Vice President of Operations
Job Type: Full-Time Permanent
Work Location: Wallenstein, ON (On Site)
Compensation: $150,000-$180,000
Reports to: CEO

At Earthscape Play, we’re not just another company; we’re a playground for creativity, craft, and innovation. Our mission is to push boundaries and be a leader in the playground industry.

What shapes our culture is how deeply people care about their craft, whether they’re sketching the first concept, engineering the structure, or hand-building the final piece. We’re growing quickly, trying new things, and stretching into new markets. As we grow, we stay grounded in what matters most: design excellence, craftsmanship, and the people and places we serve.

We're looking for a Vice President of Operations who can keep pace with innovation across the company and help us build the systems, structure, and clarity we need to grow thoughtfully and sustainably. What makes the work complex at Earthscape is how many disciplines have to move together to deliver it well.

Behind every project is a system of interconnected work:

• Designers shaping form, flow, and play value
• Engineers translating ideas into safe, buildable structures
• Fabrication bringing designs to life with care and precision
• Supply Chain managing custom materials and long lead times
• Project Managers sequencing the work from design through installation

We are looking for a leader who sees the "whole system." You understand that creativity, cost, quality, efficiency, and delivery are not competing interests, but gears that must be perfectly timed - especially as we scale our presence across the USA, Canada, and international markets.

What we are looking for:
We care deeply about how you think, how you lead, and how you show up in complexity just as much as where you’ve worked. You might come from manufacturing, production, design-build, product, or a fast-growth startup environment.

• 10+ years of senior leadership experience in operations or closely related environments (Director/Vice President Level)
• A proven track record of helping organizations scale, driving efficiency, reliability, and outcomes as complexity increases
• Experience in custom manufacturing, design-build construction or complex project-based environment
• Strength in operational systems and process improvement, with an action-oriented mindset that drives clarity, execution, and turning ideas into results
• Data-informed leader who uses metrics to understand performance and efficiency, surface trade-offs, and guide improvement
• Shows up with presence and is visible and invested in how the work actually happens, building credibility and trust with intention
• A mindset that aligns with Earthscape: humble, agile, curious, collaborative, and able to grow people while maintaining operational clarity

What You’ll do:
Operational Leadership & Strategy

• Lead across the full operations ecosystem, engineering, production, supply chain, and product performance, connecting the dots to drive aligned decision-making and measurable outcomes
• Develop and execute a multi-year operations roadmap that enables thoughtful scaling, operational discipline and system maturity as the organization grows, supporting increased volume, complexity, and geographic reach
• Hold accountability for operational performance, including delivery reliability, cost discipline, and capacity planning as the organization scales
• Bring clarity to cross-team workflows by setting clear priorities, decision paths, and ways of working to support smoother planning, scheduling, and collaboration
• Design, recommend, and implement structures, tools, and rhythms that make the work easier
• Own performance outcomes by monitoring and elevating key operational KPIs, using metrics to drive focus, efficiency, and continuous improvement including delivery reliability, cost management, capacity planning, and resource utilization

Success in this role means building an operation that scales with the business - improving predictability, cost control, and delivery performance while strengthening trust, capability, and ownership across teams.

People & Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop a diverse group of operational leaders, building leadership depth and capability as teams and responsibilities evolve
• Act as a thought partner and coach to leaders, helping them navigate complexity and grow into the next stage of leadership
• Communicate operational plans in a way that connects day-to-day work to Earthscape’s broader direction, helping teams understand the why behind the work
• Show up as a trusted, steady partner who builds momentum, alignment and confidence without leaving people behind
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, curiosity, and pride in quality and craftsmanship

A Role With Real Impact
This is a high-impact leadership role. Success in this role means building an operation that scales with the business - improving delivery reliability, cost discipline, and capacity planning while strengthening the systems, trust, and leadership needed to support growth.

You’ll help shape how Earthscape grows over the next decade, from the quality of our craft, to the strength and scalability of our systems, to the experience of the people doing the work.

If you’re the kind of leader who loves complexity, cares deeply about people, and knows how to turn systems and strategy into outcomes teams can actually feel, this might be your place.

What’s in it for you?
This job will offer you the opportunity to work on some of North America’s most innovative playground projects. You’ll work with a highly skilled, committed group of people who bring deep expertise, care about the work, and hold a high standard for how things get done.

We believe in great compensation for great employees, and we reward our staff with a combination of:

• Profit sharing and performance bonuses
• Employee share ownership opportunities (ESOP) after 1 year of service
• Six-week sabbatical after 14,000 hours worked
• Tuition reimbursement
• Extended health and dental benefits
• Company events
• Casual dress code

Accommodation: We are committed to treating all people with dignity and independence. Should you require any accommodation during the recruitment process or otherwise, please notify us of this when you apply, and we will work with you to meet your accessibility needs.

At Earthscape Play, we are committed to building an environment where everyone feels included, valued, and heard. Diversity, inclusion, and belonging are an important part of our everyday work, and it is our belief that they enable us to reach our goal of bringing incredible play spaces to life. We strongly encourage applications from Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, people with disabilities, people from gender and sexually diverse communities and/or people with intersectional identities.