Director, Operations

Director of Operations
Location: Toronto, ON | Remote
Salary: $150,000 to $160,000 CAD per annum
Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent

IQ PARTNERS is representing Makeship, a fast-growing, profitable company that empowers influencers, creators, and brands to develop and launch limited-edition products for their fans. Through its community-powered crowdfunding platform, Makeship combines design, manufacturing, and marketing expertise to bring products to life and deliver them to fans worldwide.

Makeship has achieved more than 200% three-year revenue growth and has been recognized among The Globe and Mail’s Canada’s Top Growing Companies. The company has also been Great Place to Work-Certified for three consecutive years.

The Opportunity Makeship is seeking a Director of Operations to own the end-to-end operational health of the business, from creator onboarding through merchandise design and manufacturing to the moment a product reaches a fan.
This is a foundational, high-visibility role for a leader who is energized by ambiguity, thinks in systems, and wants to build and scale processes rather than simply maintain them.

Reporting directly to the VP of Product & Technology, the Director of Operations will lead the Business Operations and Customer Support teams, oversee supply chain operations, and partner closely with Systems Engineering to build the operational infrastructure required to support Makeship’s continued growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Analyze campaign operations end to end to identify inefficiencies, risks, and opportunities, and develop a holistic view of business health.
• Lead the Business Operations team, ensuring smooth day-to-day execution of campaigns while evolving internal workflows and systems in partnership with Systems Engineering.
• Oversee supply chain operations, balancing cost, quality, and timeliness across manufacturing, fulfillment, and internal teams.
• Lead the Customer Support team, owning the quality, responsiveness, and tooling behind Makeship’s relationship with fans.
• Provide teams across the organization with regular insights, including support trends, sentiment tracking, research findings, and internal metrics.
• Establish tools and processes that enable teams to reach creators and fans and learn directly from them.

What We're Looking For

• 8+ years of experience in operations, business operations, or a related leadership role, ideally within a high-growth D2C, e-commerce, or marketplace business.
• Proven experience designing and scaling processes and teams to support a rapidly growing business.
• Strong analytical instincts and the ability to identify where processes are costing the business time, money, or trust.
• Experience partnering with manufacturing or supply chain partners to balance cost, quality, and speed.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership skills, with the ability to influence and coordinate across engineering, design, finance, and external partners.

Bonus:

• Experience leading customer-facing or support teams.
• Experience in the creator economy, crowdfunding, or merchandise/apparel industries.
• Experience managing or evaluating outsourced research or agency relationships.
• Experience building a function from the ground up within a scaling startup.
• Familiarity with drop-shipping or overseas manufacturing operations, including China-based manufacturing.
• Mandarin fluency.

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

As an early team member, you’ll have a significant opportunity to shape Makeship’s culture, processes, and future. This role offers the chance to build the operational foundation for a rapidly growing company while working closely across the organization and seeing the direct impact of your work on the business and its community.

Benefits & Perks

• Remote work anywhere in Canada and/or access to Makeship hubs.
• Health and dental benefits from day one.
• Four weeks of paid vacation, including paid time off on your birthday.
• Additional paid time off during the winter holidays.
• Virtual and in-person social events.
• Annual paid volunteer day.
• 1:1 RRSP matching program up to 3%.
• Health and wellness allowance.
• Home office setup allowance.
• Monthly phone allowance.
• Maternity and parental leave top-up program.
• Education assistance program.
• Employee referral program.
• Tenured rewards program.