Founding Operator

America is strongest when ability can rise

The right person can change the trajectory of a team, a company, or an entire field.

But most hiring systems are built to avoid mistakes, not to discover extraordinary upside. They rely on the credentials that are easiest to read: the right degree, the right previous employer, or the right personal network. These filters, while convenient, are often very poor proxies for what someone can actually do.

When exceptional ability is missed, the loss is larger than one denied opportunity. A company loses performance. Coworkers lose a force multiplier. Ideas and businesses that could have existed never get built. A country that mistakes pedigree for ability does not merely distribute opportunity unfairly, it leaves growth on the table.

History suggests that better talent allocation has been a major source of American growth. When capable people reach the work where they can contribute most, workers rise, companies become more productive, and the benefits can spread through new ideas, stronger teams, families, and communities.

Merit First is building the infrastructure to make that the default. We create objective, efficient ways for people to demonstrate critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, and execution - and help companies hire based on demonstrated ability rather than pedigree alone.

For the worker, that means upward mobility. For the company, better performance. At scale, it can mean national growth.

Tests only matter if the right people take them and companies act on the results. A test creates signal; a network turns that signal into opportunity.

We’re looking for a hands-on Growth Operator to build that system. You will identify job categories where Merit First can become the best place to discover talent and attract exceptional candidates. You will turn real work into compelling assessments, build flagship programs and competitions around them, and work with companies to convert demonstrated ability into interviews, offers, and successful hires.

This is not a conventional growth-marketing or internal recruiting role. You will own the operating loop - from role selection and candidate acquisition through programs, employer activation, matching, and placement - and then turn what works into a repeatable growth engine.

This is a zero-to-one builder role. One day you may be selecting the next role category for Merit First to enter. The next, you may be recruiting candidates, refining a challenge with a domain expert, producing an event, convincing a hiring leader to interview someone they would normally overlook, or analyzing why strong candidates are dropping out of the funnel.

You will do the work, learn quickly, and build the playbook as you go.

The responsibilities below describe the full mandate of the growth function over time, not a day-one checklist for one person.

You will start by identifying the highest-leverage wedge, owning candidate-to-hire loops end to end, and learning what works. From there, we will build the systems, partnerships, and team that allow us to expand.

We expect the initial focus to be narrow: choose one or two role categories, launch a remarkable candidate program, and turn demonstrated ability into real interviews and hires. You are not expected to do everything at once or alone. You are expected to determine what matters first, make it work, and build from there.

• Choose the markets we enter. Identify role categories with meaningful employer demand, large pools of overlooked talent, and skills that can be demonstrated objectively.

• Activate employer demand. Build relationships with founders, hiring managers, and talent leaders. Secure real opportunities and help companies understand how Merit First’s signal should inform their hiring decisions.

• Build the candidate network. Find and activate exceptional people through communities, referrals, partnerships, content, schools, trade programs, creators, and channels that do not look like conventional recruiting.

• Create ways for people to prove themselves. Work with our product team, assessment experts, hiring managers, and exceptional practitioners to turn popular roles into rigorous, efficient assessments and realistic work challenges.

• Build flagship programs. Create competitions, cohorts, showcases, and in-person or online events that ambitious candidates want to participate in - and that employers pay attention to.

• Make placements happen. Turn strong assessment…