Business Operations Lead
Commercial, Finance, Governance & Company Operations
Hie is a technical consultancy that designs, builds and manages the backend systems our customers depend on.
Our customers have problems that need solving. Our engineers enjoy solving them, do it well, and are expected to spend a customer's money as carefully as they would spend their own. This role is the bridge that makes that happen: making sure the commercial side of the relationship works properly, that customers are billed correctly and treated well, and that nothing important quietly falls through a gap.
We are early in our journey as a company, but not in our careers. Hie is built by people who have designed, delivered and run systems like these before.
We are looking for someone to take on the non-technical side of running Hie, working directly with the founder and the technical team.
The opportunity
This is not an administrative role.
We have already invested heavily in software that runs our business properly. Our systems record time, track tickets, produce quotes and contracts, monitor capacity and raise alerts when something does not look right. That work continues, and this role shapes where it goes next.
So the job is not to chase people or to process paperwork by hand. The job is to make sure that what the systems tell us is correct, that what they raise actually gets dealt with, and that the business runs properly as a result.
Your work could include:
Making sure customers are billed correctly, including reconciling Azure consumption and CSP billing.
Reviewing the exceptions our systems raise and resolving them wherever you can.
Checking that time recording, utilisation and capacity look sensible, and investigating when they do not.
Making sure tickets and commitments are progressing, and that no customer is left waiting.
Making sure opportunities, renewals and commercial actions do not quietly disappear.
Handling contracts, quotes and renewals where human judgement is genuinely needed.
Managing lead-generation partners, inbound enquiries and the commercial automation that creates new conversations.
Following up interested prospects, keeping conversations moving and making sure worthwhile opportunities do not disappear through lack of attention.
Owning our marketing. It is deliberately light touch and largely delivered through AI tools and external specialists, so the job is directing it and judging whether it produces worthwhile opportunities rather than producing it all yourself.
Working with our accountants and HMRC, and taking on more of our finance processes over time.
Owning governance and compliance, including our security certifications, customer security questionnaires and assurance requirements, internal policies and the evidence behind them.
Maintaining our partner accreditations and the obligations that come with them, particularly Microsoft and the CSP programme.
Improving and automating all of the above.
You will not be forwarding problems to somebody else. We want someone who investigates, resolves what they reasonably can, understands the patterns behind recurring problems and brings a recommendation when a real decision is needed.
Being the customer's champion
A stale ticket is not a process failure. It is a customer waiting.
Our systems do the chasing. Your job is to make sure that actually works: that the right things are being flagged, that nothing is sitting in a gap nobody is watching, and that what a customer experiences matches what we told them.
Where the system is not catching something, you either work with our engineers to make it catch it, or you make the gap visible until it does.
You will also have the conversations that most people avoid. Overdue money, incorrect billing, contract terms, scope, a commitment somebody has not met. You need enough credibility and confidence to have those conversations on behalf of Hie, handle them professionally, and keep the relationship intact afterwards.
Helping Hie grow
We do not expect you to cold call businesses or spend your day hunting for prospects.
We use lead-generation partners, inbound marketing and automation to create conversations. Your job is to make sure those conversations are handled properly.
You will help manage our lead-generation partners, oversee some of our LinkedIn and commercial automation, respond to people who engage with us and make sure promising conversations keep moving.
You will respond to inbound enquiries and keep conversations moving in a way that reflects how Hie communicates, while knowing when to involve the founder or a technical consultant.
You will qualify opportunities, follow up proposals and make sure the right technical person becomes involved when needed.
You will have sensible commercial targets around responsiveness, follow-through and qualified opportunities. You will not be paid commission, and you will not make technical decisions simply to increase what a customer spends.
Commercial activity creates, qualifies and progresses opportunities. Technical people decide what we recommend.
The technical scope, architecture, level of effort and recommendations that materially affect customer cost remain with the people responsible for designing, building and supporting the systems.
Finance and external support
You do not need to be an accountant. You do need to be genuinely numerate and comfortable with money, invoices, reconciliation and the detail behind them.
Initially this means billing, reconciliation and working alongside our accountants. Over time we expect the role to take on more: automating more of the processes around VAT, payroll and management information, and managing our relationships with external accountancy, legal and marketing support.
We will give you access to experienced accountants, lawyers, engineers and other specialists when you need them. We expect you to use that access to learn, ask good questions and gradually become capable of owning more yourself.
We are not expecting someone who already does all of that. We are expecting someone who can clearly do the first part now and genuinely wants to own the rest.
Governance without bureaucracy
Part of this role is making sure we meet the standards expected of us, and that we excel at them where they genuinely matter to our customers.
That is not a box-ticking exercise, and it is not bureaucracy for its own sake. Processes and controls should be proportionate, clear, useful and automated wherever that makes sense.
Governance should help the business, not consume it.
A career built for the future
Technology is changing how businesses operate, and we intend to take full advantage of that.
We will deliberately automate the routine parts of this role, and you will help us do it. That does not make the role smaller. It makes it broader and more valuable, because what is left is the part that actually requires a person: understanding how a business should run, exercising judgement, handling difficult conversations, noticing when something is wrong, and designing a better way of doing it.
We are not trying to reinvent every piece of business software. Where a good product already exists, we use it and integrate with it. We build our own tooling for the gaps where nothing solves the problem properly, and we would rather spend the time once than repeat the same work every month.
You do not need to be technical. You do need enough interest in how things work to explain a business process clearly to an engineer, and to recognise when something you are doing by hand should not be done by hand at all.
Where this goes
You are joining early enough to help shape how Hie operates.
As we grow, some parts of this role will become automated or move to the people best placed to own them. What you gain from that is scope and influence rather than headcount. This is not a route into managing a large operations department, and we are being deliberate about that.
Where your judgement still matters, you stay involved without needing to manage the people doing the work. If you do this well, you will increasingly be one of the people running Hie rather than someone administering it.
Responsibility, influence and salary grow with the impact you have, not your title, qualifications or time served.
Trust and autonomy
We give people considerable autonomy and trust.
You will be expected to manage your time, meet agreed commitments and keep the team informed without close supervision. You should investigate properly and make a sensible attempt before escalating, but also recognise when a decision genuinely needs somebody else.
This role will involve access to commercially sensitive and confidential information. We expect discretion, good judgement and an understanding of the responsibility that comes with that access.
We work together in our Harrogate office for roughly three days each week. Hybrid working gives people flexibility, but being in the same room matters for solving problems, understanding what is really going on and building a strong team.
This role can be full-time or part-time. If part-time, we would ideally like your hours spread across all five working days rather than concentrated into two or three, because a short amount of involvement every day suits the work far better than a large block of it twice a week. That can work well around school hours, and we would agree an office pattern proportionate to your hours.
There is no out-of-hours element to this role.
Who will do well here
This role will suit someone who:
Genuinely enjoys the business itself, not only the tasks within it.
Notices when the numbers, records or process simply do not look right.
Will have a difficult conversation rather than let something drift.
Takes real ownership instead of moving work around.
Is comfortable making decisions without checking every one of them first.
Wants to remove their own repetitive work rather than protect it.
Invests in their own knowledge and wants to understand an area properly when it becomes part of their role.
Can hold detail and still see what actually matters.
Is commercially minded without allowing a target to override what is right for the customer.
Wants to help shape how a company operates, not occupy a defined role within one.
It will not suit someone who wants a narrow remit, a predictable queue of tasks, or somewhere to remain unnoticed.
What you need
At least two years of substantive commercial or business operations experience.
Confidence dealing directly with customers about money, contracts and commitments.
Strong numeracy and comfort with billing, invoices and reconciliation.
Clear written and verbal communication.
Evidence that you have improved a process rather than simply operated one.
Evidence that you can learn an unfamiliar area well enough to take real ownership of it.
The judgement and discretion to handle confidential commercial and financial information appropriately.
The willingness to work in areas you have not encountered before.
The right to work in the UK.
You should already live within daily commuting distance of Harrogate. This role is not suitable for anyone who would need to relocate.
We do not provide visa sponsorship.
How to apply
Alongside your CV, we'll ask you a few questions about how you think and work.
Please write the answers yourself. We want to understand your judgement and experience, not how polished an AI tool can make your application.