Operations Coordinator | Carlson Home Photography

• Location: Remote (Kansas City Metro preferred, but open to candidates anywhere in the U.S.)
• Compensation: $75,000–$85,000/year, based on experience
• Schedule: Full-time, Monday–Friday 9am–5pm CT with real flexibility — plus a Saturday morning check-in (details below)

About Carlson Home Photography

Carlson Home Photography is Kansas City's premium real estate media company. Since 2020 we've grown into a team-based operation serving residential agents and builders across the metro with photography, video, drone, virtual tours and more. We're a tight, fast-moving team that genuinely cares about doing great work and treating people well. Most of our team works remotely, and we've built our systems and culture around that.

We're at a stage of growth where the founder needs to focus on vision, photographer development, and premium client relationships. To make that possible, we need someone exceptional to own the day-to-day operations.

The Role

This is not an entry-level admin job, and it won't stay the same job from the start. In your first weeks, you'll learn our systems, get to know our clients and photographers, and handle the foundational work that keeps the business running. That part is real and important, and we need someone who takes genuine pride in doing it well.

But this role is designed to grow. As you get comfortable, you'll take on more: more judgment calls, more system ownership, more responsibility for how this company operates and improves. We're looking for someone energized by that arc, not someone who wants to find their lane and stay in it. If you're the kind of person who notices a recurring problem and quietly starts building a fix before anyone asks you to, this might be the right fit.

In your first few months, you'll own:

• Daily inbox triage and client communication
• Scheduling and resolving photographer booking conflicts
• Coordinating with our editing team (photo, video, virtual staging) — tracking turnaround, catching errors
• Responding to routine client issues with warmth and good judgment
• Learning our full production workflow from booking through delivery

As you grow into the role, your scope will expand to include:

• Developing and maintaining internal SOPs
• Supporting photographer onboarding and coaching on quality standards
• Assisting with order issue resolution and QC escalations
• Contributing to our internal AI tool development and workflow automation
• Identifying recurring pain points and bringing well-reasoned solutions to leadership
• Owning weekend escalation judgment-knowing what to handle independently and what needs senior level decisions

The Tech Side of This Role

We use AI tools every day — in our editing pipeline, our communications workflow, and increasingly in how we build and refine our internal systems. This isn't a role where you'll work around technology. You'll work inside it, and eventually help us build it.

You don't need to arrive as an expert in any specific platform. But you do need to pick up new tools quickly, experiment without fear, and get genuinely curious about how software can do more. Over time, we'll train you on:

• Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop, including AI-assisted editing tools
• Our photo and video editing pipeline and quality standards
• HDPhotoHub, Aryeo, and other production platforms we rely on daily
• AI tools integrated into our workflow and how we evaluate new ones

What we can't train is the underlying computer literacy and comfort with technology that makes all of the above possible. That needs to be there on day one.

What We Need From You

• Judgment. You won't have a script for every situation. Read the room, propose a fix, and only loop us in when it truly matters.
• Exceptional written communication. Friendly, calm, never corporate. Agents are busy and sometimes stressed, and your words need to land well under pressure.
• Extreme organization. Multiple photographers, vendors, client threads, and production timelines all at once. Things can't fall through the cracks.
• A builder's mindset. When the same problem happens three times, you don't just patch it... you document it, think through the fix, and bring us a solution.
• Tech fluency and AI curiosity. Fast to learn, comfortable with software, and genuinely interested in how AI tools can make work better and faster.
• Low ego about the fundamentals. Scheduling, inbox management, and vendor coordination are the foundation. Take pride in doing that well even when nobody's watching.
• Adaptability. This role will change as the business grows. That should feel exciting, not unsettling.
• Staying power. We're investing significant time in training you. We want someone who wants to build something here, not pass through.

What You Can Expect From Us

• Remote-first. Almost entirely work-from-home (no commute, no office politics, just focused work from wherever you do your best thinking).
• Real flexibility. Some days you'll wrap early. The schedule bends around the work, not the clock.
• A founder invested in your growth who will give you more ownership as you earn it
• A clear onboarding structure — we won't throw you into the deep end on day one
• Genuine variety — no two weeks are exactly the same
• The opportunity to shape how this company operates for years to come

Schedule

This is a full-time role. The core rhythm is Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm CT. Some days wrap early. Others, when production is heavy or a client issue needs resolution, may run closer to 6pm. We don't clock-watch. We expect the work to get done and people to feel taken care of.

Fridays are lighter by design. Most of the week's volume has moved through the pipeline by Thursday, so Fridays tend to wind down naturally by early afternoon. Not a guaranteed half-day, but a reliable rhythm.

Saturday mornings are part of the role, and we want to be clear about that upfront. Friday shoots generate deliveries and client reviews that land in the inbox Saturday morning. We need someone available for a mid-morning check-in... typically an hour or two to triage, resolve anything urgent, and make sure nothing sits unanswered heading into the weekend. It's rarely unpredictable, but it is real. The trade-off is genuine flexibility that a traditional office job won't give you. We're looking for someone who sees that as a fair exchange.

To Apply

Please submit your resume along with written responses to the three questions below. This exercise should take about 15–20 minutes. There are no trick questions. We're more interested in how you think and communicate vs a perfect answer.

Candidates who do not complete the exercise will not be considered.

Question 1: Client Response

You're managing the inbox for a real estate photography company. You receive this email from a client:

'Hi. I am not sure what to do. I am not happy with the photos that I can see from the thumbnails. The carpet is brand new and in the photos, with all the shadows it looks old and dirty. I have never had this happen before and I'm not sure how to move forward. My listing is going live soon.'

Draft a reply to this client. Assume you don't yet know the technical cause of the issue — your job right now is the response, not the fix.

Question 2: Problem Diagnosis

Below is a snapshot of a typical Saturday morning inbox for our business. Skim it and answer the question that follows.

• A client emails that a decorative picture frame fell off the wall during the shoot and now appears crooked or missing in several photos. The office apologizes, coordinates a retouch, and privately reminds the photographer to flag this kind of thing on-site next time.
• A client notices an error on their delivered floor plan — a room is labeled incorrectly — and needs it corrected before their listing goes live. The fix involves updating the label in the floor plan software, re-uploading to the gallery, and confirming back to the client.
• An overseas editor flagged a file issue the night before (two links were duplicates) and the resolution is still pending in the inbox Saturday morning.
• A client emails confused about why a shoot they canceled days ago still appears as pending in their dashboard. The shoot was placed in a TBD state rather than fully canceled, making it look like an active booking set in TBD state from their end.
• A client emails requesting to cancel an upcoming shoot scheduled for the following week. This type of request comes in frequently, and while clients have the ability to manage cancellations through their own dashboard, they often forget or don't know how to do that from there end.
• An agent emails that photos from Friday's shoot don't represent the property well and is asking about next steps before their listing goes live soon.

If you were three months into this role and saw this same pattern repeating most Saturdays, what — if anything — would you flag as a process improvement worth bringing to leadership? Walk us through your thinking: what you'd investigate first, and what a reasonable next step might look like. We're not looking for a finished solution, just how you'd approach it.

Question 3: A Bit About You

In 3–5 sentences, tell us about a time you noticed a recurring problem at a previous job (it doesn't have to be a big one) and did something about it, even if it wasn't officially your responsibility.

Carlson Home Photography is an equal opportunity employer.