Chief Operating Officer

Pantheon; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Pantheon is seeking a frontline, cross-functional operator to drive clarity, cadence, and action across Product, Engineering, Customer work, and commercial decisions. You will coordinate discussions, unblock conversations, and translate commitments into tangible work from New York with a Europe-facing rhythm.

The role blends executive scope with hands-on ownership of partnerships, customer conversations, and repeatable playbooks, supporting fundraising and growth while maintaining lean operating

Qualifications

• You have structured operations for a lean team and can introduce clarity without heavy processes.
• You can operate across domains: product, engineering, customer work, fundraising, and commercial decisions.
• You are commercially credible and can manage external relationships while ensuring decisions are owned and followed through.
• You are technically fluent and can guide technical and non-technical stakeholders to decisions.
• You have high discretion handling sensitive relationships and evolving commercial information.
• You are based in New York and comfortable coordinating with European time zones in a hybrid setup.

Responsibilities

• Own company cadence and accountability by turning priorities into owners, milestones, and follow-through.
• Coordinate product and engineering efforts, translating commitments into clear product decisions.
• Lead frontline operations including customer and partner conversations and repeatable playbooks.
• Drive commercial execution and help shape the B2B pipeline and terms; support fundraising prep and follow-through.
• Build the New York nucleus with the founder, customers, partners, hiring, and events within an agreed operating budget.
• Establish lightweight people systems for onboarding, feedback, and day-to-day coordination across teams and partners.

Skills

Lean operations

Cross-domain leadership

Commercial credibility

Technical fluency

High discretion

New York-based

Job description

Why this role exists

Pantheon is moving from a founder-coordinated company into a real operating organization. The product is advancing, important relationships are becoming active work, and the seams between engineering, customers, partners, and commercial follow-through now need a dedicated owner.

The near-term job is highly hands-on: keep commitments clear, unblock conversations, build the commercial cadence, and make sure decisions become actions. The longer-term job is to create the operating system for a lean company with teams and partners across New York and Europe.

This is not a staff role built around reporting. It is a frontline role with executive scope, and it should gradually absorb day-to-day team and partner coordination from the founder.

What you will own

• Company cadence and accountability. Turn priorities into owners, milestones, decisions, and follow-through across functions and time zones.
• Product and engineering coordination. Keep milestones honest, make tradeoffs visible, and translate customer or commercial commitments into clear product decisions without becoming a layer of ceremony.
• Frontline operations. Step into important customer and partner conversations, coordinate support, and turn one-off work into repeatable playbooks.
• Commercial execution. Help shape the business-to-business pipeline and commercial terms, maintain momentum between meetings, and support fundraising preparation and follow-through.
• The New York nucleus. Build the local rhythm around customers, partners, hiring, and selective events, with an operating budget agreed with the founder.
• People systems. Establish lightweight hiring, onboarding, feedback, and management practices, then grow into day-to-day coordination across teams and partner communications.

What we are looking for

• You have structured operations for a lean team before. You know how to introduce clarity without importing big-company process.
• You can operate across domains. Product, engineering, customer work, fundraising, and commercial decisions do not arrive in separate queues; you can connect them and move the whole system forward.
• You are commercially credible and operationally exact. You can hold an external relationship while also capturing the decision, assigning the owner, and closing the loop.
• You are technically fluent without needing to be the engineer. You can understand constraints, ask precise questions, and help technical and non-technical people reach a decision.
• You have high discretion. You will work with sensitive relationships, evolving commercial terms, and information that is not broadly shared.
• You are based in New York and comfortable working across European time zones. This is a hybrid role with meaningful in-person customer, partner, and team work.

What would make you stand out

• You have helped a founder-led company move from informal coordination to a durable operating cadence.
• You have managed enterprise implementations involving access, security, procurement, or complex stakeholder alignment.
• You have built an early business-to-business pipeline while the product and commercial model were still evolving.
• You have recruited and managed small, high-agency teams across more than one geography.
• You know how to use a focused event or gathering as an operating and relationship surface, not simply a marketing expense.

How we work

We are a three-person core team with a live product, active operating responsibilities, and unusually direct access to the relationships that will shape the next stage of the company. The work is real before the org chart is finished.

The cadence will be uneven. Some weeks will demand full-time intensity around a launch, partner need, financing process, or team milestone; other weeks will be lighter. We care about ownership and outcomes, and we will structure the role and compensation to reflect that reality.

You will report to the founder and work directly with engineering and support resources. Success means fewer important threads require founder intervention, while the team still moves with urgency and good judgement.

Compensation and process

The package will combine cash compensation, meaningful equity, and performance-based upside. The exact mix will reflect experience, scope, and the variable operating cadence, and we will align on it early in the process.

The process is direct:

1. A conversation with the founder about the company, the operating surface, and what you have built before.
2. A working session on how you would bring structure to a real cross-functional situation without slowing it down.
3. Conversations with the people you would work with most closely.
4. A final discussion on mandate, compensation, and mutual expectations.

Has built operating structure for a lean, founder-led team without adding unnecessary process. Can connect product, engineering, customer, fundraising, and commercial work into coherent execution. Combines external credibility with exact internal follow-through. Technically fluent enough to facilitate precise decisions across technical and non-technical stakeholders. Based in New York and able to coordinate effectively with European time zones. Demonstrates high discretion with sensitive relationships and evolving commercial information.