Product Chief of Staff

Smith.ai•San Francisco, CA

3d•$215,000 - $250,000•Remote

About The Position

Smith.ai is seeking a Product Chief of Staff to partner directly with the Chief Product Officer and drive operational excellence across Product, Design, and Engineering. The role owns the operating cadence for the R&D organization and leads strategic initiatives spanning teams and functions. It calls for a strategic, execution-focused operator who can bring structure to ambiguity, earn trust through sound judgment, and influence across teams without formal authority. This is a hands-on operating role rather than a traditional administrative Chief of Staff position. The Product Chief of Staff will oversee planning, goals, leadership meetings, decision tracking, and performance reporting; lead high-priority initiatives from strategy through measurable results; and coordinate across Product, Engineering, go-to-market, and Client Success. The role also serves as a thought partner to the CPO, owns product-related executive and board updates, and improves organizational collaboration, communications, recruiting support, and planning. The position is full-time and remote.

Requirements

Exceptional judgment and discretion when navigating sensitive business and organizational matters.
Relentlessly execution-oriented, with a demonstrated ability to take ownership, close loops, and deliver results independently.
Highly structured thinking and exceptional writing skills, including the ability to turn complex, ambiguous problems into clear recommendations and actionable plans.
Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive accountability across teams without formal authority.
Strong business and product fluency, including financial metrics, customer data, and product analytics.
Comfort operating at high speed, balancing competing priorities, and working across international time zones.
AI-native approach to work, using AI tools to analyze, automate, and significantly improve productivity.
Highly collaborative, low-ego working style and effectiveness in a remote-first environment.

Nice To Haves

Previous Chief of Staff, Business Operations, Strategy, or Product Operations experience at a high-growth startup.
Background in management consulting, investment banking, or a similarly analytical environment.
Experience in SMB SaaS, AI, voice technology, or legal tech.
Experience with product operations, roadmap planning, or cross-functional product launches.
Experience working with distributed or European teams.

Responsibilities

Own the operating cadence across Product, Design, and Engineering, including quarterly roadmap planning, OKRs, leadership meetings, and decision tracking.
Drive accountability and follow-through so priorities stay on track and decisions turn into action.
Build and maintain a weekly product scorecard tracking metrics such as shipping velocity, call quality, and activation.
Lead 2–3 high-priority initiatives each quarter from ambiguous problem definition through execution and measurable results.
Partner across Product, Engineering, GTM, and Client Success on initiatives such as new market opportunities, pricing and packaging, product launches, and company-wide AI adoption.
Keep distributed teams aligned, including coordination between US-based leadership and the Engineering organization in Spain.
Serve as a trusted thought partner to the CPO, provide candid perspectives, identify risks, and help prioritize competing demands.
Anticipate challenges, resolve issues independently, and close loops that would otherwise require the CPO's attention.
Own product-related executive and board updates, translating complex information into insights, recommendations, and decisions.
Improve collaboration, communication, and execution as the organization scales.
Support product and design recruiting, organizational planning, and the integration of new teams and processes.
Drive clear internal communications about product priorities, decisions, and launches.