Business Systems Strategist

Switchboard is a growing product studio for internal operations. We work with COOs, CFOs, and ops leaders at companies where the team has become the glue between disconnected systems, manual processes, and spreadsheets that everyone is eager to move on from. We build the custom software, AI-powered workflows, and automation that replaces the compromises they've learned to live with.

Every partnership starts by understanding how work really moves through an organization, then building the tools that match that reality. We're a small product-minded firm that takes the work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. The challenges are real, and the things we build actually make people's jobs better.

Are you the person who looks at a 50-step, manual process and thinks, “certainly this could be 5 steps, right?”

As a Business Systems Strategist
, you'll figure out how a client's business actually operates, then define what gets built to fix it. Not what to recommend in a deck, but what to build, and why.

Our model is prototype-first. Instead of long strategy engagements that end in abstract deliverables, we lead with a 2–6 week prototype that gives clients something real to react to. Strategy runs through this phase and every one after it, it just happens through the lens of building. You're the person who makes that possible: leading discovery, translating what you learn into clear product direction, and staying close to the work as it takes shape alongside Project Managers, Designers, and Developers.

• Lead strategic discovery to surface bottlenecks, quantify impact, and understand priorities with client stakeholders from frontline staff to C-suite. You're mapping how work actually moves through the organization, not how the org chart says it should.
• Define what gets built and why. That might be a custom internal tool, an automated workflow, a set of integrations between existing systems, or an AI utility that handles work a human shouldn't be doing manually. You own the workflows and product direction, grounded in what you learned during discovery.
• Model current-state processes and data flows
  , then define the future state: product requirements, workflow designs, integration architecture, or automation specs that give the design and dev team a clear target.
• Scope prototypes that let clients see a working version of what we're proposing before committing to a full engagement. You define what the prototype covers, what it proves, and how it connects to the bigger picture.
• Evaluate and recommend the right technical approach for each client's context. Custom software, SaaS integrations, workflow automation, AI. You're not just picking tools. You're designing how the pieces fit together and what the client's team actually needs to operate better.
• Draft implementation roadmaps that sequence what gets built and when, so our development teams can execute and client leadership stays bought in.
• Translate technical trade-offs into clear narratives that move both CFOs and developers, without getting lost in jargon.
• Stay involved through the build. You're not handing off a strategy deck and walking away. You hold the thread on business context as the work takes shape, validate that what's being built matches what the client needs, and adjust course when things change in collaboration with your team (PM, designer, developer, BA).

• There’s a clear line from your work to the functioning products and automations. Whether it's a product spec, an automation design, or an integration plan, your output is clear enough that the team can start building without a translation layer in between.
• You pick the right approach, not just the most ambitious one. You know when the client needs a custom platform and when they need three smart automations and a cleaned-up data model. Clients trust your judgment because you solve the actual problem, not the most impressive-sounding version of it.
• Prototypes land. The scoping and direction you set consistently validates the right problem and convinces clients to move forward.
• Implementation runs on time and on budget because your requirements,…