Chief of Staff to the CEO

Arena Physica; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium health coverage & dental

401(k) Retirement Plan

Unlimited PTO

Lunch via Sharebite

Relocation support

Job summary

Arena Physica in NYC is seeking a Chief of Staff to amplify the CEO’s agenda. You will prepare briefing materials, coordinate meetings, and ensure every action item is tracked to closure.

You will accompany the CEO on calls with hardware leaders, dig into customer problems, drive follow-ups, and produce debriefs, decks, and proposals of the highest quality.

This role demands consulting rigor, startup instincts, and a bias for crisp communication, with up to 50% travel and in-person work at HQ.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience, ideally at a top-tier management consulting firm.
• Experience at a high-growth startup.
• Demonstrated interest in hardware with technical curiosity.
• Sound judgment and discretion handling sensitive information.
• High bar for quality; ability to produce clear, rigorous artifacts.
• Strong written and verbal communication to diverse stakeholders.
• Creative problem solving with impact at scale.
• Comfort operating without ego; willingness to pursue answers.

Responsibilities

• Prep the CEO for every customer and prospect conversation with briefing docs.
• Be in the room for meetings, capturing outcomes and turning them into follow-ups.
• Build materials: presentations, pricing models, proposals, and one-pagers.
• Own follow-through after meetings; coordinate inputs from engineering and GTM.
• Run research and analysis on accounts, competitors, and markets.
• Build deep company fluency to anticipate CEO needs.
• Travel domestically and internationally up to 50% of time.
• Work in person at Arena Physica's NYC HQ when not traveling.

Skills

Executive communication

Storytelling

Problem solving

Discretion

Work ethic

Project management

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Time management

Bias for action

Job description

Arena Physica is on a mission to accelerate hardware innovation that powers human progress. Our name is inspired by Theodore Roosevelt's 'Citizenship in a Republic' speech. To us, entering the Arena means committing fully and accepting the risk of failure in pursuit of an audacious, worthy cause. We believe the future belongs to those brave enough to build it.

Our team of 60 combines AI engineering and applied physics expertise with deep experience in enterprise deployments. We're headquartered in NYC with presences in San Francisco and Los Angeles, backed by ~$90M from Initialized, Founders Fund, Goldcrest Capital, Fifth Down Capital, and Shield Capital.

If you're ready to do the most important work of your career, join us in the Arena.

Who we are

Arena Physica is on a mission to accelerate hardware innovation that powers human progress. Our name is inspired by Theodore Roosevelt's 'Citizenship in a Republic' speech. To us, entering the Arena means committing fully and accepting the risk of failure in pursuit of an audacious, worthy cause. We believe the future belongs to those brave enough to build it.

Our team of 60 combines AI engineering and applied physics expertise with deep experience in enterprise deployments. We're headquartered in NYC with presences in San Francisco and Los Angeles, backed by ~$90M from Initialized, Founders Fund, Goldcrest Capital, Fifth Down Capital, and Shield Capital.

If you're ready to do the most important work of your career, join us in the Arena.

What we do

At Arena Physica, we're building electromagnetic superintelligence. Our AI platform Atlas operationalizes physics-grounded intelligence to verify, debug, and optimize hardware across its lifecycle. Atlas is already trusted globally by the world's most advanced hardware companies, including AMD, Anduril, and Bausch & Lomb, for applications across R&D, integration testing, production assembly, and field repair.

About the role

As Chief of Staff, you will be an extension of the CEO, and spend most of your time wherever the CEO is prioritizer. Your job is to accelerate the CEO's workflows, driving preparation for every conversation, building the critical material they present and making sure no action item that comes out of a meeting gets dropped.

You'll be on the road alongside the CEO, sitting in on conversations with leaders at the world's most advanced hardware companies You'll dig into customers' problems, track down prioritized action items, and drive special projects.

How you will contribute

• Prep the CEO for every customer and prospect conversation - briefing docs covering who we're meeting, their hardware programs and pain points, what happened last time, what we want out of the meeting, and the questions they're likely to ask
• Be in the room - join customer and prospect meetings alongside the CEO, capture what was said and committed to, and turn it into follow-ups that actually get closed
• Build the materials - customer presentations, pricing models, proposals, and one-pagers, finished to a standard the CEO can put in front of a CTO without a second pass
• Own the follow-through after the meeting - draft the recap, coordinate the inputs needed from engineering and GTM, and stay on the open items until the customer has what they were promised
• Run research and analysis on request - dig into accounts, competitors, markets, and internal numbers, and come back with a clear answer rather than a pile of raw material
• Build deep company fluency - learn our technology, customers, economics, and organization quickly enough to anticipate what the CEO will need before they ask
• Travel domestically and internationally (up to 50% of your time), most of it alongside the CEO
• Work in person at Arena Physica's NYC HQ when not traveling

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience, ideally at a top-tier management consulting firm, paired with time at a high-growth startup - we're looking for the rigor of consulting and the instincts of someone who has operated without a playbook
• Demonstrated interest in hardware - you can point to something concrete: coursework, a technical degree, personal projects, or work with hardware companies. Enough technical curiosity to hold your own in a room full of engineers, and enough humility to learn fast when you can't
• Sound judgment and absolute discretion - you'll be exposed to the company's most sensitive strategic, financial, and personnel information
• An incredibly high bar for quality, with deep intensity and drive – this role will be demanding and require long hours to solve complex problems
• Exceptional craft in the artifacts themselves – you build decks, models, and documents that are clear, rigorous, and visually clean on the first pass, and you can turn one around overnight when the moment calls for it
• Strong written and verbal communication & storytelling – you can move fluidly from investor-ready financial models to polished customer presentations to a crisp internal memo, communicating clearly and concisely to a wide variety of stakeholders
• A track record of creative problem solving and owning impact at scale - you have a reputation for making magic happen
• Comfort operating without ego - no task is beneath you, and you're willing to chase senior people for answers until you get them
• A deep scrappiness and intrinsic desire to win despite the odds

Benefits & Perks Include

• 100% of the monthly premiums covered with Aetna medical vision, and dental insurance for you and your dependents
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Unlimited PTO
• Lunch every day from local restaurants via Sharebite
• Relocation support provided

The base salary range for this position is $150,000 - $225,000 yr. However, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition to base salary, we also offer competitive equity and benefits packages.

This position may require access to information protected under U.S. export control laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Please note that any offer for employment may be conditioned on authorization to receive software or technology controlled under these U.S. export control laws and regulations without sponsorship for an export license.