Chief Operations Officer; COO

Happy Doggo Jobs Full Time United Kingdom Remote

Remote, based in the UK or EU (European time zone, GMT to CET)

Travel

At least one trip to Thailand per quarter

Contract

Full-time, permanent

Depends on experience

Reports to

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Works closely with

CFO, Managing Director (Thailand), Board of Trustees, Strategic Advisory Council

Happy Doggo is an international animal welfare charity working to improve the lives of street dogs across the world. We launched in 2023 and have since grown to a team of 45 people and we’re on track to raise over $12M next year to support our charitable programmes in South East Asia.

We operate across several entities: a UK-registered charity, a US 501(c)(3), and a Thai company. Over the next few years, we will be expanding to include new charitable entities and new programme locations around the world. To grow effectively, we need someone who can bring the whole organisation together under one strategy, one set of standards and one culture–and that’s where you come in.

As COO you will own the systems that hold our organisation together: strategy and planning, performance measurement, governance, legal and risk, HR, and technology. You will also lead the special projects that will shape our next chapter, occasionally building small teams and getting them set up for independence. While this is an operations role, your people management responsibilities will be limited and your individual contributions will be paramount–but the ideal candidate will still be an excellent people manager and leader.

You'll work across every Happy Doggo entity. You will make sure our policies are consistent and compliant in each jurisdiction, and that every team member, wherever they're based, has a comparable experience of working with us. This role suits a strategic thinker who is equally happy rolling up their sleeves, and who wants their skills to make a direct difference to animals' lives.

• Set and track global OKRs, metrics and performance reporting, including non-financial and impact performance
• Build and maintain board reporting and dashboards
• Own the global organisational chart and hiring plans, with input from the Managing Director(s) of operational countries
• Plan and lead Board and Strategic Advisory Council meetings, both in person and remote
• Create and maintain company policies for every entity, ensuring compliance and consistency across the organisation

• Build and manage relationships with legal counsel in each jurisdiction
• Oversee all legal matters, including trademark and copyright, employee relations, fraud and harassment
• Own the global risk register, risk strategy and risk management
• Lead governance and compliance across all entities
• Own delivery of charitable grant-making across entities, including direct management of in-field grant managers

• Oversee global HR and employee engagement policies and practices. The aim is for every Happy Doggo employee, in every entity, to have a comparable experience of our culture, values and management.
• Align leave and compensation packages across entities for each seniority level
• Design learning and development programmes and align opportunities across entities
• Set up and manage cross-entity working arrangements, including secondments, time allocation and staff working across more than one entity

• Own IT policy and manage internal IT tools (e.g. Slack, Google Workspace,, Xero and AI tools) and external platforms (e.g. Donorbox)
• Act as the go-to problem-solver for cross-entity operational or technology issues

• Plan, project-manage and resource major organisational projects, including:
• New entity creation…