Founder's Chief of Staff

Poel Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 90,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Poel Group is seeking a highly organized Founder’s Chief of Staff / Studio Operations Lead to work closely with the founder of a fast-moving creative agency. This hands-on role translates ideas into clear actions, keeps projects on track, and ensures accountability across the team.

You will manage priorities, coordinate designers, copywriters, video teams, and vendors, track approvals and timelines, and refine processes to drive structure and seamless client communication.

Qualifications

• Highly organized, proactive with strong follow-through.
• Calm under pressure in fast-moving environments.
• Strong judgment and able to make practical decisions independently.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Experience in a creative agency or founder-led business is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Organize priorities, decisions, follow-ups, and action items.
• Translate conversations into clear tasks with owners and deadlines.
• Maintain visibility across active projects, deadlines, deliverables, and workload.
• Coordinate designers, copywriters, video teams, vendors, freelancers, and internal staff.
• Follow up on projects and identify bottlenecks or issues before they arise.
• Help manage client communication, timelines, proposals, estimates, and follow-ups.
• Keep project management systems, files, decisions, and responsibilities organized.
• Track invoices, deposits, vendor bills, client balances, and other financial items.
• Improve processes and day-to-day operations with the team.
• Determine what can be handled independently and what needs founder attention.

Skills

Project management

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Decision making

Adaptability

Tools

Google Workspace

Project management software

Job description

Founder’s Chief of Staff Position Overview

We are seeking a highly organized, emotionally intelligent Founder’s Chief of Staff / Studio Operations Lead to work closely with the founder of a fast‑moving creative agency. This is a hands‑on role combining founder support, project management, team coordination, client communication, and operational follow‑through. The ideal candidate can take the founder’s ideas and direction and turn them into clear action, while keeping projects, people, and priorities moving without constant founder involvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with the founder to organize priorities, decisions, follow‑ups, and action items.
• Translate conversations, texts, voice notes, and ideas into clear tasks, owners, and deadlines.
• Maintain visibility across active projects, deadlines, deliverables, and team workload.
• Coordinate designers, copywriters, video teams, vendors, freelancers, and internal staff.
• Follow up on projects and identify bottlenecks, delays, or issues before they escape.
• Help manage client communication, requests, timelines, proposals, estimates, and follow‑ups.
• Keep project management systems, files, decisions, and responsibilities organized.
• Track invoices, deposits, vendor bills, client balances, and other basic financial items.
• Work with the founder and team to improve processes, accountability, and day‑to‑day operations.
• Determine what can be handled independently and what requires the founder’s attention.

Ideal Candidate

• Highly organized, proactive, and excellent at follow‑through.
• Calm under pressure and comfortable with fast‑moving, creative environments.
• Strong judgment and able to make practical decisions independently.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Comfortable working with creative personalities and changing priorities.
• Discreet, trustworthy, humble, and service‑oriented.
• Strong project management and coordination skills.
• Experience in a creative agency, production studio, marketing firm, or founder‑led business strongly preferred.
• Comfortable with Google Workspace, spreadsheets, project management systems, and communication platforms.

What Success Looks Like

The founder is able to focus on creative direction and high‑level decisions, while projects move forward, the team knows what needs to get done, clients receive consistent follow‑up, and the company operates with greater structure and accountability.