Operations & Finance Lead

Fresh Ventures is a mission-driven startup studio based in the Netherlands. We co‑found regenerative businesses from scratch, together with experienced entrepreneurs, and stay close as they grow. What we build are companies that help regenerate the food system and nurture the health of our soils, our food and our people.
We work in food and farming, because it is where a great deal has gone wrong and a great deal can be put right: for the soil, for our food, and for the people who grow and eat it. We work at the intersection of three things:
Regenerative, agroecological and nature‑inclusive food systems.
Venture building and entrepreneurship.
New forms of ownership, governance and finance.
We co‑found these companies with experienced professionals and entrepreneurs, to tackle deep, systemic issues in the food system and help them grow into businesses that are both impactful and investable. And we experiment with fairer ways to own and finance a company, so that the mission survives growth.
To do that well, our own house has to be in order. Fresh stands, and we want to take it further: our operations, our finances, our systems, the rhythm we work to. What we build for ourselves we pass on to our ventures, so they start on solid ground too.
That is where this role comes in. Operations at Fresh is not a side‑show to the mission. It is what carries the impact.
About the role  You hold the operational and financial backbone of Fresh. Rather than hand you a list of tasks, here is what we are actually after: six things that are true about Fresh when this job is being done well, and the work that gets us there.
A place that works, and that people want to work in.
The basics are in order: processes, systems, tools, suppliers. The office is a good place to be. The physical and digital environment both simply work, so nobody loses time to friction.
Finance under control and understood.
Budgets, reporting and forecasts land on time. Cashflow is planned rather than found out about. And the people who need a financial picture, our team, our board, our funders, have one they can act on.
An organisation that runs smoothly, and keeps running smoothly.
We organise forward rather than react. Rhythms are set, priorities are visible, projects have owners and deadlines, and resourcing matches what we have taken on. You see what could trip us up and head it off, and when we drift you notice early and step in.
HR and legal, watertight.
We meet our obligations as an employer and we stay compliant, so we can hire, sign and commit without something breaking behind us.
A way of working that keeps getting better.
Our systems do not just run, they improve, and they improve because you saw the chance rather than because someone asked. What you build gets used, because you bring people along with it. And it buys us room: room to give attention to the work where attention pays off, and to think something through instead of rushing it. That goes for all of us, and just as much for you.
Strong partners, and ventures with a running start.
Our accountant, legal partners and suppliers become relationships that work for both sides. And what you build for us clicks straight into the companies we start, so they do not have to invent what we have already solved.
In time we expect to bring in someone to support operations. What that role looks like, and in what capacity, is something we can figure out together.
What you bring  Two things drive you.
The first is the work itself. You want to stay in operations and get even better  as a stepping stone to something else, but as the craft you want to spend years deepening: how an organisation can be run and operated at its best, and how to bring that into practice. There is a quiet satisfaction in a place that runs well, and it runs deeper when what it is running is out to make a deep impact.
The second is why. You want that craft to add up to something: a systemic impact within food and farming. If that is already your world, all the better. But if you come from another corner of this work and the mission grabs you, we would like to hear from you. The drive is what we cannot develop for you. The domain you…