Senior Operations Specialist

About Query Partners

Every visionary leader needs an operational counterpart. That’s where Query Partners comes in. We provide the business side to mission-driven work, adding operational capacity and strategic support to those seeking to serve their communities with efficiency and excellence.

Our specialty is acting as an operations “handyperson” for small nonprofits doing incredible work. Organizations that are too small to have their own finance/HR/ops teams are the ones where leaders are doing it all themselves, and most of those leaders didn’t get into nonprofit leadership because they wanted to troubleshoot a Quickbooks integration.

We step into these organizations in one of three ways: as a long-term outsourced solution for all their operations needs, as interim coverage during transitions, or to take care of special operations projects. We run a sliding scale, bill with integrity, and are proud to play a supporting role for our small-but-mighty clients.

About the Role

Query Partners has grown steadily for the past three years, and we’re looking for a Senior Operations Specialist to lead client engagements on a part-time, flexible basis. This role is for someone with strong relevant experience who can listen empathetically to the challenges facing an Executive Director, design solutions that make sense for their context, and then do the hands-on work of implementing revised systems. Implementation may involve collaborating with or delegating to other members of the Query Partners team or client staff, but you’ll still be both a do-er and a leader.

What You'll Do

• Lead day-to-day client work across operations engagements, depending on your areas of strength. (Such as finance, human resources, technology, general project management, or a mix.)
• Serve as the senior point of contact for clients, managing communication and expectations.
• Diagnose operational problems and design practical solutions for resource-constrained organizations.
• Produce deliverables: policies, process documentation, job descriptions, workflow systems, financial processes, HR infrastructure.
• Implement systems at any level, from data entry and event clean-up to leading board committees and executive team initiatives.
• Collaborate with the Query Partners CEO on scoping, prioritization, quality control, and best practices.
• Manage subcontractors, Query Partners team members, or client staff on project work as needed.

Your Prior Experience

• 7+ years of experience in finance, human resources, IT, project management, or general operations, with demonstrated leadership.
• Track record of managing people and/or client relationships effectively.
• Deep expertise in at least one of: nonprofit finance, bookkeeping, accounting, human resource systems and compliance, human resource strategy and leadership, project management, technology, or similar.
• Experience applying operations skills to areas outside your expertise.
• Experience with small nonprofits or small businesses preferred.
• Familiarity with tools common in this space preferred: QuickBooks, Google Workspace, Google Sheets/Excel, AI tools, etc.

Your Work Style

• Intellectually curious and reflective.
• Comfortable working independently and creatively in ambiguous, resource-constrained environments.
• Obsessively attentive to detail.
• Strong communicator.
• Appreciative of nice formatting.
• Enthusiastic and inspired by the work of small nonprofits.

Logistics

• Pay is $45-$65 per hour, depending on your experience and ability to work independently with clients. This is a part-time W-2 employee role, with statutory benefits.
• The role is hybrid: mostly remote, but requires in-person visits about once per week (either at our office in Central Square or on-site with clients).
• We anticipate 5-15 hours per week, but workload will vary based on your availability and client demand. Once you are matched with a client, you will work together to set a plan for availability, weekly workload, and deadlines. There are no guaranteed hours.
• Must be a Massachusetts resident.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship.

A Note on AI

We currently use AI as a sidekick, not as a replacement for humans. With the exception of Claude’s support in writing this job description, we won’t be using AI in this hiring process. Please format your materials for a human reader.

If you use AI in applying, please make sure all answers and thinking are ultimately your own, and be prepared to strategically discuss how and why you used the tools you did.

Pay: $45.00 - $65.00 per hour

Application Question(s):

• As this is a part-time role, we understand you may have other commitments. Please describe your general availability and what your ideal schedule would be like for this role.
• Please share any relevant licenses or certifications you have:

Ability to Commute:

• Cambridge, MA 02139 (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Cambridge, MA 02139