Chief of Staff

VVater•Austin, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chief of Staff is the force multiplier to the Chairman & CEO. This is a hands-on operating seat in a hardware manufacturing company that makes physical products in a physical factory and ships them to physical customers. You will spend time on the shop floor as often as you spend it in the boardroom. You will jump into sales when a deal is stuck, into marketing when a launch is slipping, into finance when a vendor needs to be renegotiated, into engineering when a project is off-spec, and into HR when a sensitive personnel issue lands on the CEO's desk. You are the person who walks in, sees a broken process, and quietly fixes it before anyone else notices it was broken. This role IS: An operator's seat in a vertically integrated hardware and manufacturing company. A builder's role, you will design, deploy, and own systems, SOPs, dashboards, and internal tools. AI-native, you live in modern AI tools and use them to multiply your output by 10x. Cross-functional by design, sales, marketing, ops, finance, engineering, HR all flow through this seat. A confidential information broker who sees everything and discloses nothing without authorization. A future executive, the path from this seat leads to C-suite roles as VVater scales. This role IS NOT: An executive assistant (we have separate EA support). A consulting role (we do not need decks, we need execution). A pure strategy role (strategy is a small part, operating discipline is the bulk). A 9-to-5 (more on that below). A seat for someone who needs a defined process to function.

Requirements

7+ years of operating experience in a hardware, manufacturing, defense, energy, aerospace, automotive, water, or similarly physical-product industry
7+ years of stakeholder management, investor relations, fundraising, listed or private.
Demonstrated track record of building things, internal tools, systems, processes, products, or businesses. You ship.
Hands-on fluency with modern AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Lovable, Replit, v0, Bolt, Zapier MCP, n8n, or equivalents). You can vibe-code a working internal application in an afternoon.
Cross-functional fluency, you have worked across at least three of: operations, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, marketing, finance, engineering, HR
Strong technical and operational instincts, you can read a P&L, evaluate a BOM, sit in on an engineering review, and walk a shop floor with credibility
Exceptional written and verbal communication; you can draft an investor letter, a board memo, and a customer email with equal clarity
Project management discipline, you finish what you start, and you make sure others do too
Comfort with ambiguity, you do not need a job description to know what to do next
Bachelor's degree in engineering, a STEM field, or equivalent practical experience. We care about what you have built and shipped, not where you went to school.
Assessment tests are required as part of our recruitment process.

Responsibilities

Own the rhythm of how the company runs at the executive level, leadership meetings, planning cycles, all-hands, board prep
Set agendas, drive meeting discipline, capture decisions, assign owners, and follow up until items are closed
Maintain a real-time view of the CEO's top priorities and ensure his time is allocated against them
Triage information into and out of the CEO's office, surface what matters, filter what does not
Step into sales when a deal needs senior coordination, RFP responses, customer escalations, and contract negotiations
Step into marketing when a launch, campaign, or PR moment needs executive-level coordination
Step into operations and the factory floor when production, supply chain, or facilities issues need cross-functional unblocking
Step into finance when cash flow, financing rounds, or vendor negotiations need executive involvement
Step into HR when sensitive personnel issues, hiring decisions, or organizational design questions arise
Step into engineering when project coordination, technical reviews, or customer technical escalations need a senior point of contact
Build and document VVater's operating system, SOPs, policies, escalation paths, and decision frameworks
Identify process gaps and design lightweight, scalable solutions that do not create bureaucracy
Partner with functional leaders to standardize how VVater plans, reports, and executes
Own internal tooling decisions in coordination with IT and operations, CRM, ERP, project management, and communication platforms
Build internal tools, dashboards, automations, and AI agent workflows that multiply executive output; this is non-negotiable
Vibe-code prototypes and working internal applications, when a problem can be solved faster with a Friday-afternoon build than a six-week vendor procurement
Deploy AI agents to automate reporting, document drafting, research, customer outreach, and routine operations wherever it makes sense
Stay at the bleeding edge of AI tooling and bring the best of it into VVater's stack, Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Lovable, Replit, Zapier MCP, n8n, and whatever ships next
Treat AI fluency as table stakes; the CEO already operates this way and expects the same from his Chief of Staff
Serve as primary thought partner to the CEO on strategy, operations, capital allocation, and people decisions
Prepare decision briefs and synthesized recommendations on complex cross-functional issues
Pressure-test the CEO's thinking before key decisions; play devil's advocate when the moment calls for it
Translate the CEO's vision and priorities into clear, actionable plans for the executive team
Draft executive communications, internal updates, board memos, investor letters, and key external correspondence
Attend meetings on behalf of the CEO; debrief with clear summaries and recommended actions
Maintain relationships with key external stakeholders, investors, lenders, legal counsel, and strategic partners, at the CEO's direction
Manage confidential and sensitive information with absolute discretion; what happens in the CEO's office stays in the CEO's office
Take ownership of high-priority initiatives that do not yet have a functional home
Lead investigations into new business opportunities, partnerships, or strategic pivots
Stand up new functions or workstreams from scratch until they are mature enough to hand off
Be the catch-all for anything important that is falling through the cracks