Chief of Staff - Stride (Manchester)

Job description

About Stride Most people have accepted that being tired, stressed and slowly declining is just what adult life looks like. We don't think it has to be. Stride is a preventative health membership built around a full picture of your biology: DNA, microbiome, blood biomarkers, epigenetics and oral health. We test over 500 biomarkers, at least twice a year, so members can see how they're trending, not just where they stand today. Then we translate that into what to actually do: food, training, supplements, what to keep an eye on - with a coach, dietitian or physiologist working alongside them. It's an elite longevity concierge at an everyday price, without the clinic waiting room. Just practitioner-led guidance grounded in your own biology. Learn from people who've done it - you'll work directly with Andrew Steele, who co-founded DNAFit, acquired by Prenetics (the group behind IM8 and CircleDNA), which listed on Nasdaq at a $1B+ valuation in 2022. What you’ll do We're well funded and building fast, across product, growth, operations and a US launch that's all happening at once. That pace means people are heads-down building in parallel and don't always have time to look up and check things are joined up. That's where you come in. You'll work directly with the CEO, sitting in on the conversations where decisions get made and then making sure they actually happen afterwards: the right people told, the steps sequenced, follow-up chased without anyone having to ask twice. You won't be adding process for its own sake - Stride needs just enough structure to stop a small, fast team dropping things, and knowing where that line sits is a big part of the job. Some hours you'll be in a leadership meeting, others untangling something operational that's gone sideways, others writing the document that ends up shaping a decision. Nothing in the business is off limits, and nothing is too senior to get involved in either. Ownership and follow-through Run the cadence of leadership meetings, offsites and planning cycles: agendas, pre-reads, decisions and the follow-through afterwards Keep track of the handful of priorities that matter most at any given time, and chase down anything at risk of slipping Take ambiguous, half-formed direction from the CEO and turn it into clear ownership, timelines and next steps Notice when something agreed three weeks ago has quietly gone nowhere, and close the loop Step into whichever part of the business needs structure that month - operations, launch planning, hiring, or a project that doesn't naturally belong to anyone - and run it end to end Build the lightweight trackers and rituals that keep a growing team coordinated, without adding bureaucracy Judgement and trust Be a sounding board for the CEO, with the discretion that comes from seeing most of what happens across the business Know when something needs escalating, when to just decide, and when to quietly let it go Represent the CEO's intent accurately with the wider team, without turning into a bottleneck or a filter people resent Get the CEO ready for board meetings, investor updates and other high-stakes moments, with the right briefing and numbers on hand How you’ll be measured Fewer things falling through the cracks: decisions get made, actioned and closed out, rather than re-litigated three weeks later Leadership time protected and well spent, with meetings that produce decisions rather than just discussion Visible improvement in how the team plans, tracks and delivers, without anyone feeling more bureaucracy The CEO trusts that whatever gets handed off will actually get done You’ll likely bring Experience as a chief of staff, in a founder's office, in general management, or in a high-ownership operations role - ideally somewhere you had to build structure yourself rather than inherit it A track record of working closely with a founder or senior leader and being trusted with real ambiguity Strong organisational instincts: you're the one who builds the tracker, writes the follow-up, and spots the gap nobody else had time to notice Comfort without a clearly defined lane - you'll work across every function at some point, and you're fine being judged on results rather than whose job it technically was Strong written communication - you can take a messy conversation and turn it into something clear that people can actually act on Good judgement around sensitive information, given the access this role has to it A bias towards action: you'd rather move an imperfect plan forward than wait around for a perfect one Comfortable using AI tools day to day to move faster than the size of the team would otherwise allow Bonus points Experience supporting a company through a fundraise, board process, or new market launch Some background in consumer health, wellness or DTC subscription businesses A mix of strategic and operational experience, rather than just one or the other Experience setting up the systems a growing team needs: OKRs, planning cycles, reporting rhythms - and knowing when not to bother What this role isn’t It's not an executive assistant role: you won't be managing the CEO's calendar or inbox, that support sits elsewhere, and it's not about building bureaucracy either - any process you introduce has to earn its keep, not exist for its own sake. It's not a back-seat role - you'll have real scope and real decisions to make, not just a seat in the room. And it's not a stepping stone: this suits someone who wants to build a career at the centre of a growing company, not pass through on the way to something else. Working at Stride Do work that matters: preventive health is where the industry is heading, and this role helps get Stride there faster Sit at the centre of the business, working across every function and shaping how Stride operates as it grows Work directly with a founder who's already built and sold a company in this space, and taken another through a Nasdaq listing Free StrideOne membership after probation: testing, insights and precision supplements - plus a discount for friends and family Equity as part of your package Hybrid working from our Manchester base, 2 to 3 days in the office, with flexibility around the rest 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, pension with employer contribution, an annual learning budget, and your own kit