About LULA
LULA is an award-winning transport platform revolutionizing group transportation for businesses and their people. Founded in 2016, our mission is to connect people in emerging cities to economic opportunities, one shared ride at a time. By combining technology with sustainable mobility solutions, we provide safe, reliable, and convenient transport while actively reducing carbon emissions.
About the Role
We are looking for a Head of Operations to own and lead LULA's Operations function, ensuring exceptional service delivery across our transport network while building the team, systems and partnerships required to scale the business.. This is a senior leadership role suited to someone with a strong track record in operations management, ideally (though not essentially) within the transport or technology sectors.
This role is about people and relationships. You will take full ownership of managing a large, dynamic operations team, developing, and growing team members while fostering a high-performance culture. You will be accountable for the operational client relationships, ensuring service standards remain consistently within SLA and that issues are resolved quickly and effectively when they arise.You will also take ownership of our operator partner network, defining the strategy and assisting with building and maintaining strong relationships with our partner operators to ensure we have the supply and reliability needed to support both current operations and future growth.
This role reports into the executive team, with periodic reporting to the LULA board as required.The role is Hybrid - predominantly work-from-home role, with a requirement to work from a LULA office on designated days. Applicants based in Cape Town, Johannesburg or Durban will be considered.
Key Responsibilities
● Take ownership of the day-to-day operations at LULA, ensuring all services run in line with the expected service levels
● Lead and manage the Operations team, supporting training, personal development and growth across the group
● Own and manage operational relationships with corporate clients, ensuring service delivery consistently meets SLA standards
● Lead the resolution of operational issues and escalations, ensuring swift and effective outcomes
● Manage relationships with operator partners, ensuring reliability of service and sufficient supply to meet current and future growth needs
● Develop and execute the operational strategy required to support LULA's growth and long term business objectives. Set and manage operational OKRs
● Define and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), ensuring consistent day-to-day adherence
● Oversee new service launches, ensuring the team is resourced, trained, and supply is in place to support new clients
● Work cross-functionally with commercial and product teams to align ways of working with broader business goals
● Report on operational performance to the executive team, and to the board as required
Requirements
● A degree in business, logistics, operations management, or a related field preferred
● 5+ years of experience in operations management, ideally with at least 1-2 years in a senior leadership position
● Proven experience managing large, multi-tiered teams, including developing junior and mid-level managers
● Comfortable leveraging AI tools to improve team productivity and operational efficiency.
● Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience presenting to senior stakeholders or boards
● Experience setting and managing OKRs, KPIs, or similar performance frameworks● Background in transport, logistics, or technology sectors advantageous but not essential
● Availability to work outside standard hours when operational needs require it
What We’re Looking For
● An exceptional people leader who builds trust, accountability and high-performing teams.
● Strong commercial awareness with the ability to balance customer experience, operational efficiency and business priorities.
● Comfortable moving between strategic planning and hands-on problem-solving.
● Calm under pressure, with excellent judgement during operational incidents.
● An excellent communicator who builds strong relationships across clients, operators and internal teams.
What You’ll Gain
● A senior leadership role with real ownership over operations, team, and partner strategy
● The opportunity to shape and scale operations at a fast-growing, tech-enabled transport company
● Exposure to executive and board-level reporting and decision-making
● The autonomy to define OKRs, SOPs, and ways of working across the function
● The opportunity to build and develop a team, with direct impact on the company's growth trajectory