Forward Implementation and Onboarding Specialist

Implementations are where Arda wins or loses. Today, they’re carried by a small group of generalists. We need a dedicated implementer who can:

• Carry a portfolio of customers from contract through go-live and into ongoing success.
• Run real work on real shop floors-not implementations from a slide deck.
• Turn each rollout into reusable scaffolding: templates, training, and the playbook the next implementers will use.

You’ll report to the Head of Customer Success and partner closely with GTM, engineering, and leadership.

What You’ll Do

Run Implementations End-to-End

• After the software sale, scope and quote the on-site implementation engagement-walk the floor, sketch the scope, and produce the quote that anchors the work.
• Customer kickoffs that translate products, layout, suppliers, and pain points into an Arda deployment plan.
• On-floor implementation-walk the lines, choose the starter items, size bins, place cards, train operators where they actually work.
• Platform configuration: items, suppliers, replenishment logic, card libraries, and the operational details that make a deployment hold up.
• Drive every implementation to “first scan triggers a real order”-then to steady-state usage.
• Document what works and what doesn’t so each rollout makes the next one faster.

Organize the Shop

• Item organization is often half the work-duplicate part numbers consolidated, bin systems rebuilt, containers standardized, and, when warranted, a full warehouse or stockroom layout redesigned.
• Make the physical space match the digital system. Label things. Move shelves. Get the bin behind the card to make sense before the card goes up.

Own the Customer Relationship

• Post-go-live ownership-check-ins, adoption surfacing, expansion across lines, sites, and use cases.
• Real, durable relationships with line operators, material handlers, purchasing clerks, shipping leads-the people who decide whether Arda stays in the building.
• Training across the gap-the new hire on their second week and the owner with thirty years on the floor, in the same session.
• Voice of the customer back to product and engineering. What we ship next comes from what you see on the floor.

Be Arda’s Face in the Field

• Partner with marketing on Arda’s trade show presence-Modex, ProMat, regional meetups. Ownership of logistics, demos, and follow-up varies by event and bandwidth.
• Be the person at the booth-demo the product, work the floor, take the meetings, source the next round of customers.
• Turn customer wins into stories Arda uses everywhere else: case studies, before/after photos, short videos, quotes for marketing.
• Speak credibly about lean manufacturing in front of operators, plant managers, and owners. Our customers know whether you’ve actually been in the work.

How We Run Implementations

• Cadence: Focused on-site week, remote follow-through.
• Definition of done: Cards placed, operators trained, and the customer self-sufficient on Arda.
• Review: Short retro after each implementation. Wins become playbook entries; losses become process changes.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 Days

• Shadow active implementations; ramp on the product; demo Arda cold by end of week two.
• At least one full week on a customer floor with an experienced implementer.
• Audit the current implementation process-what works, what breaks, where the playbook has gaps.

By 60 Days

• First implementations owned end-to-end, including the on-site week.
• First round of playbook contributions-templates, training materials, checklists.
• Launched customers scanning cards, reordering, trending up on adoption.

By 90 Days

• A portfolio of customers running on Arda with measurable adoption.
• Clear runway into year one-a healthy book of successful go-lives, customers expanding their use of Arda, and a playbook making each next rollout faster.
• Trusted with the floor-and the trade show booth.

Do you have experience in Webinars?, We care more about proof-of-work than pedigree. You’ll probably recognize yourself:

• Arda or a comparable kanban / pull-replenishment system, shipped end-to-end at a manufacturer. Hands-on configuration, deployment, and support of a card- or bin-based system on a real floor.
• 2+ years of implementation, customer success, or operations experience working with manufacturers. Mix is fine; real reps owning outcomes matter.
• You’ve run a pull system on a real floor. Kanban, two-bin, CONWIP, min/max with actual cards or bins-and fixed it when bin sizes were wrong. Hands-on, not just academic.
• Great with people. Hospitality, customer relations, or service backgrounds count for a lot here-stressed-out shop owners feel heard, skeptical operators feel respected.
• Creative physical problem-solver. When the right card placement is blocked by a structural beam and the operator’s preference doesn’t match the textbook, you find the version that works in that building.
• Willing to do unglamorous setup work. Laminating cards, measuring bins, sorting part numbers in a hotel room at 9pm.
• Travel well. 50-70% of the time, usually a week at a stretch-you don’t dread it.
• Decent with software. Not a developer, but comfortable in a CRM, a spreadsheet, and a configuration UI.

Nice-to-Haves

• Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, or operations consulting (5S, VSM, single-piece flow, kaizen).
• SaaS implementation experience at SMB or mid-market manufacturers.
• Comfortable on the record-customer videos, case-study quotes, the occasional webinar.
• Trade show experience-booth, demo plan, lead capture and follow-up at a manufacturing event.
• Public-facing experience-panels, conference talks, podcasts, or a YouTube/LinkedIn presence in the manufacturing space., * You’re uncomfortable with ambiguity-every floor is different and the playbook is being written.

4.04.0 out of 5 stars Seattle, WA Hybrid work $95,000 - $120,000 a year - Full-time, Pulled from the full job description

• Parental leave
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance
• Dental insurance, * Base salary: $95,000-$120,000, depending on experience.
• Equity: Stock in a high-growth company with meaningful ownership.
• Benefits: Health, dental, vision; PTO; 401(k) with dollar-for-dollar match up to 5%; parental leave; full coverage of work travel.
• Transparency: Full compensation breakdown shared early in the process-no surprises at the end.
• Location: Remote (US). 50-70% travel to customer sites, largely in week-long stretches. Proximity to a major airport is a plus., Compensation Range: $95K - $120K

About Arda

Arda is modernizing inventory and order management for manufacturers. We make scannable Kanban cards that trigger automated, AI-powered replenishment workflows-so production teams can put their inventory on autopilot, eliminate stockouts, and order 10x faster. 1 in 5 of our customers doubles revenue in under 9 months and most see 20% time savings across the team after deployment. We’re venture-backed, having just raised a $3.5M seed round, and excited to put that capital to work and grow quickly. Our customers include leading (truly, a few of the most famous brands in the world) manufacturers across a variety of industries in addition to a large and growing group of SMB manufacturers. We’re early enough that the systems aren’t set, which is why we’re excited to hire for this role. If you like turning chaos into compounding leverage-on a real shop floor, not just in a CRM-you’ll feel right at home.