Chief of Staff

About the role

The partners directly with the CEO to serve as a force multiplier across the fastest growing and most critical initiatives in the company. This role owns the connective tissue between commercial, engineering, manufacturing, and finance, ensuring that complex problems are translated into clear plans and measurable outcomes. You will own the operational backbone of the business by maintaining visibility into priorities, risks, and decisions while rigorously tracking execution against ambitious commercial and technical milestones. You are responsible for turning ambiguous, high-stakes challenges into actionable strategies, enabling the leadership team to move quickly with confidence and alignment. This position requires analytical rigor, superior judgment, and the ability to synthesize information from deeply technical and business domains into accessible recommendations. You will build trust through reliable follow-through, sound discretion, and consistent communication across all levels of the organization. Over time, you will identify and own high-impact initiatives that remove bottlenecks, accelerate decision-making, and improve how the company operates at scale.

Key facts

What you'll do

Coordinate company wide priorities by maintaining a dynamic view of projects, risks, and decisions, and translating this information into clear dashboards and briefings for the CEO and leadership team.

Support the development and execution of executive operating rhythms, including crafting agendas, compiling pre-reads, documenting decisions, and driving timely follow-up across teams.

Partner with commercial leadership to develop and execute strategic approaches for key opportunities, including building market and account strategies, stakeholder maps, and compelling proposals and meeting materials.

Track priority deals through to closure, managing next steps, risks, and executive involvement while coordinating technical, commercial, legal, finance, and project teams across the deal lifecycle.

Analyze complex technical, commercial, and strategic questions, synthesize findings, and recommend next steps, translating deep technical concepts into concise, evidence-based narratives for decision-makers.

Lead cross-functional special projects that lack a natural owner, removing blockers, improving communication, and driving execution across engineering, manufacturing, project development, and finance.

Evaluate and implement AI tools and workflows to enhance research, analysis, writing, and operational efficiency, establishing best practices that improve quality, accuracy, and speed.

Prepare executive-facing materials such as board decks, investor updates, proposals, technical documents, and strategic briefings that clearly distinguish facts, assumptions, and risks.

Document key decisions and underlying rationale to ensure organizational alignment, create reusable knowledge, and reduce the cost of misalignment as the company scales.

Step in wherever needed to keep critical priorities moving, demonstrating ownership and flexibility in a fast-paced environment where problems are high-stakes and timelines are aggressive.

Build and maintain trusted relationships across teams by being collaborative, dependable, and proactive in communication, with a strong commitment to discretion when handling confidential information.

Drive operational effectiveness by identifying inefficiencies, proposing improvements, and working with stakeholders to implement practical solutions that accelerate execution.

Support the commercialization of Lydian's technology by assisting with scenario analyses, financial modeling, and data analysis using tools such as Python and Excel to inform strategic decisions.

Continuously learn and quickly dive into new technical and business domains, then communicate insights in a clear and actionable way to non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

6+ years of professional experience in operations, engineering, product, strategy, or similar roles within a leading hardware, deep tech, industrial technology, manufacturing, or energy company, with startup experience strongly preferred.

Bachelor's Degree or higher required, with a STEM degree preferred.

Demonstrated ability to work comfortably with engineers and to learn complex technical systems in order to contribute to discussions and decisions.

Strong analytical skills, including experience with financial modeling, data analysis, and working with tools such as Python and Excel.

A fast learning mindset, comfortable with diving deeply into short projects, synthesizing key insights, and moving on to new challenges without losing momentum.

AI-fluent with hands on experience using AI tools to improve productivity, while maintaining a high bar for accuracy, sound judgment, and ethical decision-making.

Excellent written communication skills, with the proven ability to simplify complex topics and present clear, concise recommendations to executive leaders.

Self-directed, adaptable, and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-moving, ambiguous, and high-growth environment.

Strong judgment, integrity, and discretion when working with confidential or sensitive information.

Collaborative mindset with a track record of building trust and influencing without authority across cross-functional and technical teams.

Reliability and a bias for action, with a consistent history of following through on commitments and removing obstacles for others.

Nice to have

Experience working in the aviation, sustainable fuels, climate technology, or hardware manufacturing sectors.

Prior exposure to large scale capital projects, manufacturing scale-up, or commercial deployments in industrial settings.

Experience supporting fundraising, board materials, or investor communications in a high-growth environment.

Familiarity with AI tools for coding, automation, or workflow optimization.

Practical notes

This is a full time position based in San Francisco.

Travel is not currently expected as part of this role.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role at this time.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the role is filled.