Chief of Staff

Posted May 4

Description

The shortage of skilled workers is leaving millions of positions unfilled and employers unable to build and maintain the workforces they need to be competitive in the modern economy. The skills-gap crisis has been deemed by the World Economic Forum as one of the biggest challenges of our time, second only to climate change.

The world’s largest companies are transforming into skills-based organisations to survive, but most are struggling to do so without the proper tools. That's where we come in - we have built an innovative platform for workforce management that empowers companies to make skill-based decisions at scale.

Our existing clients have already witnessed the positive impact that skill-based decision-making has on organisational performance, diversity, culture, and management insight. We are a profitable business with several FTSE100 customers and have recently secured funding from a top European VC fund.

We are now assembling the right team to help us become the leader in the multi-billion dollar skill-based workforce planning market. Our mission is clear and ambitious - by 2033, we will be recognised as the most crucial HR system for the world’s largest companies. In doing so, we will be driving a quarter of all people-decisions and will be making a significant contribution towards solving the skills crisis. We’d love you to join us and make a difference that will shape the future for generations to come!

The Role

As a Chief of Staff for Spotted Zebra, you will serve as the right hand person to the CEO, providing critical support in both operational and strategic management. You will work closely with the CEO and leadership team to ensure the company's success, managing key initiatives, developing strategic plans, acting as a sounding board for key decisions, leading cross-functional initiatives and ensuring strong communication and alignment across the organisation.

The CEO will lean on you to own important tasks and initiatives that do not readily fall into the remit of other members of the leadership team, either because that department does not yet have a leader or because it is cross-functional

The Chief of Staff will have a high degree of autonomy and be expected to lead and execute on projects independently, while also collaborating closely with other members of the leadership team. This is an exciting opportunity for a talented and purpose-driven individual to have a significant impact on solving the skills-crisis.

Responsibilities

CEO Support:

Serve as a key advisor to the CEO, providing critical support and a sounding board for decision.
Free up the CEO time by taking on important ad hoc tasks that he would otherwise do.

Leadership Operations:

Manage the goals and deliverables associated with key projects, particularly, but not exclusively, where those projects are cross functional. In doing so, you will help the founders hold executives, yourself and themselves accountable for commitments.
Work closely with the CEO and leadership team to support the development of the company's and functions’ monthly, quarterly and annual strategic plans. Support the leadership team in delivering against and reporting on those plans.
Manage and coordinate weekly, monthly and quarterly leadership team meetings, and all-hands meetings to ensure we use our precious time together to maximum effect.
Communicate, support and encourage the practice of our values, cultures and help define and operationalise the ‘SZ way’ across the organisation.
Work with the finance and commercial functions to generate the end of month accounts and forecast.
Until such time as operational support is hired, you will parachute into individual departments as requested by the leadership team, to help build out operational capability.
Identify external tools and services the company or its functions would benefit from, and where there is leadership buy-in, own the implementation and successful operationalisation of these tools.

Your Own Initiatives:

Lead cross-functional projects and initiatives, working with stakeholders to ensure alignment, effective communication and delivery.
Own special projects which may include pilots, partnerships or other initiatives that do not readily fall into an existing executive’s remit.

Board & Investors:

Assist with the preparation of the investor deck and data room for Series B and beyond.
Own the reporting on KPIs and monthly financials, and preparing the information pack for board meetings.

Strategy:

Conduct research and analysis on key business issues, the competitive landscape and skills/HR category to inform decision-making and strategy development.
Support the CEO and leadership team in the development of our medium and longer term company and functional visions.

Requirements

You are an extension of the CEO and as entrepreneurial as he is. You want to start a business yourself, enter the VC world or simply want to experience the thrill of being an executive in a scale-up. You are purpose-driven, exceptionally intelligent, a continuous learner and want to step out of your comfort zone every day. You believe ‘no’ means you just haven’t asked the question in the right way. You want to go fast and so would rather ask for forgiveness than wait for permission. As an extension of the CEO, you want to work harder than anyone else you know, 5th gear is your low gear, you can go to the 7th gear when others are moving to their 6th. You are humble and wake up every day knowing you will learn something new. You hope you will succeed because of all these traits, but most importantly because because you do everything you can to empower, motivate and inspire those around you.

You’re great at researching, analytical thought and strategic insight and can present these clearly and coherently in short and long format text, a deck or verbally.
You have strong operational and project management skills, and can lead cross-functional teams and manage complex initiatives. You are organised and disciplined, have an amazing attention to detail, and follow up doggedly to ensure the right results.
Exceptionally intelligent, excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. You have a love for numbers and data which shows in your strong logical and numerical cognitive ability.
You have and continue to hone your ability to give feedback and in return your peers and manager’s react positively to it, are open to it and listen carefully.
Continuous learner, you want to learn something new every day.
A natural leader that appreciates influence over command, can lead from the front and can empower others to achieve their goals.
Mastered the art of decks, you can create clear, coherent and on-brand slides that engage the reader.
A tech super star, you can jump into a new tool and master it in hours where others would take days.
Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to analyse complex business issues and develop effective solutions.
Comfortable with ambiguity and able to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Benefits

Working directly with our founders and global clients, this is a great opportunity for personal development in a fast paced and supportive environment.
Progression: We are growing rapidly and this is a role that will progress as we scale.
25 days holiday, monthly socials and much more to come!
Hybrid office/remote work environment. We mostly wfh but regularly get together in a Central London co-working space to facilitate greater collaboration.
More perks as we (and you) think of them!