Most GTM teams aren't failing because of bad strategy. They're failing because nobody taught their operators how to get leadership to actually move.
Jelena Arnold · Founder, The Translation Layer · Revenue Operations Executive
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Sales, marketing, and customer success each have their own language, their own metrics, and their own version of what a good quarter looks like. RevOps sits in the middle — building the systems, cleaning the data, designing the processes — and then watching it stall because they can't get the humans around it to align.
That's not a systems problem. It's a behavioral pattern problem.
The Translation Layer is the practice I built to solve it. I work with B2B SaaS companies to align GTM functions, build forecasting infrastructure that leadership actually trusts, and design processes that survive beyond the first reorg. At the center of that work is The Rosetta — a framework for recognizing the behavioral patterns driving every stakeholder in the room, and building a specific plan to move them.
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Seven years building RevOps and ClientOps at Chatmeter taught me what breaks first when companies scale fast — and who actually has to fix it. I've built forecasting systems from scratch, redesigned handoff processes across sales, marketing, and CS, launched a webinar program that grew from 20 attendees to 100+, and kept GTM teams aligned through the kind of organizational noise that makes most operators quit.
The through line in all of it: the operators who get their work implemented aren't just better at building systems. They're better at reading the room.
Engagements include: GTM alignment and process design · Forecasting infrastructure · Transformation roadmaps · Fractional RevOps leadership · Strategic advisory
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I'm currently Founder and Principal of The Translation Layer — a fractional and advisory RevOps practice built on sevens years of in-house work at Chatmeter building and scaling RevOps & ClientOps functions.
At Chatmeter I operated as functional Head of RevOps and Client Operations across two roles, spanning 2019 through 2025. I built Client Operations from zero — eight people across three disconnected departments — into a 24-person organization with full management layers, formalized promotion tracks, and a leadership pipeline that produced product managers, QA managers, senior support managers, project managers, and onboarding leads across the company.
During COVID, I led the team through a 150%+ increase in client volume while transitioning to fully remote operations in a single week — scaling from 60,000 to 275,000 monthly location updates, launching a new client enablement program in 30 days, and maintaining service continuity across enterprise accounts including 7-Eleven, LA Fitness, UPMC, Christiana Care, Penske Automotive, and Caliber Collision.
In 2024 I was awarded Presidents Club — voted on by peers and the executive team — and 60% of all honorees that year came from my department. I maintained the best employee retention in the company despite leading the function with the highest burnout risk.
My final mandate at Chatmeter was transitioning the sales operations function into a true RevOps organization. That work crystallized the framework I now teach — and created The Rosetta.
Before Chatmeter, I spent 11 years at Z57 leading through five distinct ownership structures, multiple brand acquisitions, and every major CRM and platform migration the business undertook. I was promoted from individual contributor to Director and joined the executive team, eventually becoming the second most senior person in the company. I presented quarterly to parent company executives at Constellation Software, defended department performance under pressure, and led every acquisition integration the business undertook.
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Most RevOps transformations fail — not because of bad systems, but because of poor adoption. The tools get implemented. The dashboards get built. The process gets documented. And then nobody follows it, because the people running the business weren't brought along.
Real RevOps requires two things working in parallel: leadership alignment on goals, priorities, and authority — and frontline trust in the usability of the system. Without both, the infrastructure is just overhead.
I also believe operators have to learn to sell their ideas internally the same way great salespeople sell externally. That's the premise behind my RevOpsAF 2026 talk and the lens I bring to every engagement.
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RevOpsAF 2026 Speaker
From Sales Ops to RevOps: A People-First Playbook for Organizational Transformation
Main stage session exploring why most RevOps transformations fail due to alignment and adoption breakdowns rather than tooling limitations.Featured Guest, Revenue Architects Podcast (Episode 17)
Discussion on forecasting infrastructure, RevOps adoption strategy, AI in revenue operations, and why most operational failures are decision system failures not tooling failures.
Listen to EpisodeFeatured Guest, RevOps Co-Op Podcast
Conversation focused on cross-functional alignment, operational translation between GTM teams, and building scalable operating systems.
Listen to Episode2024 Presidents Club Recipient
Peer and executive-selected recognition at Chatmeter. 60% of all honorees that year came from the organization I led.B.A. Journalism & Public Relations
Western Washington University -
I'm currently open to two kinds of engagements:
Full-time leadership — Director or VP RevOps at a B2B SaaS company where I can build and shape the function with real authority. Remote or hybrid, San Diego preferred.
Fractional and advisory — GTM alignment, forecasting builds, transformation roadmaps, and strategic advisory through The Translation Layer. Engagements are scoped and selective.
If either sounds like a fit, let's talk.
