Chief of Staff to the CEO (Ex-IB / PE / VC) | AI + Advanced Manufacturing | New York | Up to USD $210K + Equity

For people from investment banking, private equity, growth equity, venture capital or strategic finance who want to stop advising on companies and start building one.

The short version

A venture-backed company building AI into heavy industry is hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly alongside its founder-CEO. You will sit at the point where capital, engineering and manufacturing meet: in the room for fundraising conversations, close enough to the factory floor to know whether the numbers in the model are real, and trusted to turn messy information into a clear recommendation.

This is not a scheduling or inbox-management job. It is a seat for someone with genuine financial judgement who wants scope, ownership and a direct line to the person running the company.

What you would actually do

Work alongside the CEO. Hold their priorities in your head. Know which decisions, relationships and commitments need attention before they become urgent. Prepare for the meetings that matter, bring a view of your own rather than a summary of other people's, and make sure what was agreed actually happens.

Carry the investor relationship. Work with the CEO to build and maintain relationships with current and prospective VC investors. Own the mechanics — outreach, meeting preparation, follow-ups, diligence requests — and the substance: pitch materials, investor updates and the data room, built with finance and technical leaders so the numbers and the story hold up under scrutiny.

Connect what is being built to how the business performs. Pull together what is happening across AI, engineering, manufacturing, operations and finance. Work out what has genuinely changed, where execution is slipping, and what that means for growth, customers and the next raise. Write it up so the CEO, the board and investors can act on it.

Bring financial rigour to real decisions. Partner with finance to build models, test business cases and assess where capital and people should go. Challenge assumptions, run the scenarios, and be able to explain the trade-off behind what you are recommending.

Keep decisions moving. Run leadership meetings and board preparation. Make sure every decision has an owner and a date, close the gaps between teams, and raise problems early rather than after they have cost something.

Own projects end to end. Assessing a partnership, sizing a new market, supporting a critical hire, untangling an operating problem that crosses several teams — from first research through to execution.

"The best people in this seat are the ones who can read a model properly and then go and stand on a factory floor to find out whether it is telling the truth. That combination is rare, and it is exactly what this CEO is hiring for."— Keiran Hathorn, Director, Big Wave Digital

Who this is for

You have a real foundation in finance, built through investment banking, private equity, growth equity, venture capital, strategic finance or something comparable. You can interpret a set of financial statements, pull apart unit economics, challenge an assumption that does not hold, and put together investor material that stands up.

You have worked in or very close to a high-growth company. A finance or investing background combined with hands-on operating experience is the strongest profile for this role — if you have been embedded with a portfolio company, worked in a founder's office, or moved from a bank or a fund into an operating seat, that is the shape they are looking for.

You can follow complex technical work, ask questions that get to the point, and explain why it matters commercially. Experience in AI, industrial technology, aerospace, defence or manufacturing is a real advantage, though not essential.

You write clearly and briefly, and you are comfortable in front of senior investors, executives and technical leaders without needing someone else in the room.

You have judgement and discretion. You are trusted with sensitive information, you do what you said you would, and you push back constructively rather than either rolling over or digging in.

You take ambiguous work and deliver, including when the priorities move underneath you.

The practical detail

Location. New York City, with regular travel to the company's facilities.

Travel. Around 50%, with the CEO, at the factories, and with investors, customers and partners. This is a core part of the job rather than an occasional extra — please only apply if that genuinely suits your life.

Compensation. Up to $210,000 base plus equity. There is some flexibility for an exceptional candidate.

Work authorisation. You must be a US citizen or green card holder. The company cannot sponsor visas for this role.

"If you have spent three or four years in banking or at a fund and keep thinking you would rather be inside the business than advising it, this is the role that gets you there without starting again at the bottom."— Keiran Hathorn, Director, Big Wave Digital

How to apply

Send your CV with a short note covering three things: where your finance foundation was built, one model you personally owned and what you changed because of it, and the investor-facing work you have been responsible for.

I am running this search directly with the CEO, so you will get a straight answer quickly either way.