What is Coast
Coast is re-imagining the trillion-dollar U.S. B2B card payments infrastructure, with a focus on the country's 500,000 commercial fleets, 40 million commercial vehicles, and many millions of commercial drivers. The incumbent technologies that cater to these customers are decades old, and businesses with fleets increasingly demand modern digital experiences and transparent financial services products. Coast's mission is to deliver this at a transformational scale, beginning with the Coast Fleet and Fuel Card built on a cutting-edge spend management platform.
About the Role
The Chief of Staff is the CEO's most trusted operating partner. You will extend his reach across the company: representing him in rooms he cannot be in, carrying his priorities into the executive team, and making sure the decisions that matter get made, communicated, and executed. This is not a coordination or scheduling role. When you speak, the company should understand that you speak with the CEO's full context and backing.
You will sit at the center of the business. In a given month you might drive the leadership team's operating cadence, pressure-test an executive's plan on the CEO's behalf, prepare and help run a board meeting, own a company-critical special project end to end, or step into a stalled cross-functional effort and get it moving again. You will see everything the CEO sees, and you will be expected to form independent views and argue for them.
This role suits an experienced operator who has already provided leverage to senior executives and now wants a true seat at the table at a fast-growing fintech. For the right person, it is a launchpad into an executive leadership role at Coast.
What You'll Do
Act as a proxy for the CEO
- Represent the CEO in internal meetings, decisions, and escalations when he cannot be present, exercising judgment about what to resolve directly and what to bring back to him.
- Carry the CEO's agenda into the executive team: communicate his priorities and decisions clearly, and hold leaders accountable for commitments on his behalf.
- Serve as a trusted sounding board and thought partner, giving the CEO candid, well-reasoned counsel, including when your view differs from his.
Run the company's operating rhythm
- Own the leadership team's operating cadence: executive meetings, planning cycles, goal setting, and business reviews, ensuring each produces decisions and follow-through rather than discussion.
- Drive meeting preparation so the CEO walks in with the right context, agendas, and materials, and attendees leave aligned on outcomes.
- Track decisions and commitments across the executive team and project-manage them through to resolution so nothing falls through the cracks.
Own strategic special projects
- Take on complex, high-priority initiatives that don't yet have a clear owner, and drive them end to end: scope, plan, staff, execute, and land the result.
- Partner with the CEO and leadership team to develop, formalize, and implement strategies for company growth and operational improvement.
- Identify bottlenecks across the business, then troubleshoot and implement solutions with the relevant stakeholders, escalating to the CEO only when needed.
Support decision-making with research and analysis
- Conduct research and analysis on a wide range of topics, pulling the data and framing the trade-offs the CEO and leadership need to decide well.
- Prepare crisp, data-driven materials for the executive team, investors, and the board, and help manage board and investor communications.
What Success Looks Like
In your first year, you'll be successful if you:
- Operate as the CEO's genuine proxy: executives treat your direction as carrying his authority, and he trusts you to resolve issues in his absence without surprises.
- Have measurably improved how the executive team runs, with a reliable operating cadence and follow-through system so decisions consistently get executed.
- Have personally owned and delivered several company-critical projects that would not have happened, or would have moved far slower, without you.
- Are trusted across the leadership team as a fair, discreet, and effective partner who makes every executive around you more effective.
Requirements
- 7 to 12 years of experience, ideally combining a rigorous analytical foundation (management consulting, investment banking, strategy) with operating experience in a high-growth company; prior Chief of Staff, business operations leadership, or GM experience strongly preferred.
- A track record of earning the trust of CEOs or C-level executives and credibly representing them to senior stakeholders.
- Executive presence and influence: you can hold your own with, and when necessary push back on, experienced VPs and C-level leaders.
- Exceptional judgment and discretion; you handle confidential, sensitive, and politically delicate matters with ease.
- Strong analytical instincts: comfortable pulling metrics, spotting trends, and translating data into operational decisions.
- Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to align stakeholders at every level, from the board to the front line.
- AI-native mindset: you're already using AI tools to multiply your own output and you're excited to push further.
- Bias toward action and process-building; you don't wait for someone to hand you a playbook, and you can build structure in ambiguity without losing momentum.
- Experience in fintech, payments, B2B SaaS, or financial services preferred.
- New York City based; able to be in-office 3-4 days per week.
Compensation and Benefits
Our salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry, and are one part of our total compensation package that also includes benefits, signing bonus, and equity. Pay decisions are based on a number of factors, including scope and qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to other Coast employees. We expect the majority of candidates who are offered roles at Coast to fall healthily within the range based on these factors.
- Salary range: $175,000 to $225,000 annually
- Equity Grant: A meaningful ownership stake, weighted to reflect the seniority and impact of this role, with significant potential upside given Coast's early-stage trajectory
- Benefits Overview:
- Medical, dental and vision insurance
- Flexible paid time off (vacation, personal well being, paid holidays)
- Tools to help manage your financial wellness, including webinars, access to an equity tax advisory service, and company-sponsored 401(k)
- Paid parental leave
- $400 accessories allowance (a keyboard, mouse, headphones, etc.)
- Education stipend
- Free lunch every Friday
Coast is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are building a diverse and inclusive environment, so we encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. We're an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, disability, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
