Chief of Staff

Job description

## The role We're hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly with our Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Johannes, and help run Heron. You'll be part of Business Operations, working across finance, people operations, business reviews, and quarterly planning. You'll take responsibility for both ongoing work and specific projects, from preparing a budget to improving how we hire, plan, and track progress. ## The opportunity Business Operations helps the company run well. We work with every team to understand how the business is doing, decide what needs attention, and make sure decisions lead to action. As Chief of Staff, you'll see how a company is run day to day and help improve it. You might work with finance on a forecast, prepare a business review, help teams agree on their priorities for the next quarter, or improve how new employees join the company. You'll also take on projects such as assessing a new market or business line. Some work will change week to week. Other responsibilities will be yours to keep running well over time. As you learn the business, you can take on more responsibility and help shape how Heron operates. ## What you'll work on Your work will include a mix of regular responsibilities and projects, such as: - **Finance:** work with our finance team on budgets, forecasts, and financial reporting. Understand revenue, costs, and spending, and help teams make informed decisions. - **People operations:** help with hiring plans, onboarding, and the processes that support employees and managers. - **Business reviews:** bring together company and team metrics, explain what's changed, and help the leadership team identify issues and agree on next steps. Follow up on decisions and actions. - **Quarterly planning:** help teams set priorities, agree on goals, and plan the people and budget they need. Track progress and help resolve competing priorities. - **Company and customer analysis:** answer questions about how the business is performing and where we can improve. - **Internal processes and systems:** improve how work gets done across the company, and keep those processes running reliably. - **Other company priorities:** lead projects from start to finish, including entering a new market or launching a new business line when those are priorities. We don't expect you to have worked in all these areas before. This role suits someone who learns quickly, enjoys a range of work, and is happy to handle both analysis and the practical details of running a company. ## What we're looking for Our ideal hire has 2–4 years of experience in analytical work, such as consulting, banking, or a strategy or operations role at a startup. You want to help build a company and can take an unfamiliar problem, break it down, and see it through. If your background is different but you think you'd be a good fit, tell us why. What matters most is that you're excited about the day-to-day work of running a business, as well as planning what comes next. Regardless of background, you'll be: - **Good at breaking down problems:** you turn complex questions into manageable parts and use data to support your decisions. - **Organized and reliable:** you keep track of deadlines, follow through on decisions, and make sure recurring work gets done well. - **A clear communicator:** you can explain your thinking to engineers, customers, and the board, whether in a conversation, written memo, or presentation. - **Comfortable with data:** you use spreadsheets and Structured Query Language (SQL), and prefer to get the numbers yourself. - **Keen to use artificial intelligence (AI):** you want to use AI regularly to automate parts of your work and find answers faster. - **Able to form and explain a view:** you have opinions and can support them with evidence. - **Trustworthy with sensitive information:** you'll handle confidential financial, employee, and company information, so we need good judgment and discretion. ## How we work We value people who care about doing useful work. We expect everyone at Heron to be: - **Resourceful:** when something gets in the way, you find a way to solve it, whether that means doing the work by hand or trying a different approach. - **Persistent:** you keep looking for the right answer or person, even when it takes several attempts. You're willing to put in the extra effort, including flying to Gainesville if that's what the work needs. - **Willing to take initiative:** you spot opportunities and take responsibility for getting the work done without waiting to be asked. - **Ready to work quickly and with others:** we move quickly and make decisions together. You help your teammates and do your part to make the team successful. ## What you can expect as a Heron - Competitive compensation, including equity - A full-time role based in New York City, where the team works in person - Your choice of high-quality equipment for your desk in the office - Occasional travel for retreats and to work with the team - Competitive benefits: health, dental, and vision coverage, with partial coverage for dependents; a 401(k) plan; uncapped paid time off; and parental leave - Free mental health support through Spill, with on-demand access to therapy - Weekly company lunches - Applicants of all backgrounds and genders are welcome. We do not tolerate discrimination. ## About the interview 1. **Initial conversation (20 minutes):** we'll discuss what you're looking for, what Heron offers, and whether the role is a good fit. 2. **Take-home task and review (about 3 hours in total):** you'll complete a task similar to the work you'd do in the role, then discuss it with members of our team. 3. **Team interviews (typically 4, scheduled together):** a mix of case exercises and questions about your experience, with teammates and founders. You'll learn about the people you'd work with and how we solve problems. We'll learn how you think, communicate, and work with others. 4. **References:** 2 people you've worked with who can tell us about your work, contributions, and working style. ## About Heron Heron is a Series A company based in New York and London. We use AI, including large language models, to automate document processing. Our software handles emails, analyzes attachments, and completes tasks such as updating customer relationship management (CRM) systems or requesting more information. Our customers include some of the world's largest financial technology companies, banks, specialty finance companies, and commercial insurers. Our largest product automates underwriting for small business lenders and other specialty finance companies. It removes time-consuming manual work so customers can provide their services faster, more accurately, and more fairly. Over 190 customers in financial services and other industries rely on Heron for essential parts of their work. We analyze tens of thousands of documents and over 20 million individual bank transactions each day. We're expanding into more areas of lending, banking, and insurance, and see plenty more we can do. We're a small, committed team with a flat structure, and we work closely together. Our team has experience at companies including Facebook, Spotify, and Revolut, as well as startups around the world. Our team members come from five continents. We want everyone to feel welcome, both at company events and in everyday work, and accommodate cultural and dietary requirements. We launched in September 2020 at the end of the S20 batch. Today, we have over $13M in annual recurring revenue.