How to Write YOUR Job Description - A Toolkit for Founders

As a business founder, owner, or C-Suite leader, you wear a lot of hats on a daily basis. With all that you’re juggling, drafting a solid job description for yourself is probably the last thing on your list. Not only is your role multifaceted and demanding, your responsibilities and skills are likely diverse and ever-evolving, making it hard to articulate exactly what it is you do in writing.

A well-written job description that captures your role’s accountabilities is a key asset that articulates your responsibilities accurately to potential investors and partners, serves as a personal guide for your ongoing activities, and guides effective decision-making and delegation. 

It’s also an essential step to take before adding to your leadership team, ensuring recruitment activities focus on the right people with the right skill sets to complement your existing team.

WRITE YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION - STEP BY STEP 

Step 1 - Pre-reflection: Before you start drafting your job description, complete the self-reflection prompts below to help you articulate your role and responsibilities as a founder clearly. By taking this time and engaging fully with the questions below, you'll gain a more nuanced understanding of your role and be better equipped to write a complete job description. 

Reflection Prompts:

• Day-to-Day Operations: What does a typical day look like for you? List all the tasks you find yourself engaged in.

• Strategic Priorities: What are the long-term strategic priorities for your company? How do your daily and weekly tasks serve these priorities?

• Skill Sets: What are the key skills you bring to your role as a founder? What are the skills you lack and might want to hire for?

• Delegation: What tasks are you currently handling that could be delegated to other team members? What roles would you ideally like to fill to lighten your own load?

• KPIs and Goals: What does success look like for you in your role as a founder? How would you measure it?

Step 2 - Feedback Loop: Before you move on to Step 2, share your reflections with a trusted advisor or peer to get their insights. They may point out gaps, identify changes to the status quo, or suggest clarifications that could be useful.

Step 3 - Draft the Job Description: Use the information from Step 1 and feedback from Step 2 to write your job description. Fill in the following information: 

Title 

Start with your title. This might be "Founder," "Co-Founder," "CEO," "Managing Director," or any other title that you feel encapsulates your role.

Reporting

State to whom you will report (if applicable, like a board of directors) and who will report to you (e.g., all department heads, CFO, COO, etc.).

Objective / Purpose

State the core objective of your role. Why does your role exist at a high level and what is your purpose? As a founder, this might include providing overall leadership, setting strategic direction, and accountability for the success of the company.

Key Responsibilities

List the main responsibilities of your role. This section can be broken down into big themes like strategic planning, team building, product development, financial management, or compliance and governance.

Skills and Qualifications

State what skills and qualifications are needed for your role. These might include degrees, certifications, competencies, experience, hard skills, or personal attributes.

Performance Metrics

List the key performance indicators (KPIs) by which your performance could be evaluated (think revenue growth, customer acquisition, employee retention, investor satisfaction, etc.)

Other

You might also want to include:

• Working conditions: Office-based, remote, or hybrid.

• Travel requirements: Whether or not travel is expected and how often.

• Term of Employment: Full-time, part-time, contract, etc.

Step 4 - Iteration and Final Feedback: Before you finalize your draft, sit on it for a few days and review again. Your perspective may change, or new ideas may occur to you. Once reviewed, share it with a trusted advisor or peer to get their insights. They may point out gaps or suggest clarifications that could be useful.

Creating a job description is necessary for efficient growth and scale up. It helps clarify thought processes and set clearer goals and boundaries for your founding team, contributing to more effective leadership.

If you’re struggling to articulate what you do clearly and a follow up chat would be helpful, we support our clients with JDs (and associated leadership recruitments) all the time! We’d be more than happy to help you with a rewrite, or share some strategies / approaches we've learned that may save you time and headaches!