Operating Partner

Who We Are
Emergence is a thematic holding company backed by the Pritzker Organization focused exclusively on acquiring and scaling category-defining software businesses. We invest in focused portfolios, specialized operating groups with deep domain expertise and proven playbooks. Emergence combines operational rigor with a growth equity mindset, driving sustainable ARR growth, profitability improvements, and industry-leading customer outcomes.

The Mission
Embed at newly acquired companies to translate strategy into operating discipline and unlock value creation velocity.

What You'll Do

• Design and run the weekly operating cadence with KPIs, business reviews, and accountability loops from day one.

• Align portfolio company leadership teams to the same scorecard and targets the deal team modeled at close.

• Partner with the CEO and operating partner on the value creation plan, then own highest-impact execution workstreams.

• Grab cross-functional projects that fall between silos (go-to-market refinement, organizational restructuring, integration work) and run them to completion.

• Run the operating conversations, offsites, and diagnostic exercises the CEO needs but lacks time to organize.

• Move across portfolio companies as post-close needs shift, rotating between deep operational embedding and strategic board-level support.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves

• 7+ years hands-on operating role running a P&L or owning meaningful operational scope.

• Early foundation in banking or management consulting, then transition into software or PE-backed operating role.

• Real commercial exposure: you have personally sold, owned a revenue line, or driven a sales process redesign.

• Ability to hold a P&L conversation without notes and ship the 80% version of an operating artifact.

• Named a situation where things broke at work, explained your response, and articulated how it changed your approach.

• Comfortable moving between strategy-level CEO conversations and tactical execution on a sales floor in the same day.

• Think in metrics, build dashboards to track progress, and make decisions based on data.

• Proven track record proving yourself - haven't yet reached C-level but striving to get there.

• Hungry to learn on the job; don't need formal multi-week training programs.

Nice-to-haves

• MBA from a top-tier program or equivalent scrappy startup or high-growth operating experience.

• Prior experience as an operating partner, COO, Chief of Staff, or strategic advisor to a PE portfolio company.

• Vertical expertise in SaaS, fintech, or enterprise software that accelerates diagnostics.

Who You Are
You have spent years inside operating roles where real money was at stake and real customers depended on your execution. You are comfortable with ambiguity and you move fast without needing permission. You build systems others can run without you. You hire people smarter than you in their domain and you defer to their judgment. You pull data into conversations, not opinions. You reverse course when evidence contradicts your recommendation. You audit critical processes yourself rather than accepting management assertions. You establish standards and enforce them. You've seen things go wrong at work and stayed composed. You want to lead a business someday, and you see this role as the accelerant to get there.

What We Offer

• Attractive Salary plus performance bonus.

• Equity upside aligned with the portfolio companies you help scale.

• Based in New York with onsite presence at portfolio company locations.

• You will work across multiple businesses and gain broad operating experience faster than most traditional corporate roles allow.