Brand Operations Manager- Product Launch and DTC

## About the Role

JLSelby is building a private portfolio of founder-led consumer businesses connected to the products, knowledge and capabilities of an established American agricultural operation.

We are hiring a full-time **Brand Operations Manager** to take responsibility for moving one assigned company from founder direction through product readiness, offer development, Shopify launch and early market exposure.

This is not a virtual-assistant position.

It is a high-ownership operating role for someone who can take an incomplete business, organize the work, coordinate specialists and vendors, solve problems and drive it toward a real commercial launch.

You will report to the JLSelby portfolio leadership team. You will work with outside manufacturers, product specialists, designers, developers, fulfillment providers and marketing contractors.

You will not be expected to personally perform every specialist task. You will be expected to make sure every task has an owner, deadline, standard and completed result.

## What You Will Own

You will be assigned primary operating responsibility for one founder-created consumer company.

Depending on the assigned company, you may coordinate:

* Business and launch planning
* Product development and testing
* Manufacturer and supplier research
* Packaging development
* Product costing and pricing
* Vendor quotations and comparisons
* Brand and creative production
* Offer and bundle development
* Shopify store preparation
* Fulfillment and customer-service readiness
* Launch campaigns and early market testing
* Weekly budgets, milestones and performance reporting

Your job is to move the business forward without requiring the founder to personally organize and follow up on every step.

## Primary Responsibilities

### Convert Founder Direction Into Execution

* Organize founder notes, product concepts and decisions
* Convert broad direction into a clear operating plan
* Establish workstreams, priorities, owners and deadlines
* Maintain the company’s launch calendar
* Identify missing information and resolve it quickly
* Prevent work from remaining open without action

### Manage Vendors and Contractors

* Research manufacturers, suppliers and specialist contractors
* Request quotations, samples and production information
* Compare cost, quality, lead time, capacity and risk
* Prepare recommendations instead of forwarding unorganized options
* Assign and track contractor deliverables
* Follow up consistently until work is completed
* Confirm that all source files and work product are delivered to JLSelby

### Coordinate Product and Supply Readiness

* Maintain product-development and testing schedules
* Coordinate prototypes and samples
* Track packaging, labels and component requirements
* Organize cost-of-goods and minimum-order information
* Coordinate quality, compliance and specialist review
* Track production and inventory timelines
* Help establish fulfillment and 3PL readiness

Specialist technical support will be provided when required. You will own coordination and completion.

### Prepare the Company for Shopify

* Coordinate the Shopify build
* Organize product information, pricing and offers
* Coordinate product photography, copy and creative assets
* Confirm payment, tax, shipping and fulfillment setup
* Prepare customer-service and return procedures
* Coordinate email capture and essential email flows
* Test checkout, mobile display and order processing
* Confirm that the business is commercially ready before marketing begins

### Prepare the Company for Exposure

* Maintain the launch offer and target-customer brief
* Coordinate landing pages and advertising assets
* Work with creative and growth specialists
* Organize launch-test budgets and timelines
* Track customer response and commercial evidence
* Report what is working and what is not
* Recommend whether the company should continue, revise, pause or accelerate

## How You Will Report

Your weekly operating update should answer:

1. What was completed?
2. What is due next?
3. What is blocked?
4. What evidence did we learn from customers, vendors or the market?
5. What decision is required?
6. What do you recommend?
7. Is the company on schedule and within budget?

We do not want long activity reports.

We want concise facts, recommendations and completed results.

## What Success Looks Like

### During the First 30 Days

* Understand the assigned company and its commercial purpose
* Organize all existing notes, files, contacts and decisions
* Create a clear launch plan
* Identify the major missing requirements
* Establish responsible parties and deadlines
* Begin resolving the most important constraints

### During the First 60 Days

* Have qualified vendors and contractors actively working
* Establish reliable product, packaging and cost information
* Organize the customer, product and preliminary offer
* Maintain an accurate launch-readiness tracker
* Resolve routine problems without unnecessary founder involvement

### During the First 90 Days

* Materially advance the company toward commercial launch
* Demonstrate effective vendor and contractor management
* Produce completed deliverables and commercial evidence
* Show strong judgment about priorities and spending
* Operate with limited daily supervision
* Make a clear recommendation to continue, revise, hold or accelerate

## Required Characteristics

You may be a strong fit if you:

* Have at least four years of operations, project-management, startup or e-commerce experience
* Can turn ambiguity into an organized operating plan
* Have managed contractors, vendors or remote tea ---------- mbers
* Communicate clearly and professionally in English
* Follow through without repeated reminders
* Prepare recommendations rather than merely reporting problems
* Are comfortable making reasonable decisions within defined authority
* Can manage several workstreams at once
* Understand that activity is not the same as progress
* Are willing to challenge, revise or stop weak work
* Work well in a founder-led and rapidly changing environment
* Can create simple systems without creating unnecessary bureaucracy

## Valuable Experience

Experience in any of these areas is helpful:

* Shopify
* Amazon
* Consumer products
* Product launches
* Contract manufacturing
* Packaging development
* Food, beverage, personal care or wellness products
* Inventory and fulfillment
* E-commerce marketing
* U.S.-based clients or founders
* Remote international teams
* AI and automation tools
* Google Sheets or project-management systems

You do not need to be an expert in every category. You must know how to find, evaluate and manage capable specialists.

## This Is Not the Right Role If You:

* Wait for detailed instructions before acting
* Primarily want administrative or executive-assistant work
* Report problems without recommending solutions
* Avoid difficult vendor follow-up
* Need a large established corporate structure
* Create meetings and reports that do not move work forward
* Treat deadlines as optional
* Need continuous daily supervision
* Are uncomfortable being measured by completed results

## How We Work

JLSelby is founder-led, direct and entrepreneurial.

We value:

* Urgency without chaos
* Independent thinking
* Clear responsibility
* Simple operating systems
* Honest reporting
* Commercial judgment
* High standards
* Respectful accountability
* Completed work

We are quietly building something substantial. We are not interested in corporate theater, unnecessary jargon or excessive meetings.

## Employment Details

* Full-time remote position
* 40 hours per week
* Long-term opportunity
* Regular overlap with U.S. Eastern Time
* Compensation of $1,500–$2,000 USD per month, depending on experience
* Initial paid probationary period
* Opportunity to advance into Senior Brand Operations Manager or General Manager of an individual company

Applicants must disclose all other current employment, clients and ongoing time commitments.

## How to Apply

Begin your application with:

**QUIET BUILDER**

Applications that do not begin with those words may not be reviewed.

Please provide:

1. A concise summary of your relevant operating experience
2. One example of a business, product or project you organized from an unclear or early stage
3. The number and types of vendors, contractors or tea ---------- mbers you have managed
4. Your experience with Shopify, e-commerce or physical products
5. A system or process you personally created
6. Your current employment and other clients
7. Your availability to begin
8. Your available Philippine working hours
9. Your required monthly compensation
10. A project you recommended changing, stopping or deprioritizing and why

## Practical Exercise

Answer the following in no more than one page:

You are assigned a new premium consumer-product company. The founder has a product concept, several pages of notes and preliminary packaging ideas. There is no final manufacturer, approved budget, completed offer or Shopify store. The goal is to begin a controlled commercial test within 120 days.

Explain:

* What you would do during the first two weeks
* Which workstreams you would establish
* What information you would need from the founder
* What you would personally own
* What you would assign to specialists
* Which decisions require executive approval
* What could prevent the 120-day launch
* How you would report progress

We are looking for practical judgment, clear priorities and evidence that you can move real work forward. Generic answers will not be competitive.