Chief of Staff

Zūm•Redwood City, CA

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

Zūm is seeking a Chief of Staff to serve as a force multiplier for the COO at its fast-growing operating business. The role supports the COO by running the operating rhythm, driving high-priority cross-functional initiatives, and translating operational data into decisions. The Chief of Staff will work across Operations, Finance, Sales, HR, Legal, Safety, and Technology, with regular exposure to the executive team and Board. The role also takes ownership of emerging problems, establishes structures to address them, and transitions them to ongoing owners once they are running independently. This is a fast-paced position with changing scope and significant ambiguity. The Chief of Staff will be close to business decisions and operational details, and will help build processes and initiatives from scratch. The role is hybrid and based at Zūm’s headquarters in Redwood City, California, with onsite work required three days per week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Candidates must already be located in the Bay Area. The position requires at least eight years of relevant experience, strong financial modeling and analytical skills, and demonstrated ability to lead complex projects without direct authority. A bachelor’s degree is required; an MBA is a plus. The targeted base salary range in California is $210,000–$260,000. The position may also include equity or commissions. Zūm offers medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k), holidays, wellness, vacation, and more to full-time salaried or hourly workers.

Requirements

At least 8 years of experience in management consulting, investment banking, private equity, corporate strategy, or FP&A/strategic finance.
Advanced financial modeling and analytical skills, including comfort building a P&L or unit economics model from scratch.
Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional projects and drive results without direct authority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing materials for senior executives and boards.
Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential labor, financial, legal, and personnel matters.
Self-starter mentality; comfortable with ambiguity, takes initiative, and does not wait to be told what to do.
Willingness to work closely with the field, including visiting yards and meeting operators and district partners.
Bachelor’s degree required.
Must already be located in the Bay Area.
Able to work onsite three days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday) at the Redwood City headquarters.

Nice To Haves

Top-tier management consulting experience, such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or equivalent.
Experience in operations-heavy, field-based, or asset-intensive industries such as transportation, logistics, infrastructure, or energy.
Prior experience as a Chief of Staff, or in a business operations or strategy role supporting an operating executive.
Background in a high-growth, venture-backed or PE-backed company.
Familiarity with public sector contracting, labor and union environments, or education-related markets.
Experience with BI and data tools such as SQL, Looker, Tableau, or similar, and comfort working with large operational datasets.
MBA.

Responsibilities

Own the COO’s operating system, including weekly KPI reviews, monthly business reviews, forecast-to-actual reviews, and seasonal planning cycles; ensure data is available, decisions are made, and follow-ups are completed.
Lead high-impact cross-functional initiatives on the COO’s behalf, including new market entry, cost and margin improvement, process and systems rollouts, and operational turnarounds.
Scope problems, build plans, drive execution across teams, and report initiative progress.
Build models and analyses to inform decisions on contract- and market-level unit economics, labor costs and margin drivers, capacity and scaling forecasts, pricing, and renewals.
Translate complex analyses into clear recommendations.
Partner with Finance on annual planning, budgeting, and forecasting for the Operations organization.
Help define KPIs and targets, establish baselines, and hold the business accountable for performance.
Prepare Operations content for Board meetings, investor updates, and executive team reviews.
Draft the COO’s communications, talking points, and decision memos, ensuring materials are accurate, concise, and defensible.
Connect Operations with headquarters functions; anticipate friction, clarify decision rights, and align leaders on priorities, resources, and timing.
Act as a trusted sounding board and extension of the COO; triage inbound requests and manage the COO’s time and priorities against company priorities.
Step in to address the COO’s most urgent needs.