The short version
If your ideal job comes with a tidy brief and a clearly defined lane, this one will frustrate you. If you want to sit with the founders of a fast-growing AI company, pick up the hardest unowned problems in the business and drive them all the way to a result, keep reading.
An early-stage AI infrastructure company in New York City is hiring its first Chief of Staff / BizOps lead. Base salary up to $190K plus meaningful equity. Five days a week in person at its New York City office.
Why this company
The business builds the data layer that AI agents use to run go-to-market work: finding, checking and acting on information about companies and buyers across dozens of data sources through a single connection, rather than a stack of separate tools. Its customers work through coding agents instead of a traditional dashboard, which puts it right at the front of how sales and marketing teams will operate over the next few years.
The traction is unusual for a company this young:
- Revenue growing at roughly 100% month on month
- Enterprise customers finding the product on their own and ramping their spend quickly, before a formal enterprise sales motion even exists
- Backed by respected New York and West Coast investors and well-known operator angels
- A small, senior founding team out of top-tier tech companies in ride-sharing, fintech and data infrastructure, with engineering degrees from leading universities
- Hiring for this seat and for growth at the same time, so you arrive right at the inflection point
The team is still small. Whoever takes this seat will shape how the company runs as it scales, not just how it gets through the next quarter.
What you will actually do
You will work alongside the founders as their operating partner. Day to day, that looks like:
- Owning the messiest problems. When something matters and nobody owns it, it becomes yours, from scoping it through to the result.
- Bringing structure to strategy and planning. Turning the founders’ priorities into plans with owners, milestones and metrics, then making sure they actually happen.
- Running cross-functional initiatives. Keeping a fast-moving team pointed in the same direction and accountable for what it committed to.
- Building the operating cadence. Reporting, company metrics, planning rhythms and hiring support that still hold up as headcount grows.
- Leading special projects. Pricing, partnerships, go-to-market experiments, process design and whatever else moves the company forward that month.
- Writing it down. Clear memos and documents that let a small team move quickly without losing the thread.
Expect the brief to change as the company grows. The role grows with you.
A week in the seat
Monday you are mapping the quarter’s priorities into owners and dates. Tuesday you are pulling usage and revenue data to work out where the fastest-growing customers came from. Wednesday you are designing a cleaner way to bring new enterprise accounts on board. Thursday you are helping run the hiring loop for the next key role. Friday you are writing up what moved, what slipped and what needs a founder decision. Next week will look nothing like it, and that is the appeal.
What they want
This is a founding seat, so the bar is high and the profile is specific. There are two routes in.
- Top-tier consulting plus real start-up execution. A background at McKinsey, BCG, Bain or a comparable firm, followed by time at an early-stage company where you built and shipped things, not just slides.
- Or a big-tech operator who went early. Strategy, operations or BizOps experience at a leading consumer or marketplace tech company (think ride-sharing, delivery or travel platforms), followed by hands-on work at an early-stage start-up.
Whichever route you took, they are looking for:
- Founder-level ownership. You treat the company as yours, take on the ambiguous problem without waiting to be asked and finish what you start.
- Operational rigour. You turn loose ideas into plans, metrics and follow-through, and you notice quickly when things start to drift.
- Clear, structured thinking and writing. Your memos make decisions easier, not harder.
- Comfort with pace. Early-stage, fully in person and intense. You find that energising rather than draining.
Big pluses
- Prior BizOps, Chief of Staff or operator experience at an early-stage start-up
- Real technical curiosity: you want to understand how AI agents, APIs and data products work, and you are happy to learn the product deeply
- Experience working directly with founders and earning their trust quickly
What they do not want
Being upfront about this saves everyone time.
- Pure consultants. A strategy-only career with no hands-on execution or start-up grit will not get through, however strong the firm.
- People who need a defined mandate. The role is ambiguous by design, and the founders need someone who finds the work rather than waits for it.
- Slide-makers rather than builders. Analysis matters, but so does rolling up your sleeves and fixing the thing yourself.
- Remote or hybrid seekers. This is five days a week in person in New York City.
- Big company process lovers. If you rely on layers of approval and a large team around you, an early-stage company will frustrate you.
- Anyone needing a new visa sponsorship. H-1B transfer, TN and E-3 holders can be considered, but the company cannot sponsor a fresh visa.
The package
- Base salary up to $190K, depending on experience
- Meaningful equity in a fast-growing AI company
- A founding-level seat working directly with the founders
- A quick, decisive hiring process with fast feedback
How to apply
Apply with your resume. To stand out, add a short note, three or four lines is plenty, on the most ambiguous problem you have owned from start to finish: what it was, what you did and what changed because of it. That one example will tell the founders more than any cover letter.
This search is being run by Big Wave Digital. All applications are handled in confidence.
