8.1. Chief of Staff - Operations

Phoenix Tailings•Burlington, MA

6d•$165,000 - $215,000

About The Position

Phoenix Tailings is seeking a Chief of Staff - Operations to lead critical programs within the Operations organization and establish the necessary program management infrastructure for scaling. As the company transitions from an early-stage technology firm to a major critical metals producer, the complexity of government awards, commercial programs, supply chain, procurement, compliance, and operational initiatives is rapidly increasing. This role involves translating commitments into executable programs by defining schedules, ownership, operating cadences, program controls, reporting structures, and accountability mechanisms. The position holder will directly manage high-priority programs and contribute to building the systems used by the COO's organization. The ideal candidate will bring structure to ambiguity without hindering organizational speed, translating broad objectives into workstreams, milestones, dependencies, decisions, and measurable outcomes, while ensuring accountability across senior stakeholders and multiple functions. This is a foundational role focused on defining and creating the program management operations and execution infrastructure to enable faster growth, delivery on complex commitments, and scaling of critical metals production.

Requirements

8–12+ years of experience leading complex programs, program-management functions, or operational initiatives in industrial, manufacturing, aerospace, defense, energy, critical materials, or similarly complex environments.
Demonstrated experience building program-management systems in a scaling organization, including integrated schedules, operating cadences, program controls, reporting, standard work, and accountability mechanisms.
Strong ability to build and manage integrated program schedules, critical paths, milestones, dependencies, risks, and executive-level program reporting.
Experience operating in physical-product, manufacturing, or regulated environments, with familiarity across bills of materials, supply chain and procurement, production dependencies, and contractual or program milestones.
Ability to operate effectively alongside deeply technical teams, translating technical work, risks, and dependencies into program-level schedules, decisions, and commitments without needing to be the technical subject-matter expert.
Proven ability to create structure in ambiguous environments, define ownership where it is unclear, and build systems before all of the answers are known.
Strong cross-functional communicator who can drive decisions, surface risks early, and hold senior stakeholders accountable to program commitments.
Experience building operating systems that remain effective through rapid growth and organizational change.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with defense primes, federal agencies, or government contracting environments.
Experience managing federal awards, grants, contractual milestones, or government-program deliverables.
Direct experience in supply chain, procurement, sourcing, or materials management.
Experience supporting compliance initiatives such as CMMC or similar regulated-program requirements.

Responsibilities

Own the execution of cross-functional Operations programs from scope through completion, translating company commitments into clear workstreams, owners, milestones, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.
Build and maintain integrated program schedules across Operations, Technology, Commercial, Finance, and Manufacturing, identifying critical paths, dependencies, schedule risks, and decisions required to keep programs on track.
Take end-to-end ownership of priority programs sponsored by the COO, including scoping, planning, execution, risk management, stakeholder alignment, escalation, and executive-level reporting.
Build Phoenix's program-management infrastructure, including standard work, operating cadences, program controls, reporting mechanisms, decision forums, and cross-functional accountability, while preserving the speed and adaptability of an early-stage company.
Lead cross-functional execution against regulatory, compliance, contractual, and government-program requirements, translating external obligations into clear owners, milestones, evidence requirements, and completion plans, including initiatives such as CMMC 2.0.
Drive program execution across strategic supply chain and procurement initiatives, including sourcing, materials readiness, vendor deliverables, and other dependencies critical to Phoenix's production and program commitments.
Establish mechanisms for identifying program risk early, escalating decisions quickly, and ensuring commitments are closed rather than simply tracked.
Help shape how the Operations organization evolves as Phoenix scales, identifying where ownership, processes, and organizational structure need to change to support the next stage of growth.