Chief of Staff

About the Job

We're looking for a motivated and result-driven Chief of Staff (m/f/d) to join one of our portfolio companies and drive "the Ops behind the Founders" and drive operational success at the company. The key aim of this role is to enable and support the Founders in elevating their business to the next level. This role will give you a key position within the world of digital and AI-driven businesses.

As Chief of Staff (m/f/d), you are a strategic extension of the Founders and leadership team. You will drive high-impact company initiatives end-to-end, strengthen how we operate as we scale, and ensure that priorities translate into real outcomes. This role blends strategic leadership, organizational design, and hands-on execution. You will have broad exposure across the business and the mandate to shape how the company runs.

Join the A11 Ecosystem - A next-generation supply chain platform, the company is redefining how one of the world’s largest industries sources, distributes, and finances materials. Engineered to unlock the full potential of global trade, it harnesses agentic AI and workflow automation to provide seamless, high-efficiency access to premium materials at scale.

Since its commercial rollout, the platform has fueled exponential growth, optimizing procurement for thousands of businesses while setting new benchmarks for speed, transparency, and efficiency. Its competitive edge lies in full digitization and AI-driven supply chain management automation, eliminating inefficiencies and creating a direct, intelligent bridge between suppliers and buyers. With a team of 80+ FTEs across Europe (Berlin HQ), China, and India, the company is rapidly scaling toward profitability, driving triple-digit million GMV, and setting new industry standards in autonomous, AI-powered supply chain orchestration.

In this role, you’ll:

Strategic Leadership & Initiative Execution

• Lead critical strategic business initiatives from concept to successful delivery, partnering with senior leadership and department heads
• Enable effective executive decision-making by structuring problems, evaluating options, and guiding program design and rollout
• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Founders and leadership team—providing sharp insights, risk assessments, and actionable recommendations
• Translate business strategy into clear priorities, roadmaps, and measurable execution across teams

Organizational Design & Operational Excellence

• Review, design, and implement improvements to organizational structure; identify capability gaps and drive initiatives to close them
• Architect and optimize internal processes, workflows, formats, and meeting cadences to ensure scalable and efficient operations
• Drive cross-functional alignment by improving collaboration systems and introducing new ways of working
• Establish lightweight but rigorous operating rhythms that help teams move quickly while staying aligned

Daily Operational Stewardship

• Own core internal systems and tools that keep the company running (e.g., project billing, time tracking, budget sheets, invoicing)
• Oversee daily operations with senior managers and department leads to ensure alignment, smooth execution, and reliable follow-through
• Ensure operational excellence by spotting friction early and fixing root causes, not just symptoms
• Support leadership with occasional high-leverage administrative coordination as needed to unblock priorities

Executive Communication & Storytelling

• Prepare strategic presentations, narratives, and materials for workshops, pitches, leadership meetings, and company-wide communication
• Develop clear, compelling content that drives alignment and supports executive and organizational decision-making
• Shape internal messaging by synthesizing complex topics into simple, decision-ready communication
• Act as a sparring partner to executives on story, structure, and strategic framing

Cross-Functional Liaison & Culture Champion

• Serve as a central connection point between staff, senior leaders, and the CEO—maintaining visibility into company climate, team health, project updates, and forward planning
• Build strong relationships across departments to increase responsiveness, resolve issues quickly, and unlock organisational efficiency
• Help reinforce a high-trust, high-performance culture by identifying misalignment early and supporting constructive solutions

Project Management & Insight Generation

• Track progress and performance across key initiatives, synthesizing findings into actionable insights for executives and stakeholders
• Surface opportunities, obstacles, and strategic options proactively to accelerate business outcomes
• Establish transparent reporting that enables leadership to steer effectively without creating bureaucracy

Scope Boundaries / What This Role Is Not
To set you up for success, we want to be explicit about a few boundaries:

• This is not a personal assistant role. You won’t be primarily responsible for calendars, travel bookings, or routine logistics
• You are not the catch-all owner for unpopular tasks. You will take on high-leverage problems, not low-value dumping ground work
• You are not expected to manage a large team. Influence and orchestration matter more than headcount ownership
• You may support with admin coordination occasionally, but only when it is the most efficient path to unlock strategic progress

What Success Looks Like

• Strategic initiatives move faster, with clearer ownership and better outcomes
• Leadership has high-quality insights, clean decision paths, and reliable execution
• The organization scales smoothly through improved structure, processes, and operating cadence
• Teams feel aligned, informed, and supported by strong cross-functional coordination

Your Profile

• 3-5 years of experience ideally in consultancies, scale-ups, VCs, or PEs
• Excellent project management skills, building slides (Google Slides) and spreadsheets for daily business use cases with an analytical, structured, and process-oriented approach
• Professional and clear communication in both written and verbal form
• Ability to thrive in ambiguous situations and be able to lead something with little input/context
• A natural ability to build and maintain relationships and anticipate needs and challenges as well as thinking ahead
• Resilient, persistent, and proactive attitude as well as trustworthy with confidential information
• Business-level proficiency in both German and English is a must
• Excited by in-person collaboration. Office only setup
• Willingness to travel at least once a month within Europe (mostly Germany)

Please note that we are looking for support in the Berlin office of our client company. Eligibility to work within the EU is required as well.

Benefits and Perks

• Fulfil a role with entrepreneurial freedom and take a pre-validated business model to the next level
• Join an experienced founding team of serial and 2nd-time founders
• Attractive base and bonus compensation program
• Collaboration with top-tier investors and angles (incl. various unicorn founders) as well as leading market experts

If you’re eager to join the A11 Ecosystem and shape what’s next, we want to hear from you!

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

A11 is committed to diverse and equal opportunities hiring for all – applicants, candidates, and employees alike. We value humans – with all our glorious multifaceted backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences – and look forward to your application.