I'm an interim senior People & Operations leader for seed and Series A startups in Berlin.

I work in founder-mode environments. That means I'm comfortable with ambiguity, I move at startup speed, and I don't need a lot of structure to get started. I can build it myself — and then hand it over cleanly.

I have high expectations of the people I work with, and of myself. I believe performance — actual output, real results — is how you genuinely help someone grow. Soft feedback that avoids the hard truth isn't kind; it's just easier. I prefer harder conversations and better outcomes.

I'm influenced by Lean thinking. My father, Daniel Jones, co-authored The Machine That Changed the World and Lean Thinking — books that shaped how I think about waste, flow, and the primacy of the person doing the work. In practice, that means I ask hard questions, lead through developing people, and hold myself accountable to the same standards.

I integrate AI tools naturally into how work gets done. Not as a separate “AI consulting” offering, but as practical infrastructure: knowledge transfer systems, process documentation, decision-support tools. I've formalised that through study too — including Anthropic's AI Fluency programme and Vanderbilt's Generative AI for Strategic Leaders specialisation.

Most engagements start the same way: no dedicated People or Operations leader, or a junior person who needs backing. Occasionally a small team that's lost direction. Either way, I'm usually the first senior operator in the room.

AI is great at orchestrating repeatable processes — HR workflows, knowledge systems, customer support flows, documentation. I've built these, and they work. What it doesn't replace is the human stuff. Helping someone understand why they're not performing and what to do about it. Sitting in the room when a founder and an exec have lost trust in each other. Building the rituals — planning cycles, all-hands, offsites — that make a team feel like something worth being part of. That's still the work. I do both.

“The best thing you can do for a team is give them the clarity and tools to do their best work. Then get out of the way.”