Operator-in-Residence
(OIR) 
(GM / President / CEO-in-training)

Lead a small business yourself in months, not years, while training firsthand through the day-to-day operational oversight of some of America’s best small businesses.

 

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What We're About

Saturn Five is a long-term-hold investment firm focused on buying and operating some of the best small businesses in America. We are, technically, a lower-middle-market private equity company, but we're a bit different. We buy and hold our investments for the long term, and we invest in companies that we're proud of, but most of the private equity market isn't interested in. If you love the impact of well-run businesses and want to run one yourself someday, we may have a seat waiting for you. You can learn more about Saturn Five in our 2025 Annual Letter.

 

The Role: Operator-in-Residence

This role is designed to provide a natural, short-term on-ramp to senior leadership roles within our fast-growing, 24-odd (and counting) portfolio of small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) by providing a 6-to-24-month employment period where you’ll learn the Saturn Five Way, experience firsthand the joys and challenges of supporting small businesses, and be first-in-line for a senior role in current or future Saturn Five businesses that need fresh leadership. As an OIR, you’ll engage directly with our team of Operating Partners, executing key projects and providing lift to the CEOs, GMs, and Presidents of a unique network of profitable small businesses, all while getting the skills you need to make a significant impact leading an SMB yourself.

 

What Makes This Role Different

This is a compelling opportunity to support the operational needs of a 24+ company SMB portfolio, all while receiving training and seeing how best-in-class lower-middle market company leaders operate, and  simultaneously posturing yourself for leadership of a small firm in the near future. You will:

• Get front-row access to the operational processes and systems it takes for excellent small businesses to succeed,
• Work alongside a 14-person team that genuinely loves working together to build good businesses for the long-term, focusing on sustainable growth rather than quick exits,
• Guide and assist portfolio companies to meet quarterly distribution targets to investors, all while helping employees flourish.

 

Core Responsibilities

1) Supporting Saturn Five Operating Partners

Provide meaningful lift to portfolio companies and the Saturn Five Ops Team through hands-on project work supporting individual businesses. Example projects might include:

• Reviewing and improving portfolio company-level budgets and annual plans
• Designing and modeling key-employee incentive compensation plans
• Serving as a ‘running buddy’ to portfolio company leadership on major sales, supplier, or operational issues
• Tackle key projects or domain-specific initiatives to level-up or shore-up an operating business
• Building and improving Saturn Five playbooks using your and our lived experience and tactical examples for common SMB challenges and opportunities

2) Training and Learning for your next chapter

Progress through a program of key small business skills we at Saturn Five believe every small business leader should be equipped and trained to perform, with tactical examples like:

• People: Run a mid-level-manager hiring process, serve as point-person on a current portfolio company HR compliance issue, design a key employee compensation plan, conduct 1:1 coaching/mentorship meetings
• Sales: Build a ‘customer experience journey’ artifact and sales pipeline process for a project-based portfolio company, join a company leader in building a customer roster and cold-calling for a new product offering, conduct customer satisfaction follow-up calls
• Ops: Learn and coach the Saturn Five Way system of Weekly, Monthly, and Annual status updates, conduct a morning toolbox meeting, design a simple inventory count and management system
• Cash: Create a recommended quarterly distribution for a portfolio company based on cash needs and recent performance, build a CapEx plan with and without financing options for critical portfolio company equipment, help build a 13-week cash-flow forecast product
  
  

Who You Are

• You're wicked smart and proactive
• You’re kind, firm, and grounded
• You work hard and are a great teammate
• You willingly serve others
• You have a good sense of humor and can roll with the unpredictable punches inherent to the world of small businesses … you take your work seriously, but not yourself
• You aspire to be and thrive on becoming ‘the guy/gal’ … the lead decision-maker in a 30-130 person, $6M-40M revenue organization. You’ve led teams successfully before and seek to do so again.
• You prize excellence, and hold a high bar for the quality of your work
• You’re comfortable with some ambiguity and stepping into messy situations, with a bias towards process improvement and systematizing healthy practices
• You want your work to matter
• You share our core values of Adventure, Joy, Trust, Excellence, and Love

 

What You Must Bring

• Unquestionable integrity and trustworthiness in stewarding investors’ dollars
• A true passion for small business and a commitment to leading one soon
• Five-to-ten (5-10) years of post-undergrad work experience
• Real-world, small unit / team leadership of front-line employees
• Sales ability
• Adept at operational finance
• A history of direct exposure to financial statements and their analysis
• Comfort with high levels of ambiguity and day-to-day variance in your job focus
• A willingness to geographically relocate outside Colorado, if needed, to lead an assigned portfolio
• A four-year undergrad degree … business or finance focus beneficial, but we’re open to other backgrounds

 

What'd be Nice-to-Have

• Management-team-level experience in a small-to-medium-sized firm ($2M - $10M in EBITDA)
• Domain expertise in a small-business-related cross-company functional area (SEO, hiring, inventory management, job-costing)
• An MBA or equivalent professional degree

 

A Day in the Life Might Include:

• Learning and supporting the implementation of the Saturn Five Way (an EOS-informed management system) at a $2M-10M EBITDA portfolio company
• Supporting a portfolio company in running a Topgrading-style hiring process for a key role
• Providing a first set of eyes on a portfolio company’s budget and/or annual operating plan
• Supporting a current CEO / GM / President in building a case for a new business unit or working through a complex contract / bid process
• Learning the methodology behind, sitting in on, and eventually running standardized Weekly Metrics calls and Monthly Book Reviews with current portfolio company CEOs / GMs / Presidents
• Serving as ‘surge capacity’ for portfolio companies facing an exciting upside opportunity with a huge, new customer, or helping build a sales funnel back up if a key customer leaves
• Receiving regular training and mentorship from a Saturn Five Operating Partner on your developmental progress and what business you might best match with as the next-generation leader
  
  
  

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The Details

Location:  On-site in Northwest Denver for your OIR period, with the potential to lead a business either in Colorado or out-of-state, depending on the firm’s needs and future acquisition locations

Compensation:

• $120-150k base salary, commensurate with experience; compensation to be renegotiated upon placement into a portfolio company
• Performance-based bonus equal to 10% of base salary
• Betterment 401(k) with an up-to 4% match
• Health and dental insurance
• Self-directed PTO
• Monthly coaching/counseling stipend
• Monthly date night allowance for you and your spouse

 

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Think You're the One?

If you want to lead a small business yourself someday soon, would like to first learn the craft from a team that’s executed at this end of the market at-scale, and if you want to do meaningful work with people who share your values, let's talk.