Chief of Staff / Founders Associate

About the Role

This is a high-leverage, generalist role sitting directly alongside the CEO of a fast-growing AI startup. You will work at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and hiring, owning the most ambiguous and high-stakes problems across the business. Think of it as a founder residency: a rare opportunity to shape how a category-defining company scales from the inside.

What You'll Do

- Partner with the CEO to translate high-level strategy into concrete execution across all business functions.
- Own the end-to-end hiring process for the next wave of critical hires, from planning through sourcing, evaluation, and closing.
- Build and maintain financial reporting, budgeting, and KPI dashboards that give founders and the board complete clarity.
- Design the operating system including cadences, processes, and communication loops, with AI automation baked in by default.
- Lead strategic projects from zero to completion: market entry, pricing architecture, partnership structures, and other initiatives without clear owners.
- Manage the fundraising process end-to-end, including data rooms, investor narratives, updates, and board relations.
- Identify and solve the problems nobody else can own yet, moving fast in ambiguous, high-pressure situations.

What We're Looking For

- 2 or more years in a high-intensity environment such as top-tier strategy consulting, investment banking, a fast-moving VC-backed startup, or founding a company.
- Deep fluency in business fundamentals: P&L, SaaS metrics, unit economics, and financial modeling.
- Demonstrated experience designing and implementing operational processes, cadences, and communication systems at growing companies.
- Experience owning fundraising workflows including data room preparation, investor communications, and board reporting.
- Strong written communication skills; you write in memos and turn complex concepts into clear narratives for boards and investors.
- AI-native mindset with daily hands-on use of AI tools and a clear point of view on AI-first internal operations.
- High agency and comfort with ambiguity; you write the playbooks rather than waiting for them.
- Fluent in both English and German at C1 level or above.
- Background in industrial operations, supply chain, or enterprise B2B sales is a plus.
- Experience working in or advising AI/ML companies or high-growth technology startups is a plus.

Location

On-site, five days per week in Berlin, Germany. Visa sponsorship is not available.