Chief of Staff

Big Wave Digital - United States; New York (NY); On-site; USD 189,000 - 231,000; Full time

Job summary

Big Wave Digital in New York City is seeking a Chief of Staff to work directly with the founder-CEO. You will be where strategy meets execution — tackling cross-cutting problems and driving decisions through to implementation. This is not a programme-management role or a slide factory.

You scope the question, do the work, decide with the CEO, and stay in the room as it gets built. Location: New York City, on-site, with roughly 50% travel.

Qualifications

• Two to six years at McKinsey, BCG or Bain, or in a comparable strategy firm.
• Experience structuring ambiguous problems, running workstreams, and engaging senior relationships.
• Exposure to industrials, operations, private equity or corporate finance is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Take the three or four problems genuinely holding the company back and own them end to end — market entry, pricing, make-versus-buy, and go-to-market model rebuilding.
• Turn the CEO’s priorities into actionable, sequenced work with clear owners and numbers.
• Build business cases and models behind major decisions and defend them with the board, investors and the executive team.
• Run diligence on partnerships, new facilities and acquisitions — commercial, operational and financial.
• Prepare board and investor materials that tell the truth about the business rather than a curated version.
• Sit in on hard conversations with customers, suppliers and engineers, translating what you hear into decisions.

Skills

Management Consulting

Corporate Strategy

Financial Modeling

Job description

Chief of Staff to the CEO — New York City. For ex-McKinsey, BCG and Bain consultants who are tired of handing over the recommendation and want to own what happens next.

THE SHORT VERSION

A venture-backed company putting AI into heavy industry is hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly alongside its founder-CEO. You will sit where strategy meets execution — the cross-cutting problems, the decisions the CEO cannot delegate, and the follow-through that usually dies the week after the readout.

This is not programme management and it is not a slide factory. There is no steering committee and no partner to elevate to. You scope the question, do the work, make the call with the CEO, and then stay in the room while it gets built.

WHAT THE JOB ACTUALLY IS

Take the three or four problems that are genuinely holding the company back and own them end to end — market entry, pricing, make-versus-buy, a go-to-market model that needs rebuilding.

Turn the CEO’s priorities into something the company can act on: clear owners, real sequencing, and numbers people believe.

Build the business cases and models behind major decisions, then defend them with the board, investors and the executive team.

Run diligence on partnerships, new facilities and acquisitions — commercial, operational and financial.

Prepare board and investor material that tells the truth about the business rather than a curated version of it.

Sit in on the hard conversations with customers, suppliers and engineers, and turn what you hear into decisions.

WHO THIS IS BUILT FOR

Two to six years at McKinsey, BCG or Bain, or at a comparable strategy firm, ideally with time in an industrials, operations, private equity or corporate finance practice. Engagement-manager calibre: you can structure an ambiguous problem, run a workstream and hold a senior relationship without supervision.

You should be able to build the model yourself rather than brief someone else to build it. You should be comfortable on a factory floor and in a board meeting on the same day. Exposure to AI, industrial technology, aerospace, defence or manufacturing is a real advantage.

What matters more than the logo is temperament. The people who do well in this seat are usually the ones who were already frustrated at the firm — who wanted to stay past the final presentation and find out whether the recommendation actually worked.

THE DETAIL

Location: New York City, on-site, with roughly 50% travel to operating sites.

Reporting line: directly to the founder-CEO.

Compensation: up to USD $210,000 base plus equity, with flexibility for the right person.

Backing: venture-funded and growing.

Work authorisation: you must be a US citizen or green card holder. We cannot provide visa sponsorship for this role, and we are unable to consider H-1B, F-1, TN, E-3 or other visa holders.

THE THREE SKILLS THAT MATTER MOST

• Management Consulting
• Corporate Strategy
• Financial Modeling

Keywords: Chief of Staff, Chief of Staff New York, Chief of Staff NYC, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, MBB, management consulting, ex-consultant, strategy and operations, corporate strategy, engagement manager, due diligence, private equity diligence, business case, financial modeling, industrials, aerospace, defense, manufacturing, AI startup, founder’s office