Chief of Staff

Cohere; Canada; Remote; CAD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Six weeks paid vacation

Equity / stock options

RRSP/401(k) and Pension contributions

Comprehensive health coverage

Parental leave (6 months)

Education benefit $2,000 annually

Remote-friendly company culture

Meals stipend and wellness allowance

Job summary

Cohere is seeking a Chief of Staff to keep Cohere’s AI organization running at full speed. You will report to the Chief AI Officer and bridge across research, modelling, product, delivery, security, sales and operations.

In this role you’ll own the operating rhythm, lead planning and reviews, drive budget and headcount planning, and ensure priorities translate into high‑quality shipped work while enabling the Chief AI Officer to lead with focus.

Qualifications

• 12+ years operating experience in AI/ML environments.
• Experience partnering with research, product, and delivery teams.
• Strong communication and executive presence.

Responsibilities

• Own operating rhythm and planning: annual and quarterly planning and reviews.
• Drive budget and headcount planning and track priorities.
• Keep programs aligned across research, modelling, product, delivery, and security.
• Bridge Chief AI Officer’s org with cross-functional partners.
• Lead special projects end-to-end (reorgs, partnerships, planning weeks).

Skills

Chief of Staff

AI/ML experience

Cross-functional leadership

Budget planning

Headcount planning

Executive communication

Strategic planning

Prioritization

Job description

• We’re hiring a Chief of Staff to keep Cohere’s AI organization running at full speed
• You’ll report to and support the Chief AI Officer and work to bridge across all teams and functions at Cohere (including research, modelling, product, delivery, security, sales and operations)
• In any given quarter, the org ships new AI product demos and releases, customer pilots and scaled solutions, security updates, often across regions and time zones
• Your job is to make sure the right work priorities win when everything feels urgent, that our plans turn into high-quality shipped work, and that our Chief AI Officer can focus on leading instead of firefighting
• Much of this is operational: the planning calendar, the budget, the headcount plan, the weekly business reviews, the communication strategy (internal and external), the cross-functional handoffs
• Your role is the operating rhythm of the org: meetings, priorities, plans, and the decisions that come out of them. You will be a member of an experienced, high-performing and supportive leadership team
• Own the operating rhythm and planning: annual and quarterly planning, goal-setting, and the weekly and monthly business reviews. Drive budget and headcount planning against the slate, and keep both honest as priorities shift mid-quarter
• Keep major programs from colliding or stalling across research, modelling, product, delivery, and security. Be the person teams come to when it isn’t clear who owns a decision, or how to navigate trade-offs
• Be the connective tissue between the Chief AI Officer’s org and the rest of the company: cross-functional planning with product, engineering, security, and finance, so the org’s commitments are realistic and its dependencies are visible
• Own and lead special projects: Lead the things that don’t fit neatly on any one team’s plate: a reorg, a new partnership, a flagship research event, an org-wide planning week. Own them end to end

Benefits

• Six weeks’ paid vacation
• Equity / stock options
• RRSP, 401(k), and Pension Scheme contributions
• Coverage for 100% of your insurance premiums across health, dental, vision, and travel
• Additional coverage for accessing mental health providers/services
• Six months of fully paid parental leave, including adoption and surrogacy
• Financial support for egg freezing and IVF in Canada and the UK
• A monthly fitness and wellness allowance
• Globally dispersed company that supports a remote work culture
• A $2,000 annual education benefit for professional development
• A weekly stipend for meals when working remotely and catered lunch when working from one of our global offices
• A monthly arts and culture allowance
• A monthly quality time allowance

You have 12+ years of operating experience, with real time inside an AI/ML organization in a Chief of Staff, business operations, or senior program-operations seat. You know how to partner with teams shipping fast & often to high-stakes organizations, and you know how to change course with agility when neededYou understand how AI actually works—at the level of someone who’s done it rather than managed it from a distanceYou can talk credibly about how a model turns into a product, what data requirements demand from both research and engineering, and where delivery motions usually breakYou’re fluent in the numbers. Model performance metrics, data pipeline throughput, budget-to-impactYou don’t have to run every program yourself. You do have to understand them well enough that the people who run them respect your judgmentYou hold strategy and execution in the same hand. You can sit in a planning conversation with the Chief AI Officer in the morning and chase down a stuck deliverable in the afternoonYou thrive in a fast-paced environment, you handle ambiguity with curiosity and confidence, you stay calm when it’s messy. You have a track record of bringing order to a fast, complex org without grinding it to a haltYou are an outstanding communicator and know how to wield soft power. Clear writing, straight talk, the ability to influence teams and individuals, and the executive presence to represent the Chief AI Officer in high-stakes conversations