Chief Operating Officer
- Date Posted March 21, 2025
- Location Boulder, CO
- Category Agriculture / Business
- Job type Full-Time
Company description
At Mad Ag our mission is to create a regenerative revolution in agriculture. We believe that healing our relationships to self, others and the earth is our highest calling. We see no division between the work of the heart, soul and mind. Our day-in, day-out work is focused on helping farmers transition to and thrive in regenerative organic agriculture. We do this with boots-on-the-ground land & business consulting, helping farmers and ranchers overcome the barriers that they face. Our team of experts and partners can support a wide range of tasks, such as annual and perennial system design and performance; resource assessment and conservation practice adoption; enterprise budgeting and business development; transition to organic and ROC; accessing financial assistance; and much more. We also collaborate with our sister organizations, Mad Capital and Mad Markets, to help farmers and ranchers access innovative finance and markets. Mad Ag also focuses on telling the story of the regenerative movement so that we can help build the revolution by creating ways for many people to engage.
Mad Ag is a fast-paced, action-oriented startup nonprofit organization seeking exemplary individuals committed to the revolution. Our culture is entrepreneurial and deeply rooted in a commitment to creating services and products that meet the deepest needs of the farmers and land that we serve. We have a robust commitment to both inner and outer work, which is critical for embodying the principles of regenerative leadership. Mad Ag is a life-style company that demands a high level of commitment for the cause.
Our goal is to help transition 10mm acres to regenerative organic agriculture, grow our team to 100+ employees and operate a $60mm+ budget by 2032. We currently work in 17 US states (mostly in focus in the Great Plains and Intermountain West) and have 13 staff members. Our goal is to grow responsibly over the next decade with regional teams and offices across the USA, and perhaps internationally.
Job description
ROLE
The primary job is to execute the strategic plan of Mad Agriculture to meet our growth goals named above. This role is responsible for overseeing the development, quality and impact of our core services that help regenerate the land and people. Ensuring strong product-market fit and scalability of our services is paramount with a commitment to following the principles of ‘scale through replication’ and place-based wisdom. This role is the operational heart of the organization. The position is critical for stewarding team culture, operationalizing the vision, maintaining systems of goal setting and accountability, and delivering impact against our goals with our services. The focus of this role is on day-to-day operations; ensuring that the organization runs smoothly; organizing and overseeing programmatic work; making calls on operations and team management to address any opportunities and issues that arise.
This person needs to ‘see what needs to be seen and done’, with the ability to move quickly and effectively. This role demands a large degree of operational agency to work deeply with our Media and Land & Business teams to design, manage and implement strategic initiatives and programs toward our ambitious goals. Also, this role will oversee our work on strategic partnerships and developing a scientific understanding of regenerative and organic agriculture for the land and society.
The COO leverages their extensive experience in building programs, operations management, leadership and strategic planning to improve the efficacy of Mad Agriculture. Strong leadership and entrepreneurial skills are essential. This person must have the ability to inspire, lead and motivate a diverse team, make tough decisions, and manage the overall operations of the company. This position must exhibit a hands-on, detail-oriented approach,
focusing on programmatic execution, efficiency and quality, and problem-solving. This person strengthens the entire team with high social and emotional intelligence to enhance our function internally and externally, and is skilled in conflict resolution, communication, team function and accountability. At the core of Mad Ag is a ridiculously strong commitment to the entrepreneurial spirit and way. In other words, this person is fantastic at identifying opportunities, taking calculated risks, embracing challenges, relentlessly pursuing product-market fit, and embodies the creativity, resilient, and action-oriented gifts and skills to build programs and services of great value and impact. This is a highly collaborative position that rests at the beating heart of the organization.
CORE DUTIES
Operational Leadership
+ Execute the strategic plan of Mad Agriculture.
+ Strong bias toward focus and honing services that create high value, impact and lend toward scalability.
+ Oversee the development, implementation and accountability of our goal setting and tracking system, i.e. OKRs (Objective-Key Results).
+ Help lead the development of earned income for the non-profit by thoughtfully monetizing some of our core services.
+ Ensuring ongoing alignment of programs and projects with the Mad Ag mission.
+ Recognizing and addressing scope creep and continually evaluating when and how to focus and/or expand our work.
+ Identifying and integrating complementary work flows within Mad Agriculture and across sister organizations, Mad Capital and Markets.
+ Maintain and enrich the operational function of the organization.
+ Oversee daily operations ranging from team function, core service delivery, and budgetary management.
+ Leading weekly all-team meetings, as well as quarterly OKR meetings.
+ Help teams track and report the impact of programs.
+ Work with the CMO and Director of Land & Business to improve and maintain the Customer Lifetime Journey as a Mad Farmer.
+ Support integrative functioning of internal systems, softwares and processes.
+ Ensure the operational and cultural integrity of Mad Ag as it scales, fostering an environment that supports both rapid growth and deep mission alignment.
Team Management & Collaboration
+ Oversee the two major programmatic teams of Mad Ag including the Media and the Land & Business teams.
+ Oversee and work deeply with our Chief Strategy Officer in winning and maintaining strategic partnerships.
+ Oversee and work with our Director of Science to support the investigation of the impacts of regenerative and organic agriculture.
+ Oversee the development and accountability of our core services, project management, customer lifetime journey so that our services are repeatable, efficient, and deliver high impact.
+ Work with the CFO to develop, implement, monitor, and assess sound and compliant financial management practice. .
+ Play an active role, alongside our Chief Development Officer, in diversifying revenue streams, supporting fundraising efforts, and ensuring sustainable financial models for programs and operations.
+ Leading quarterly and annual performance review with all direct reports.
+ Work with staff in developing and maintaining beneficial relationships with our key programmatic partners, such as collaborators, allies, vendors, and other stakeholders.
+ Supporting professional growth of the organization’s employees.
+ Ensuring compliance and good governance at all levels.
Compensation
this position is: salaried, more than 100kApplication instructions
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April 01, 2025