Chief of Staff & Business Operations Lead

The role

This founding role owns the company's operational backbone and partners with founders on high-leverage tasks. You will build systems to manage various business functions and free up founders' time.

What you will do

• Own finance operations including payments, billing, renewals, reporting, and expense management
• Own company metrics and operating cadence including dashboards, KPIs, and reporting rhythm
• Own vendor and supplier management including quotes, purchase orders, and international supplier relationships
• Own people operations including payroll, benefits, onboarding, equity paperwork, and HR compliance
• Own facilities and office operations including leases, insurance, buildout projects, utilities, food, and upkeep
• Drive meeting follow-through and maintain key relationships as an extension of the founders
• Coordinate team offsites and customer/investor visits
• Support leadership on legal, fundraising, and other high-priority operational initiatives
• Coordinate with recruiters to manage applicant pipeline, scheduling, and candidate feedback
• Build and document automated systems for recurring work

Required qualifications

• 5+ years in business operations, chief of staff, or operations management roles
• Track record of owning multiple operational functions at once without oversight
• Relentless closer
• Systems-minded
• Trusted with sensitive information and comfortable holding full internal access with discretion
• Able to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days/week (6 days/week if needed during crunch time)

Nice to have

• Experience at a hardware, robotics, or manufacturing company
• Experience with import/supply chain logistics
• Comfort using AI tools to multiply your own output
• Fluent in written and spoken Mandarin

About the company

Gradient builds autonomous robots for datacenter buildout. They are partnered with large AI infrastructure companies and backed by industry investors.