Via is using technology to transform transportation around the world. From changing a single person’s daily commute to reducing humanity’s collective environmental footprint — we’ve got huge goals.
Together with the Hannover Region and Hannover's public transport operator, ÜSTRA, we have been operating the “sprinti”, one of the most successful on-demand public transport projects in Germany with around 150,000 passengers every month, for over four years.
As Strategy & Operations Principal, you will lead and optimize on-the-ground operations, ensuring top-quality service for Via’s partners and riders across the DACH region, including sprinti. You will shape operational strategy, tackle complex challenges, and work closely with cross-functional teams to drive growth. This is a hands-on, high-impact role for a leader who thrives in fast-paced, dynamic environments.
What You'll Do:
- Own the performance of a selected portfolio of our DACH services, meeting operational goals while ensuring an exceptional customer experience.
- Identify and resolve issues in real time, coordinating with on-the-ground teams and cross-functional partners to keep operations running smoothly.
- Drive strategic initiatives with external partners and internal teams, leveraging insights from active services to enhance processes and shape the future of our operations.
- Lead core and field teams, fostering a collaborative, high-energy, and accountable culture.
- Partner closely with teams across Via—including Strategy, Product, Partnerships, and Operations—to improve scalability and operational excellence.
- Recommend strategies that balance service quality, efficiency, and service-level commitments.
- Analyze data, track key metrics, and prepare reports to inform decisions, optimize resources, and continuously improve performance.
Who You Are:
- Entrepreneurial operator: equally comfortable setting strategic direction and rolling up your sleeves to execute. You take full ownership to drive your services forward every day.
- Financially savvy: skilled in financial modeling and comfortable using data to guide strategic and operational decisions.
- Stakeholder-savvy: able to lead discussions and simplify complex concepts for any audience, managing nuanced customer, regulatory, and operational relationships, with native-level or C2 German and English.
- Exceptional leader: people enjoy working with you and for you—you naturally foster collaboration, trust, and growth.
- Data-informed operator: you identify trends and use insights to improve efficiency and outcomes.
Agile and adaptable: thrive in fast-paced environments, embrace change, and jump in hands-on when needed.
- Experienced: bring 6–10 years of relevant experience from startups, tech, consulting, finance, or similar industries that informs your decisions.
- Problem solver and executor: you don’t settle for the status quo—detail-oriented, action-focused, and able to manage multiple priorities effectively.
What We Offer
- Joining a global employer with over 700 mobility deployments in 40+ countries
- Becoming part of a company that was awarded for its commitment to social good
- Competitive compensation including stock options
- An office located in the heart of Hannover.
- Urban Sports Club membership
- 30 vacation days a year
We’re Via, and we build technology that changes the way the world moves. We’re driven by a simple mission: to create modern and efficient public transportation systems that provide far greater access to jobs, healthcare, and education. With our best in class suite of products, we make transit thrive.
Our teams of worldclass engineers, data-scientists, product managers, operations specialists, marketers, transit experts and more bring cutting-edge AI-powered software and innovative technology-enabled operations to our partners across the globe. Founded in 2012, Via builds solutions to digitize, automate, and enable data-driven decision making for entire transportation networks; fixed-route buses, microtransit, paratransit, school buses, autonomous vehicles, and more.
If you’re excited to be at the forefront of modernizing the future of transportation, are up for solving tough problems, and willing to become/already are a transit nerd, we are the place for you. Even if your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description for this role, we encourage you to apply. You may be just the right candidate for this or other opportunities.
Ready to join the ride?
Via is an equal opportunity employer.