Chief Of Staff

Pyka; Alameda (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k)

Paid holidays & PTO

Job summary

Pyka, a California-based autonomous electric aviation company, seeks a Chief of Staff to work directly with the CEO as the company scales aircraft development and deployment. You will delegate work, plan initiatives, and drive alignment across teams while owning the OKR process and critical projects.

You will partner with functional leaders, prepare decision memos and board materials, and lead time‑bound initiatives to accelerate execution.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in business operations, strategy, program management, or a similar role at a growing company.
• Able to translate ambiguity into actionable plans and drive cross‑team collaboration.
• Strong analytical skills with data, spreadsheets, and financial information.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with concise memos and presentations.
• Discretion, integrity, and ability to influence without direct authority.

Responsibilities

• Identify work and decisions to delegate, clarify outcomes, and assign owners.
• Own OKR planning, progress tracking, reporting, and end-of-cycle assessment.
• Run weekly leads scrum, prepare agenda, and facilitate discussions.
• Draft board materials with CEO, Finance, Legal, and other leaders; ensure timely input.
• Lead time‑bound, cross‑functional projects with clear milestones and ownership.

Skills

Cross‑functional work

Stakeholder management

Strong writing

Data analysis

Communication skills

Job description

About Pyka

Pyka’s goal is to provide society with a new form of safe, clean, and cost‑effective transportation enabled by autonomous electric aviation.

To get there, we’re taking a different approach than most. We're applying our technologies to every industry where autonomous electric aircraft can be useful, starting with the highest value and most dangerous jobs. In doing so, we're building game‑changing products manufactured at scale, while perfecting the safety, reliability, and capabilities of our autonomy engine and electric propulsion systems.

We design, develop and manufacture an ecosystem of technologies including proprietary flight control software, avionics, high power density motors, motor controllers, batteries, and custom carbon‑fiber composite airframes.

Today, we supply autonomous electric aircraft for cargo transport and crop protection to real‑world customers across four separate continents and have secured industry‑first regulatory approvals from the FAA. Our cargo aircraft enables remote connectivity, enhances express delivery networks, and ensures fast and reliable shipping of critical supplies to areas in need. Our crop protection aircraft offers agricultural services providers and farmers an autonomous tool to make aerial application safer, more precise, and less harmful to surrounding environments. Both vehicles are highly economical to operate, easy to deploy, and significantly reduce CO2 emissions in their respective industries.

What you work on at Pyka makes people’s lives better now and brings the future of electric aviation one step closer each day.

Role Overview

Pyka is seeking a Chief of Staff to work directly with our CEO as we scale the development, manufacturing, and deployment of our aircraft. You will help the CEO delegate more effectively and focus on the decisions that require their attention, while ensuring important work moves forward across the company.

You will investigate issues that span teams or lack a clear owner, develop action plans with the relevant leaders, and bring the CEO clear options and recommendations. You will own our objectives and key results (OKR) process end to end, prepare decision memos and board materials, run our weekly leads scrum, and lead time‑bound special projects through handoff to a permanent owner.

This role reports directly to the CEO and works in close partnership with functional leaders. You will have access to everything the CEO sees and will gain an incredibly deep understanding and intuition into the operations of a rapidly scaling robotics company.

Success means decisions are made at the right level, leaders feel a deeper sense of empowerment, commitments are carried through, and fewer issues require the CEO’s direct involvement. This is not an administrative or calendar‑management role.

Responsibilities

CEO Partnership and Cross Team Problem Solving

• Work with the CEO to identify work and decisions to delegate, clarify the intended outcomes, and establish owners, decision‑making authority, and when to elevate.
• Investigate areas of concern by gathering data, speaking and collaborating with the people closest to the work, and identifying root causes, constraints, and gaps in ownership.
• Workshop options and action plans with the relevant owners. Report back to the CEO with findings, recommendations, tradeoffs, and any decisions that require their input.

OKR Planning and Follow Through

• Own the company’s OKR process from planning and goal-setting through ongoing maintenance, progress reviews, reporting, and end‑of‑cycle assessment.
• Help leaders translate company priorities into measurable commitments. Maintain a current record of objectives, key results, owners, deadlines, dependencies, and agreed changes.
• Follow up with owners, identify commitments at risk, and work with teams on recovery plans. Report progress and unresolved tradeoffs to the CEO, and verify that commitments are completed or explicitly revised.

Weekly Leads Scrum

• Run Pyka’s weekly leads scrum, including preliminary data collection on the status of operations and key issues, preparing the agenda, and facilitating discussions.

Board Materials and Investor Relations

• Coordinate and draft board materials with the CEO, Finance, Legal and other functional leaders. Gather and verify inputs, synthesize progress and challenges, and manage preparation and review deadlines.
• Join the CEO in complex investor discussions and due diligence, recording action items and observations. Ensure prompt follow through, both contributing directly to due diligence questions, and organizing information from subject‑matter experts.

Special Projects

• Lead time‑bound projects that address company priorities or gaps between teams, with a clear scope, milestones, and completion criteria.
• Work alongside functional experts to implement practical solutions across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, operations, and business teams.
• Identify a permanent owner early, document key decisions and processes, and complete the handoff so the work continues effectively after your involvement ends.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in business operations, strategy, program management, consulting, or a similar role, including hands‑on execution within a growing company.
• A track record of taking ambiguous problems from investigation through implementation and working across teams to deliver results.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort working with operating data, spreadsheets, and financial information to assess options and tradeoffs.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with the ability to turn complex information into concise recommendations, decision memos, and presentations.
• Ability to build trust with technical and nontechnical leaders, hold candid conversations, and influence outcomes without direct reporting authority.
• Strong organization and follow‑through, with sound judgment about priorities, when to resolve an issue independently, and when to involve the CEO.
• Discretion, integrity, and good judgment when handling sensitive company, employee, and board information.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in aerospace, robotics, manufacturing, or another business developing and deploying complex hardware.
• Experience at a growing, venture‑backed company or portfolio support at a VC fund, ideally working closely with a founder or executive team.
• Experience managing OKR processes, facilitating leadership meetings, or preparing board materials.

We understand that candidates bring different strengths and experiences, and you don’t need to meet every qualification to be considered. If this role excites you, we’d love to learn more about you. You may be a great fit even if your background doesn’t align perfectly with the list.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation will vary depending on location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. Salary ranges are subject to change.
• Employer‑sponsored health, dental and vision insurance
• FSA with employer matching
• 401(k)
• Paid holidays, generous PTO, and additional unpaid time off
• Voluntary short‑term disability, long‑term disability, and life insurance
• Pre‑tax commuter benefits
• Free catered lunch and plenty of snacks

Export Control Requirements

This position requires access to technology, software and other information that is subject to governmental access control restrictions, due to export controls. Employment in this position is conditioned on the continued availability of government authorization to authorize release of such items, to the extent required, including without limitation an export license, or other documentation required to establish authorization to receive access to such items.

Company may delay commencement of employment, rescind an offer of employment, terminate employment, and/or may modify job responsibilities, compensation, benefits, and/or access to Company facilities and information systems, as Company deems appropriate, in order to ensure compliance with applicable government access control restrictions.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans.