commercialization outcomes: founders who understand the market, win customers, raise capital, and plug into the ecosystem.

Horizon runs as one connected funnel of three products:

• Scout — an AI-first, expert-validated market-intelligence tool that produces deep research reports framing each founder's market and the engagement ahead.
  

• Sprint — an intensive week in the Toronto market, where each cohort meets the stakeholders, customers, and investors who help them understand the market and start selling or raising.
  

• Surge — the conversion into sustained support: we match founders with vetted advisors and consultants for ongoing, paid advisory and go-to-market work.
  

The Business Operations Lead is the person who makes all three run on time, every time.

Who You Are

You are an operational leader who brings structure, clarity, and momentum to fast-moving teams! You think in systems, owners, deadlines, and dependencies, and you are comfortable turning ambiguity into practical execution. This is a stakeholder management and program operations role, not a traditional coordinator role. You help run the operating rhythm of the department, strengthen processes, and ensure priorities move forward across teams. You are trusted because you follow through. You can hold senior stakeholders accountable, rebuild broken processes, manage competing priorities, and keep a high-performing team aligned and moving.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Business Operations Lead to be the stakeholder-management and PMO backbone of the Programming & Partnerships department — the person who keeps every functional piece of Horizon's delivery on track. You'll run the operating cadence, keep processes and SOPs aligned, own reporting, and make sure the right things happen on time across teams. You'll understand each team's deliverables and OKRs, act as the glue that holds them together, and protect the program from ever missing or delaying a deliverable.

This role formalizes work that has become essential to how TBDC runs — and we're building it as real ownership, not support. You'll manage multiple calendars, work fluently in systems like Airtable and Zoho, and use AI tools to automate and streamline how the business operates.

Reporting to the Director of Programming, this role will:

• run project management and the department's operating cadence (a PMO function) across all active priorities.
  

• own stakeholder management across teams — keeping owners aligned, accountable, and moving.
  

• keep processes, SOPs, and reporting aligned so the program runs cleanly day to day.
  

• coordinate across Marketing, Finance, and Sales, and the leadership to keep everyone in sync.
  

• track deadlines, owners, and dependencies, surfacing blockers before they become problems.
  

• be hands-on supporting the events we run across Programming & Partnerships, from Sprint Week to key industry events like our dinners and breakfasts.
  

Key Responsibilities

Project & Program Management (PMO)

• Run the operating rhythm across the department's priorities, including the central technology spine, SOP versioning, unified reporting, founder community, space utilization, and team hiring.
  

• Track deadlines, owners, and dependencies; maintain plans and timelines; and keep work moving and on schedule.
  

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Keep Marketing, Finance, Scout, Sales, and the leadership aligned by preparing agendas, capturing decisions, driving follow-through, and surfacing blockers.
  

• Hold owners accountable to commitments across teams, and coordinate meetings and working sessions so action items are owned and closed.
  

Systems, Tools & Automation

• Manage multiple team calendars and keep the department's operational systems, such as centralizing data within Zoho while using Airtable for external-facing engagements, organized and up to date.
  

• Use AI tools to work more efficiently and to find ways to automate and streamline operational tasks across the business.
  

Event Operations

• Supports the planning and coordination of company events, including scheduling, logistics, materials, vendors, and guest lists.
  

• Helps make sure everything runs smoothly on the day of the event, from setup to attendee support to troubleshooting.
  

Process & SOP Ops

• Maintain versioned, observable SOPs, making it visible what's being followed versus skipped.
  

• Steward the integrated Horizon operating manual and keep it current as the program evolves.
  

Reporting & Data

• Consolidate reporting from Sales, Marketing, and Programming into one reporting spine, including the data needed for funder oversight (e.g., FedDev).
  

• Keep dashboards and status reporting accurate and up to date.
  

• Capture success stories and case studies from across the program so wins are documented and easy to share.
  

TBDC Space & Logistics

• Support governance, ownership, and measured utilization of TBDC's space, along with day-to-day operational logistics.
  

What Success Looks Like in Year One

This role lives or dies on a clear set of OKRs, and we'll define them with you before you start — so the role is clearly focused on ownership, execution, and measurable outcomes — not reactive support. Broadly, success looks like:

• The operating cadence runs on time. Zero missed or delayed deliverables across the department; every priority has a named owner, a deadline, and a status anyone can see.
  

• One reporting spine. Sales, Marketing, and Programming reporting consolidated into a single, trustworthy source — including the data needed for funder oversight (e.g., FedDev) — kept current without chasing.
  

• Processes are observable, not tribal. SOPs versioned and live, with what's being followed versus skipped made visible, and the Horizon operating manual current as the program evolves.
  

• Events execute cleanly. Sprint Week and key dinners and breakfasts run smoothly end to end, with logistics owned and action items closed.
  

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of experience in operations, program management, PMO, business operations, project management, or a comparable role where you owned outcomes across teams. Experience in an accelerator, startup, innovation, or fast-moving program environment is considered an asset. We value demonstrated capability, ownership, and fit as much as years of experience.
  

• Exceptionally organized, detail-oriented, and process-minded; you keep many parts moving without dropping anything.
  

• Proven ability to manage stakeholders and hold cross-functional owners accountable, including senior ones.
  

• Fluent managing multiple calendars and working in operational systems such as Airtable and Zoho, plus project trackers and spreadsheets.
  

• Comfortable using AI tools to work efficiently and to automate operational tasks.
  

• A clear communicator who keeps multiple teams aligned and accountable.
  

• Proactive and dependable, with a strong sense of ownership and follow-through.
  

• Thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment and enjoys bringing order to ambiguity.
  

Benefits and Perks

• Health and dental benefits
  

• Vision care
  

• Life insurance
  

• Paid time off
  

• On-site parking
  

• Participation in company events and activities
  

TBDC does not use AI-enabled tools to support application screening. Final hiring decisions are made by real people.

Requirements
Qualifications You arrive with a database / rolodex. An existing, active network of corporate, government, investor, or ecosystem contacts is a core requirement of this role, not a nice-to-have. You're in the ecosystem, you know people, and people look up to you. 3–5 years in the startup ecosystem (e.g., startups, accelerators, VCs, corporate innovation, or government programs), with strengths in business development, partnerships, and ecosystem engagement. We weight background and fit over an exact number of years. Demonstrated experience planning and producing events, dinners, or convenings that bring senior stakeholders together. A skilled relationship builder and communicator, trusted by stakeholders for clarity, professionalism, and consistent delivery. Experienced in lead sourcing and outbound prospecting; comfortable using AI and CRM tooling to run a pipeline. Quick-thinking and strategic, able to synthesize complex information and present it clearly across audiences. Organized, adaptable, proactive, and energized by a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment. Collaborative, with a strong sense of ownership and commitment to team outcomes.