Chief of Staff

You are (skills)

• Nuanced. Different science funding models are better for different problems, and different people are better for different roles in the ecosystem. You don’t assume there is an obvious or cookie-cutter answer. Instead, you dive deep to understand how a given opportunity might or might not fit into CR’s universe, and exactly what kind of attention it might need from our CEO and the team.
• Comfortable outside ~anyone’s intellectual comfort zone. Need to take an unexpected meeting with a Fields Medalist? You don’t shy away from some quick background reading on infinite dimensional Banach spaces, but recognize that a more relevant point of connection might be automated theorem proving, and you gently ping our CEO over Slack to confirm it makes sense to introduce them to our interactive theorem proving FRO. You’re genuinely curious about all these things and it is fun for you to learn. 
• Knowledgeable. You’ve dealt with deep science projects and complex organizations before. You have a “spidey sense” as a result — for both science and scientists. You can be genuinely helpful (and credible) to many of our stakeholders out the gate with this expertise. Chances are you have a technical PhD to go to this level. You also know that expertise isn’t everything and you’ll facilitate progress in areas well outside of what you’ve done yourself. 
• A project manager. No matter how many balls are in the air at different levels of the organization, you can keep calm and on top of everything going on. 
• A problem-solver. There are no problems, only opportunities. Well, sometimes there are problems, but you don't hesitate to get stuck into them and find a solution. 
• A confident, clear, proactive, empathetic communicator. You understand how to get the best out of people and how humans work. You can apply this knowledge to engage stakeholders from all walks of life. You are able to take the lead in any discussion, but also don't mind taking on a support role when that is what the team needs. 
• A great juggler. Startups move at a fast-pace and you are able to change priorities and handle multiple tasks at once without blinking. Actual juggling is always a plus.

You will (duties)

• Absorb an enormous amount of context. You’ll have to ask a gazillion questions to understand a new and emerging approach to advancing science down to the nuts and bolts. You’ll become one of very few people who sees the whole picture 
• Multiply the capacity of our CEO. Adam is currently balancing searching for new FROs, educating people on the FRO concept, fundraising and managing relationships. These are all high context relationships where it’s important that the CR representative understand FROs, science, our network and our capacity.
• Do what our CEO cannot. There are a bunch of cool projects we’d like to get to (potentially run a white paper competition, figure out what podcasts to get to, write up reports on our progress, create a better tracking system for potential FROs, etc.) But honestly, we can’t get to them, a CoS would step in to take over several executive priorities.
• Improve executive communication. You will take complex, unpolished material that sometimes obeys the dictum “I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one” and make it understandable to stakeholders, with just enough detail for each person. You’ll realize when a table, graphic or survey communicates more clearly than 1000 words, and make those. You also see when this should just be a phone call, and get one on the schedule. You help bring structure to the CEO’s outputs, while taking their native styles as a parse-able input. (You may end up using some actual generative AI in the process.)
• Manage some key processes. Today, the CEO is handling some administrative tasks for key projects because they require high finesse and high context. Take over managing these processes which include board meeting prep, scientific review and progress tracking.
• Pitch in elsewhere. We’re a (non-profit) startup, things change fast, and sometimes an opportunity is here now that really will be gone next week.

In 6 months you will have (6 month goals)

• Learned an insane amount of context about how we think about our impact, where FROs fit in in the ecosystem, what projects we’re running, what resources we have, our strategy and world vision
• Start taking calls with external parties (scientists, networks, partners) as the solo representative of Convergent Research.
• Begun to free up, on net, at least 30% of the CEO’s time for activities in their zone of genius, while increasing the overall capacity and strength of our executive team through a range of ad hoc interactions and small improvements
• Gotten on track with a longer term game plan for freeing up at least 40% of the CEO’s time for activities in their zone of genius, with you gradually coming to play a key role in the design of future strategic initiatives that systematically expand what CR can do overall

We offer:

• An opportunity to change the world and work with some of the smartest and the most talented experts from different fields.
• Competitive salary: $180,000 - $250,000
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision insurance through a PPO plan; parental leave.
• Generous time off + paid holidays.
• Wellness allowance for fitness and wellness activities.
• Support for remote work.
• Frequent opportunities to spend time with colleagues in person.