What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chief of Staff position at Clera?
About The Role
A fast-growing applied AI research startup — building the memory layer for intelligent systems — is hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly alongside the founding team. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for someone who thrives in ambiguity and wants to operate at the intersection of strategy, operations, GTM, and finance from day one.
The company's open-source models have achieved massive community adoption, and its enterprise search API powers retrieval across more than 100 languages. The team is small, the mission is ambitious, and the Chief of Staff will be central to how the company scales.
What You'll Do
Required:
This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be able to work from the San Francisco office on a regular basis.
A fast-growing applied AI research startup — building the memory layer for intelligent systems — is hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly alongside the founding team. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for someone who thrives in ambiguity and wants to operate at the intersection of strategy, operations, GTM, and finance from day one.
The company's open-source models have achieved massive community adoption, and its enterprise search API powers retrieval across more than 100 languages. The team is small, the mission is ambitious, and the Chief of Staff will be central to how the company scales.
What You'll Do
- Work directly with founders across strategic priorities, operational initiatives, and day-to-day execution
- Translate high-level strategy into actionable roadmaps and drive cross-functional initiatives to completion
- Coordinate across GTM, product, research, and finance functions — serving as a connective tissue across the organization
- Own program and project management for multiple concurrent initiatives, tracking timelines and ensuring accountability
- Support financial planning including budgeting, forecasting, and internal financial reporting
- Build and maintain dashboards, track KPIs, and surface data-driven insights to inform strategic decisions
- Prepare clear, concise executive communications and summaries on complex topics
- Identify operational gaps and proactively implement process improvements as the company scales
Required:
- 1–3 years of professional experience in a Chief of Staff, operations, strategy, or closely related role — ideally within a startup or research environment
- Demonstrated ability to support founder/executive leadership and operate across strategy, ops, GTM, and finance simultaneously
- Strong cross-functional communication and stakeholder management skills, both written and verbal
- Proven project/program management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive them to completion
- Financial acumen: experience with budgeting, forecasting, and internal reporting
- Data-driven mindset: comfortable building dashboards, tracking KPIs, and analyzing metrics
- Ability to thrive in a fast-moving, high-ambiguity environment and adapt quickly to shifting priorities
- US work authorization (visa sponsorship available if needed)
- Ability to work on-site in San Francisco, CA
- Interest or prior experience in AI research, open-source software, or enterprise search/retrieval technologies
- Familiarity with AI/ML research environments or memory-layer / agentic AI domains
- Salary: $120,000 – $160,000 USD annually
- Visa sponsorship available for eligible candidates
This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be able to work from the San Francisco office on a regular basis.
Salary : $120,000 - $160,000