Chief of Staff

Array Labs • Palo Alto, CA

27d • Hybrid

About The Position

At Array Labs, we’re building the world’s most advanced radar imaging satellites to generate an accurate, continuously updated 3D map of the Earth—giving governments and commercial organizations critical insight into the physical world. We design and build the system end-to-end, from on-orbit hardware to ground software and data processing, which lets us directly control performance, reliability, and the speed at which we ship improvements.
The Chief of Staff to the CEO is a high-velocity execution role. Reporting directly to the CEO, you’ll work day-to-day with Engineering leadership and R&D to drive CEO-priority development efforts from “what are we building?” to “it shipped.” You’ll run a tight weekly operating cadence—setting clear owners and milestones, surfacing risks and dependencies early, and driving decisions to closure—so execution stays unblocked and leadership has a crisp view of what’s moving, what’s stuck, and what needs attention next. You’ll also synthesize progress into clear, executive-level updates for leadership and the company. This role is ideal for a high-trajectory operator with exceptional judgment, strong communication, and a track record of rapidly expanding scope and responsibility. It’s a hands-on individual contributor role with high ownership and high exposure.
This role is not an Executive Assistant function (calendar/inbox/travel) and not a PMO-style process role centered on ceremony. Clear thinking and strong materials matter, but this is not a “decks and frameworks” job—the core value is driving real execution, decision closure, and shipped outcomes.

Requirements

• Typically 6–12 years of experience (or equivalent) in roles such as TPM/Program Lead, Product Ops, BizOps/Strategy & Ops with delivery ownership, early PM, or engineering with cross-functional execution ownership. Exceptional candidates outside this range will be considered if slope and ownership are extraordinary.
• Direct experience partnering with Engineering on a development project (software, hardware, or systems) from definition through delivery—owning execution mechanics (plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, status).
• Exceptional written and verbal communication: able to produce crisp, well-structured updates and decision memos; can synthesize complex technical topics for mixed technical/non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; comfort with tradeoffs, metrics, and pragmatic prioritization.
• Demonstrated business judgment in ambiguous environments: repeatedly made and communicated tradeoffs across scope, timeline, resourcing, and risk to drive outcomes.
• High ownership, discretion, and integrity in handling sensitive information.
• Ability to operate at a fast cadence with evolving priorities; energized by a hands-on, execution-heavy role.
• Genuine interest in deeply technical products and working closely with engineering and scientific teams.
• Comfort working with government and national-security customers/programs and handling sensitive program context with discretion and maturity.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in a high-growth, venture-backed startup, ideally in deep tech, aerospace, defense, or complex B2B environments.
• Prior experience as a Chief of Staff or as a strategy/ops partner to a CEO, founder, or R&D lead.
• Experience supporting or interfacing with investors, board members, or government/enterprise customers.
• Comfort working with geographically distributed teams and coordinating across multiple stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to build trust quickly, give and receive direct feedback, and influence without formal authority.
• Experience with government stakeholders or regulated programs where details are sensitive and timelines/commitments matter.

Responsibilities

• Drive execution of CEO-priority development efforts by partnering directly with Engineering to define scope, milestones, owners, and timelines; run weekly execution rhythms; surface risks and unblock decisions.
• Create clarity from ambiguity: translate company priorities into concrete workstreams, decision points, and measurable outcomes; maintain lightweight plans and decision records.
• Operate as the CEO’s execution engine: ensure leadership decisions turn into clear next steps, accountable owners, and follow-through across teams.
• Own bottleneck triage and tradeoffs: identify the constraint, drive resourcing/sequencing decisions (start/stop/sequence/what slips), and push decision points to crisp closure.
• Hiring enablement: help the CEO and functional leads hire the right people at the right time by translating priorities into a rolling headcount plan, defining high-signal interview loops/scorecards, coordinating interviewer execution, synthesizing feedback into clear recommendations, and driving timely decisions and close plans for top candidates.
• Communicate with precision and brevity: write concise weekly updates, leadership summaries, and All-Hands-ready narratives that synthesize technical and business context without losing accuracy.
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery across engineering, operations, and go-to-market when programs require it (e.g., customer commitments, government program execution, partner integrations).
• Support customer/investor/government engagements by ensuring narrative matches reality: synthesize inputs, structure decision-ready materials when needed, and drive follow-through on commitments and action items.
• Partner closely with the CEO’s Executive Business Partner (EBP) so the CEO’s time, meetings, and external commitments stay aligned with top priorities (without duplicating logistics/administrative work).

Benefits

• health
• dental
• vision
• a 401(k) with company match
• commuter benefits

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed