Chief of Staff

Mixedbread; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity

Health coverage

AI tools access

Team off-sites

Transportation support

Wellness benefits

Food stipend

Job summary

Mixedbread is building the next generation of retrieval for AI, and we seek a Chief of Staff to help founders stay focused, organized, and moving quickly. This role spans execution, operations, hiring, and strategic projects.

You'll work directly with the founders to clarify priorities, keep important work on track, and implement simple processes that improve efficiency and alignment across teams.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in a high-ownership environment such as an early-stage startup, business operations, product, strategy, investing, or consulting.
• Strong judgment and execution skills; you can independently drive messy, cross-functional work from idea to outcome.
• Highly organized and systems-minded, with the ability to create structure in fast-moving environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize information clearly and influence across functions.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the founders on Mixedbread's highest-priority initiatives across operations, hiring, customers, company planning, and special projects.
• Turn ambiguous priorities into clear plans with owners, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
• Keep cross-functional work on track by driving follow-through and making sure decisions, actions, and open questions are clear.
• Help run planning, metrics, internal coordination, and execution tracking across the company.
• Own important projects that do not sit neatly within a single function.
• Support customer and partner conversations where product, company, or strategic context matters.
• Identify recurring bottlenecks and put simple processes in place where they help.
• Help with hiring across key roles, from search and coordination to candidate closing.

Skills

High ownership

Cross-functional work

Execution skills

Structured thinking

Strong communication

Ambiguity handling

Hiring support

Job description

At Mixedbread, we believe search is the bottleneck in modern AI systems. We're building the next generation of retrieval: multimodal, multilingual, and able to surface the right context across any format. We help AI teams build better products without rebuilding the retrieval stack from scratch.

About the role

Mixedbread has shipped a major new version of its product and is gaining traction with customers. We're looking for a Chief of Staff to help the founders keep the company focused, organized, and moving. This role spans execution, operations, hiring, and strategic projects. You'll work directly with the founders to clarify priorities, keep important work on track, and put simple processes in place where they help. It's a role for someone who is comfortable with ambiguity, moves quickly, and wants to help build a technical AI company from the ground up.

What you'll do

• Work directly with the founders on Mixedbread's highest-priority initiatives across operations, hiring, customers, company planning, and special projects.
• Turn ambiguous priorities into clear plans with owners, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
• Keep cross-functional work on track by driving follow-through and making sure decisions, actions, and open questions are clear.
• Help run planning, metrics, internal coordination, and execution tracking across the company.
• Own important projects that do not sit neatly within a single function.
• Support customer and partner conversations where product, company, or strategic context matters.
• Identify recurring bottlenecks and put simple processes in place where they help.
• Help with hiring across key roles, from search and coordination to candidate closing.

What we're looking for

• 3+ years of experience in a high-ownership environment such as an early-stage startup, business operations, product, strategy, investing, or consulting.
• Strong judgment and execution skills; you can independently drive messy, cross-functional work from idea to outcome.
• Highly organized and systems-minded, with the ability to create structure in fast-moving environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize information clearly and influence across functions.
• Practical, reliable, and willing to step into whatever the company needs most.
• Comfortable working across operations, customers, hiring, GTM, and strategic projects.
• Able to switch quickly between strategic thinking and hands-on execution.
• Strong business sense and customer empathy, with the ability to turn feedback into action.

Nice to have

• Experience working directly with founders or an executive team at an early-stage or scaling startup.
• Experience in AI, developer tools, infrastructure, or technical B2B products.
• Experience supporting planning, recruiting, customer conversations, partnerships, or operational scaling.
• Strong storytelling and writing ability, with the ability to distill complex ideas into clear internal or external messaging.
• Comfort using AI tools to work more effectively.
• Interest in search, retrieval, and the infrastructure behind modern AI applications.
• Ambition to grow into a broader company-building leadership role over time.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation + equity
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Access to the best AI tools and subscriptions
• Team off-sites + conference attendance
• Transportation support
• Wellness support, including gym membership and sports club subscriptions
• Food support

Mixedbread is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.