Chief of Staff
Lydian
People & HR, Operations
San Francisco, CA, USA
Posted on Monday, April 8, 2024
Lydian overview
Lydian is a technology development company focused on producing the cheapest carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals on the planet. Our process replaces oil and gas refining with fully electrified, modular, and highly efficient reactor systems that enable the upgrading of captured CO2 into a range of carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals. Our initial focus is on the production of the cheapest and most scalable CO2-derived aviation fuel.
Lydian is backed by top climate investors including Congruent Ventures, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Union Square Ventures, Voyager Ventures, Grok Ventures, and Overlap Holdings. We are building a motivated, diverse, and collaborative team that is passionate about addressing the growing climate crisis and is committed to excellence in their work. In particular, we look for tenacious people that are energized by solving the hardest, highest impact problems that come their way.
Position overview
Lydian is looking for a Chief of Staff hire to support the CEO on key initiatives including scheduling, internal and external communications, commercial strategy, and special projects. This is a senior role on the team: you are expected to be intimately familiar with the company’s strategy, be able to communicate that strategy clearly, and proactively suggest changes as warranted. Doing so will require a high level of familiarity with the company’s internal operations, target markets, and competitive landscape. The ideal hire is a clear, concise, and effective communicator, is highly organized, and has a history of executing complex tasks on time and with a high degree of quality.
This role will be in person in San Francisco with regular travel (25-30%) expected.
Responsibilities
- Craft and improve the CEO’s communications to employees, investors, and customers. Develop an actionable strategy for amplifying the company’s brand and mission and prepare clear, visually appealing presentations. You will be expected to draft board slides, whitepapers, pitch decks, and internal team presentations.
- Align executive priorities and tasks with a high degree of attention to detail. Keep a pulse on internal company operations and external deadlines and manage yours and the CEO’s daily activities accordingly.
- Plan, coordinate, and run effective meetings. Capture action items and deadlines and take necessary steps to ensure that they are completed without additional guidance.
- Maintain an intimate degree of familiarity with the company’s strategy and, especially, our CEO’s thinking, such that you can help complete priority items with a high degree of quality.
- Represent the company at conferences as required.
- Proactively identify key areas of need throughout the organization. Be comfortable taking regular action with limited guidance. Search for and synthesize new information and present your findings to the executive team along with suggested actions.
- Do whatever needs to be done, including administrative tasks. We are a small team and no task is beneath us. You may need to onboard and offboard employees, plan team events, find temporary and permanent work spaces, pay bills, fix issues with our payroll system, update historical and projected financials, etc.
Preferred Qualifications
- BS and/or MBA; STEM or other quantitative field preferred but not required.
- 2-5+ years of experience in a fast-paced, high-performance environment. Big 3 consulting, investment banking, or operations roles at a successful startup preferred.
- Highly-organized and deliberate, to the point that you are frustrated by delays. Your friends, family, and colleagues may consider you “Type A”.
- Clear, open, and honest communicator. Unafraid to challenge others (directly but politely); seeks and gives helpful feedback regularly.
- Curious and humble. Willing to relentlessly seek the truth and admit what you don’t know.
- Alignment with our mission, vision, and virtues.
Company culture and benefits
- Challenging, collaborative, and meaningful work and an important voice in company development
- Competitive salary commensurate with experience
- Meaningful equity compensation
- Unlimited PTO and expectation that all employees take significant time off to rest, recharge, and enjoy life outside work
- Excellent health, vision, and dental insurance with 100% of premiums covered
- 401(k) with company match