Chief of Staff & Business Operations Lead

Chief AI; California; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Early equity

Competitive salary and benefits

Job summary

Chief AI is building an intelligence platform to power leaders across government and enterprise. We are hiring a Chief of Staff & Business Operations Lead to run the operating engine, own business operations, and partner with the CEO to drive high‑impact projects from start to finish.

You will build AI into how Chief AI operates, enabling the team to punch above its weight and scale across offices and government partners.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in startup/high-ownership environments.
• Operator at heart: own problems end to end, take initiative.
• Strong cross-functional leader; align teams without formal authority.
• Based in San Francisco and in-person with the team.
• U.S. citizen (required for security clearance as needed).

Responsibilities

• Run our operating cadence, including quarterly planning and weekly priorities.
• Own finance, legal, compliance, and HR, including the budget, contracts, security reviews, and payroll.
• Build our company brain: a shared system for customer context, contracts, and processes for AI agents to act on.

Tools

Claude Code

Codex

Job description

Chief AI is building the intelligence platform to power the world’s leaders.

The relationships, data, and institutional knowledge that drive consequential decisions today live across inboxes, calendars, documents, and memory. We are building the system that turns that fragmented information into a structured context and intelligence layer for leaders and their teams, from Mayors to Congressmen to CEOs.

We are VC‑backed, a Stanford StartX company, and actively deployed with customers in government and enterprise. We won 1st place at the US Conference of Mayors and “Most Innovative Startup” at State of GovTech. Our founder previously worked for leaders in the White House, Congress, and tech c‑suites and is building the solution her teams always needed. See more from our launch at SXSW and Axios.

About The Role

Chief AI is at an inflection point. Over the next year, we’re expanding beyond our early deployments to offices across government and enterprise – and building the team to get there. To do that, we need someone exceptional: an operator who raises the bar for everyone around them and wants to build a generational company.

We are hiring a Chief of Staff & Business Operations Lead to build and run the operating engine of Chief AI. You’ll own business operations, partner with the CEO, and lead high‑impact projects from start to finish.

We aren’t just building an AI‑native product. We’re building an AI‑native company. You will build AI into how Chief AI operates so we can always punch above our weight.

Why Join Chief AI?

• Build for decision‑makers: point to real leaders – mayors, congressmen, CEOs – and know your work helped power offices that impact millions




• Founding ownership: help define the operating DNA of a category‑defining company that is scaling fast and building out a world‑class team




• Accelerated growth: get exposure to every part of company building, from ops to product to fundraising, with leadership opportunities that grow as we scale




• Early equity: competitive equity, salary, and benefits

What You’ll Do

Business operations

• Run our operating cadence, including quarterly planning and weekly priorities




• Own finance, legal, compliance, and HR, including the budget, customer and vendor contracts, security reviews, and payroll




• Build our company brain: a shared system for our customer context, contracts, and processes that AI agents act on, such as automating security questionnaires or customer onboarding

Partner to the CEO

• Turn the CEO’s engagements into results by owning follow‑ups from customer, investor, and partner conversations and driving them to close




• Prepare for high‑leverage moments, from conferences to fundraising

Special projects

• Own high‑impact projects end to end. Examples include producing our annual AI x Government event at SF Tech Week, building a repeatable customer onboarding playbook, and standing up new functions.

What This Role Is Not

• Not an executive assistant: calendar, travel, and inbox are handled separately




• Not a shadow role: you’ll own projects and outcomes, not just sit in meetings




• Not sales or marketing: you’ll partner with those functions, not run them

What We’re Looking For

• 4+ years of experience: startup experience ideal, open to other high‑ownership environments (government, consulting, MBA, etc.)




• Operator at heart: own problems end to end, take initiative without being asked, and want to grow into a role like COO




• Strong cross‑functional leader: align teams without formal authority and work comfortably with senior customers, including mayors, governors, and CEOs




• Challenge the status quo: say what others won’t and bring new ideas to the table




• Low ego: connect with anyone; no task is too big or too small




• AI‑native: hands‑on experience building agents and automations in tools like Claude Code and Codex




• High bar for quality: hold a standard of excellence across product, design, and execution




• Hunger to learn: proactively learn new tools, policies, and solutions as technology and the market rapidly evolve




• Based in San Francisco and in‑person with the team




• U.S. citizen (required for security clearance as needed)

If you love owning problems and rolling up your sleeves to do whatever it takes to help the team win, this role is for you.