Location: St. Louis, MO
Reports to: CEO
Travel: Occasional
Petite Keep is reimagining what it means to celebrate life's most meaningful moments. We create heirloom-quality keepsakes that become part of a family's story for generations. Over the past five years, we've grown from a startup into one of the fastest-growing brands in the home and gifting space. Our products are handcrafted, deeply personal, and built to last—and now we're building an organization that is every bit as thoughtful. As we continue to scale, we're looking for an exceptional leader to build the operational engine that will support our next chapter of growth. This is not a traditional operations role. We're looking for someone who loves building—systems, teams, processes, and organizational capability. Someone who can think strategically, lead with confidence, and roll up their sleeves to solve problems alongside the team.
As VP of Business Operations, you will help build the operational engine that powers Petite Keep's next chapter of growth. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll serve as a strategic thought partner and trusted leader responsible for transforming vision into execution. You'll oversee the systems, financial infrastructure, inventory strategy, and operational excellence that enable the business to scale thoughtfully while preserving the craftsmanship and customer experience that define our brand. This role is equal parts strategist, operator, and builder. You'll develop leaders, create scalable processes, improve visibility across the business, and ensure our organization is prepared not only for where we are today, but where we're headed next.
What You'll Own
Enterprise Leadership & Operational Strategy (25%)
- Partner with the CEO to translate company strategy into executable operational priorities.
- Build scalable systems, operating rhythms, and organizational infrastructure that support rapid growth.
- Anticipate operational challenges before they become business constraints.
- Champion continuous improvement across the organization through stronger systems, processes, and decision-making.
Finance & Business Operations (20%)
- Oversee budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting, cash flow, and annual operating planning.
- Partner closely with the CEO to improve business visibility through meaningful reporting, dashboards, and KPIs.
- Ensure financial controls, systems, and business processes scale alongside company growth.
- Drive thoughtful decision-making through financial analysis, forecasting, and operational insights.
- Partner with leaders across the business to evaluate investments, improve profitability, and allocate resources effectively.
Operations, Fulfillment & Supply Chain (20%)
- Lead the Director of Operations in overseeing fulfillment, production, procurement, manufacturing, and vendor management.
- Ensure operational excellence across quality, throughput, productivity, safety, and on-time delivery.
- Build scalable production planning systems that align operational capacity with business demand.
- Continuously improve operational efficiency while protecting the craftsmanship, quality, and personalization that define Petite Keep.
- Develop strong supplier partnerships that support quality, reliability, and long-term growth.
Inventory Strategy & Planning (15%)
- Lead the Inventory Manager in overseeing inventory strategy across raw materials, finished goods, and packaging.
- Enable the Inventory Control function, ensuring exceptional inventory accuracy and visibility.
- Lead Inventory Manager alongside partnership of Finance, Product Development, and Operations to align purchasing decisions with demand forecasts and production capacity.
- Optimize inventory investments to balance customer availability, working capital, and cash flow.
- Develop inventory planning tools, reporting, and KPIs that improve inventory health, turns, and forecast accuracy.
Leadership & Organizational Development (15%)
- Lead, coach, and develop leaders across Operations, Inventory, Finance, Legal, and related business functions.
- Build a high-performing organization rooted in Petite Keep's core values.
- Create clear operating mechanisms, communication rhythms, and accountability across teams.
- Develop future leaders and build the organizational infrastructure needed to support Petite Keep's next stage of growth.
- Foster strong cross-functional collaboration while maintaining a people-first culture and exceptionally high standards.
Legal & Risk Management (5%)
- Oversee outside legal counsel, contracts, employment matters, intellectual property, insurance, and corporate compliance.
- Identify and proactively mitigate operational, financial, and legal risks.
- Ensure governance, policies, and business practices evolve alongside the company's growth.
What Success Looks Like
- Petite Keep operates with scalable systems that support growth rather than react to it.
- Inventory becomes a strategic advantage through disciplined planning, exceptional visibility, and healthy working capital management.
- Financial reporting provides leadership with timely, actionable insights that improve decision-making.
- Operational leaders are empowered with clear expectations, effective operating rhythms, and strong accountability.
- Cross-functional collaboration improves as planning, communication, and execution become more integrated.
- The operational foundation is in place to support Petite Keep's next phase of growth without sacrificing the craftsmanship or customer experience that defines our brand.
What We're Looking For
- An exceptional operator who thrives in high-growth, entrepreneurial environments.
- A systems thinker who enjoys bringing structure, clarity, and scalability to complexity.
- Financially fluent, with experience overseeing budgeting, forecasting, cash flow, and business performance.
- Experienced leading operations, inventory, supply chain, finance, or business operations within a consumer products, manufacturing, retail, or DTC business.
- A builder who naturally anticipates challenges and thinks several steps ahead.
- An outstanding people leader who develops high-performing teams while creating clarity and accountability.
- Comfortable moving seamlessly between strategic planning and hands-on execution.
- Curious, optimistic, humble, and energized by solving difficult business problems.
Why Petite Keep
At Petite Keep, we're building much more than beautiful products—we're building a company that families invite into some of life's most meaningful moments. We're still early in our journey, which means you'll have an opportunity to shape not only how we operate, but who we become. If you're excited by building organizations, developing people, solving complex business challenges, and helping create a category-defining brand, we'd love to meet you.
Direct Reports
- Director of Operations
- Finance Manager
- Inventory Control Manager
- People & Workplace Coordinator
- Outside Legal Counsel (relationship management)
