CTO Chief of Staff: Strategy, Execution & Alignment

Northwood Space; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

401(k) retirement plan

Comprehensive health/vision/dental保险

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Paid parental leave

Generous paid time off

Job summary

Northwood Space is seeking a Chief of Staff to the CTO to scale the impact of engineering leadership and translate technical complexity into clear, actionable plans. You will own execution, coordination, and cross‑functional alignment across product, engineering, and business development, ensuring plans stay on track as Northwood grows.

You will work closely with the CTO and engineering leaders to optimize resource allocation, drive priority setting, and maintain execution visibility through

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, engineering, product operations, or similar roles.
• Experience coordinating complex work across multiple engineering teams.
• Strong organizational skills and comfort operating with ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CTO, pressure-testing priorities and shaping technical direction
• Drive complex, cross-functional initiatives to completion, ensuring clear ownership, sequencing, and outcomes
• Act as an extension of the CTO in key forums, aligning teams and reinforcing engineering priorities across the company
• Partner with engineering leadership to define and continuously rebalance resource allocation across product and technical priorities
• Maintain clear ownership models and execution visibility across major engineering initiative
• Design and run lightweight operating rhythms (planning reviews, roadmap syncs, weekly execution checkpoints)
• Synthesize progress, risks, and dependencies into concise updates for leadership
• Ensure alignment across engineering, product, and BD through structured, consistent communication
• Support the development and maintenance of long‑term technical and product roadmaps
• Help manage the process of aligning engineering execution with business and customer priorities
• Surface tradeoffs and constraints to support executive decision‑making

Skills

Organizational skills

Ambiguity tolerance

Cross-functional coordination

Education

Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline

Job description

Northwood Space is seeking a Chief of Staff to the CTO to scale the impact of engineering leadership and translate technical complexity into clear, actionable plans. You will own execution, coordination, and cross‑functional alignment across product, engineering, and business development, ensuring plans stay on track as Northwood grows.

You will work closely with the CTO and engineering leaders to optimize resource allocation, drive priority setting, and maintain execution visibility through