Head of Strategy & Operations

Company Description

Wolt is a technology company that makes it incredibly easy to discover and get the best restaurants, grocery stores and other local shops delivered to your home or office. Since launching 8 years ago, Wolt has expanded from a restaurant food delivery platform in the Nordics to a leading player in the delivery of everything across EMEA. Wolt works together with tens of thousands of restaurant and retail partners, as well as with over a hundred thousand courier partners across 23 countries and 250+ cities. 

In November 2021, we announced that we’re joining forces with the US-based company DoorDash. The transaction closed in May 2022, and since then we have been one team with DoorDash. Our CEO, Miki Kuusi leads all of DoorDash’s international business in the 26 countries outside of the US. 

Wolt not only offers great apps to customers and partners, but is also developing a broad range of technologies and solutions. Our apps (iOS and Android) have the industry’s highest reviews, largely because of our customer-centric approach to how we build our products and operations. For example, our customer service team responds in a matter of minutes, in the customer’s own language.

So, why work at Wolt?

At Wolt, we’re about getting things done.

You’ll probably enjoy it here if you like taking ownership, developing yourself and being around friendly, humble and ambitious people.

We work hard to make cities into better places, and it’s pretty cool seeing us grow every week. If you’re passionate about building things that just… work, Wolt might be for you.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We want to have all sorts of people in our team – people like you and me, and people different from you and me. To be able to work with diverse teammates – when it comes to gender, age, ethnicity, life background, sexual orientation, political views, religion, or any other personal trait – we consciously aim to offer equal opportunity for everyone to work with us. This is because we believe diverse teams make the most thought-through decisions and build things in the most inclusive way.

Join us today to build Wolt together.

Job Description

The Head of Strategy & Operations is responsible for developing, executing, and optimizing Wolt's strategic initiatives in Japan. You will play a key role in shaping the company’s market approach, driving growth, and ensuring alignment across all teams. This includes conducting in-depth market research, analyzing data, and generating actionable insights to guide the product roadmap, marketing strategies, and operational improvements.

As a strategic and analytical leader, you will be hands-on in leading initiatives and driving the execution of key projects. You will support teams in optimizing their processes, set ambitious goals, and help the organization achieve its objectives. This role reports directly to the GM in Japan and is an integral part of the Japan leadership team, working closely with sales, operations, marketing, product, and engineering teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute strategic plans for Wolt’s operations in Japan, ensuring that local strategies are aligned with global objectives and tailored to meet market needs.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with teams across Japan and globally, fostering strong partnerships to identify new opportunities, analyze data, and drive market growth.
• Take a hands-on approach to project execution, directly managing key initiatives from ideation through to delivery, ensuring the strategic plan translates into tangible results.
• Drive 0 to 1 innovation by building and leading new product and service opportunities. Develop roadmaps for these initiatives and prioritize investments to achieve business outcomes.
• Optimize operational processes across teams, identifying inefficiencies and working collaboratively to improve workflows, enhance productivity, and drive continuous improvement.
• Set ambitious goals for the team and key stakeholders, ensuring alignment with overall company objectives. Provide direction and support to help the team meet and exceed these targets.
• Partner with Finance and Strategic Planning teams to define quarterly goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). Regularly track, measure, and report on performance to ensure strategies are delivering results and adjust tactics as necessary.
• Build and lead a high-performing team. Hire top talent, foster a culture of excellence, and ensure the team has the resources and support to succeed.

Qualifications

• You have 7+ years of experience in a role in strategy and operations, general management, business operations, or management consulting.
• You are strategic and driven with a passion for the local delivery economy and an understanding of the competitive landscape.
• You have a talent for summarizing complex problems, and can translate high-level goals into actionable plans.
• You have people management experience, and will enjoy developing a team of operators.
• You don’t need a guide. You dive into difficult problems and come up with a plan.
• You have an excellent storyteller both in English and Japanese (nice to have) backed by data visualization and presentation skills. SQL and advanced analytics is a plus

About You:

• Creative and Entrepreneurial: You thrive on tackling complex, unsolved problems and finding innovative solutions, even with limited resources. Your entrepreneurial mindset enables you to seize opportunities and make things happen with agility and resourcefulness.
• Strategic Thinker & Effective Executor: You excel at analyzing a range of options and making well-informed decisions quickly. You balance strategic thinking with a focus on execution, ensuring that ideas translate into tangible outcomes with speed and precision.
• Collaborative Leader: You enjoy working alongside cross-functional teams, both learning from others and sharing your expertise to elevate team performance. You foster an environment where diverse perspectives are valued and collaboration drives success.
• Detail-Oriented Project Manager: You are highly organized and thrive in managing complex, cross-functional projects. You have a keen eye for detail and ensure that no aspect is overlooked, meeting deadlines while maintaining the highest quality of execution.
• Data-Driven & Analytical: You get excited by the power of data to uncover insights that drive decisions. You’re highly analytical, able to interpret data at a granular level, and use these insights to inform strategies and optimize performance.
• Strategic & Business-Minded: You don't just analyze data—you interpret it to uncover trends and identify the "so what." Your business acumen allows you to connect the dots between data insights and strategic goals, ensuring that every decision moves the business forward.
• Energetic & Inspiring: You bring energy and enthusiasm to everything you do, motivating those around you. You find joy in your work and create a positive, dynamic environment where teams are inspired to do their best work and achieve ambitious goals.

Additional Information

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and benefits package. In addition to base salary, the compensation package for this role also includes opportunities for equity grants.
• Opportunity to work at a fast-growing tech company.
• Chance to make a real impact on the Japanese market.
• Collaborative and supportive work environment.