Head of Operations

About OrthoAIOrthoAI is building AI-driven decision intelligence for dentistry. Our initial focus is turning multimodal clinical information into structured, explainable support for high-friction authorization workflows. We are building from Abu Dhabi for the UAE and wider GCC, with clinical validity, traceability, and user safety designed into the product from the start.The roleMake OrthoAI's people-machine legible and dependable. You will translate strategy into owned outcomes, visible dependencies, operating metrics, decision records, and lightweight processes across planning, hiring, onboarding, vendors, procurement, policies, and spend. This is not meeting administration; it is operating design.What success looks like•    Within 30 days, map the seven-RP operating machine: accountable owners, outcomes, decision rights, dependencies, commitments, systems of record, and top risks.•    Within 90 days, establish weekly and quarterly operating cadences with one commitments register, KPI definitions, decision log, escalation path, and root-cause standard.•    Within six months, stabilize hiring operations, onboarding, procurement, spend visibility, policy ownership, and external-adviser workflows.•    Within 12 months, show measurable improvement against baselines in commitment reliability, decision latency, onboarding, vendor cycles, and repeat failures.Key responsibilities•    Run the company operating cadence and maintain a single source of truth for critical commitments and dependencies.•    Require a named owner, metric definition, source of truth, and review date for material outcomes.•    Design lightweight workflows for hiring, onboarding, vendors, procurement, policies, and company administration.•    Partner with Finance on budgets, spend controls, commitments, and capacity visibility.•    Prepare clear operating evidence for the CEO, RP owners, partners, investors, and advisers.•    Diagnose misses in order: outcome specification, machine design, then skill or capability - never people first.Required qualificationsEducation or equivalent evidenceMSc/Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, finance, operations, or a related discipline, or equivalent evidence of operating leadership. Formal project-management credentials are optional and do not replace outcomes.Experience expected•    Typically 8+ years in startup/SMEs/Mid operations, business operations, program leadership, strategy execution, or an adjacent role.•    At least 3 years owning company-wide or multi-function operating systems in a high-growth environment.•    Experience working directly with founders or executives on priorities, budgets, hiring, vendors, and cross-functional delivery.•    Evidence of improving measurable execution without building unnecessary bureaucracy.Technical and functional capability•    Built an operating cadence and cross-functional execution system in an early-stage or similarly ambiguous environment.•    Can define metrics, clean source data, expose variance, and drive corrective action without confusing reporting with progress.•    Strong program leadership across executives and specialists without relying on hierarchy.•    Working financial fluency across budgets, commitments, vendors, and capacity planning.•    Evidence of removing or simplifying process when the underlying risk changed.Preferred qualifications•    Health-tech, insurance, medical device, regulated software, or clinical-operations experience.•    UAE operations, employment administration, procurement, or free-zone/mainland coordination.•    Experience preparing operating evidence for investors, partners, auditors, or regulated customers.Evidence that will stand out•    A 90-day operating-machine design for seven accountable functions with incomplete data and conflicting priorities.•    A missed target diagnosed through outcome specification, machine design, skill, and capability.•    A process you removed or simplified, the risk analysis behind the decision, and the measured result.How we work at OrthoAI•    Outcome ownership: one accountable owner, clear interfaces, and visible follow-through.•    Believability by domain: ideas are weighted by relevant demonstrated success and causal reasoning, not title.•    Written learning: important decisions, misses, root causes, and machine changes are recorded.•    Cross-disciplinary rigor: clinical, scientific, engineering, commercial, and operational evidence must connect.•    Human accountability: AI supports decisions; accountable people make and own them.Our values are a gateResults do not compensate for a values breach. We look for demonstrated behavior consistent with:•    Truth over comfort: surface inconvenient facts and change your view when evidence changes.•    Ownership without excuse: take outcomes end to end, including dependencies and recovery.•    Evidence over opinion: distinguish observation, inference, and hypothesis.•    Patient and user safety is inviolable: stop and escalate when a safety boundary is at risk.•    Speed with rigor: shorten feedback loops without removing the controls the risk requires.What we offer•    Founding-stage scope with direct ownership of a company-critical outcome.•    Close collaboration with the CEO and the clinical, scientific, engineering, and commercial founding team.•    Meaningful influence over systems, standards, hiring, and the roadmap within your domain.•    Technically and operationally serious work using real healthcare workflows and carefully governed data.•    A premium compensation package positioned above market, including a competitive base salary, meaningful Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) equity, and comprehensive benefits — confirmed in full for shortlisted candidates at offer stage.Selection process•    LinkedIn application and evidence screen against the role outcomes.•    Structured interviews focused on demonstrated decisions, results, and lessons.•    A paid, role-specific working session based on a realistic OrthoAI problem.•    Values-gate interview and candidate-authorized references.Location and eligibilityThis is a full-time, on-site role based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Candidates must be able and willing to work in Abu Dhabi. Please state your current UAE work authorization or the support you would require; this information is assessed only where job-related and does not replace evaluation of role capability.Apply through LinkedInUse the LinkedIn application for this role. Include your CV and a concise example of a problem you owned end to end: the outcome, your decisions, the evidence you used, what went wrong, and what changed because of your work. Do not include patient data, unnecessary personal information, or confidential employer material.