Chief of Staff | Torchora

🎯 Role Definition

The Chief of Staff (CoS) partners closely with the CEO and executive leadership to translate high-level strategy into executable plans, remove barriers to progress, and ensure organizational alignment. The CoS acts as a force-multiplier for the CEO: managing priority initiatives, coordinating cross-functional programs, preparing board and investor materials, and representing the CEO in meetings to accelerate decision-making and execution. This role requires a blend of strategic thinking, operational rigor, executive communication, and high emotional intelligence.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Director of Operations / Head of Operations
Senior Program Manager / Director of Strategy
Chief Operating Officer (Deputy) / Director of Corporate Development

Advancement To:

Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)
General Manager / Business Unit Leader
CEO (startup / scale-stage)

Lateral Moves:

Head of Corporate Strategy
Head of Program Management Office (PMO)
Head of Investor Relations / Corporate Affairs

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Act as a strategic partner to the CEO by synthesizing complex information, framing strategic options, and recommending clear decisions and next steps to accelerate company priorities.
Lead cross-functional, high-impact strategic initiatives from ideation to execution, including setting timelines, defining success metrics, coordinating stakeholders, and removing obstacles to delivery.
Own the CEO’s weekly operating cadence: manage meeting agendas, prioritize topics, track action items, and ensure timely follow-through across executive and functional teams.
Drive quarterly and annual planning processes, including goal-setting (OKRs/KPIs), resource prioritization, cross-functional dependencies mapping, and progress reviews with leadership.
Prepare, edit, and present executive-level materials — investor updates, board decks, strategy documents, and all-hands presentations — ensuring clarity, data-driven storytelling, and alignment to company objectives.
Serve as a trusted proxy for the CEO in internal and external forums, representing company priorities to senior leaders, partners, and investors while preserving confidentiality and trust.
Facilitate executive decision-making by conducting deep analysis, synthesizing stakeholder input, outlining trade-offs, and drafting decision memos that enable rapid alignment.
Design and maintain critical management processes (e.g., executive scorecards, risk registers, escalation frameworks) that improve transparency, cadence, and operational rigor across the organization.
Lead post-merger integration, major change initiatives, or strategic pivots by coordinating cross-functional teams, setting milestones, and tracking outcomes to ensure value capture.
Build and manage a prioritized portfolio of strategic projects, allocating resources, monitoring budgets, and reporting progress against defined milestones and ROI expectations.
Identify systemic issues affecting organizational performance, propose scalable solutions (process, people, tools), and partner with functional leaders to implement improvements.
Drive talent planning and organizational design discussions with HR and senior leadership to ensure the right structure, roles, and capability gaps are identified and addressed.
Partner with Finance to model scenarios, evaluate strategic investments, and translate financial outcomes into operational plans that balance growth and profitability.
Monitor market, competitive, and regulatory trends; synthesize implications for strategic planning and recommend proactive moves to capitalize on opportunities or mitigate risks.
Manage time-sensitive, confidential projects such as special investigations, executive transitions, or high-stakes negotiations, ensuring discretion and clarity of outcomes.
Coordinate investor relations activities, including due diligence preparation, fundraising support, and investor communication follow-ups, to maintain credibility and momentum.
Lead or partner on corporate communications for critical announcements, ensuring alignment across legal, HR, and product teams and minimizing execution risks.
Establish and run the executive operating model for scaling organizations — defining meeting rhythms, escalation paths, decision rights, and governance to drive faster, clearer outcomes.
Coach and mentor senior leaders and direct reports to build cross-functional collaboration skills, increase accountability, and foster a high-performance leadership culture.
Translate CEO vision into functional roadmaps and runnable plans for Product, Engineering, GTM, and Operations, ensuring clarity on dependencies, timelines, and owners.
Own escalation management for blockers that impede company priorities: triage issues, convene the right stakeholders, and drive to resolution within compressed timeframes.
Conduct executive-level stakeholder management across external partners, customers, and community leaders to remove friction and enable strategic partnerships.
Oversee special projects such as new market entries, pilot programs, and internal incubators — designing experiments, setting success metrics, and scaling winners.
Maintain a continuous improvement mindset: gather feedback on executive processes, iterate on tools and templates, and scale best practices across the organization.

Secondary Functions

Manage administrative and operational support for the CEO’s office including calendar optimization, travel planning for strategic trips, and prioritization of competing requests.
Support talent acquisition for key leadership roles by participating in hiring committees, defining role requirements, and conducting executive-level interviews.
Collaborate with People & HR to operationalize culture initiatives, performance management cycles, and leadership development programs tied to strategic priorities.
Partner with Legal and Compliance to ensure board materials, contracts, and strategic initiatives align with regulatory and governance expectations.
Support ad-hoc research and investor diligence requests with structured summaries, data pulls, and narrative framing to accelerate fundraising or M&A processes.
Maintain institutional knowledge and historical decision logs that enable faster onboarding of new leaders and continuity of strategic initiatives.
Facilitate leadership retreats, offsites, and cross-functional workshops to align teams around priorities and accelerate team dynamics.
Oversee vendor relationships tied to strategic programs (consultants, research firms, agency partners), negotiating scope and ensuring delivery against objectives.
Coordinate crisis response planning and execution, serving as a control point for communications, resource allocation, and stakeholder updates during incidents.
Manage operational dashboards and executive reports that provide near-real-time visibility into business performance and early warning indicators.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strategic planning and operational execution: proven ability to translate strategy into measurable plans, roadmaps, and milestones.
Program and project management: experience owning complex cross-functional initiatives with clear delivery frameworks (e.g., Agile, SCRUM, PMO practices).
Data analysis and synthesis: strong Excel/Sheets modeling, comfort interrogating dashboards (Tableau/Looker/Power BI) and producing executive summaries.
Financial literacy and modeling: ability to build scenario models, understand P&L drivers, and work with Finance on budgeting and forecasting.
Executive communications and storytelling: experience drafting board materials, investor decks, and high-stakes executive presentations.
Process design and change management: skill in designing scalable processes (decision rights, RACI, SOPs) and driving adoption across teams.
Tools fluency: proficiency with Google Workspace/Microsoft Office, Slack, Notion/Confluence, project management tools (Asana/Jira/Trello), and CRM basics (Salesforce).
Vendor and partner management: experience managing external advisors, consultancies, or boutique firms through procurement to delivery.
Risk and compliance awareness: familiarity with corporate governance, basic legal/compliance considerations, and confidentiality protocols.
Basic technical literacy: ability to partner with Engineering/Product teams, understand product roadmaps, and translate technical constraints into business plans.

Soft Skills

Executive presence and discretion: trusted to handle highly confidential information with professionalism and sound judgment.
Exceptional written and verbal communication: clear, concise, persuasive writing and presentation skills tailored to senior stakeholders.
High emotional intelligence: ability to read complex interpersonal dynamics and influence without direct authority.
Problem-solving and structured thinking: comfort breaking down ambiguous problems into hypotheses, analyses, and recommended actions.
Facilitation and convening: proven ability to run efficient meetings, workshops, and decision-making forums that generate alignment.
Prioritization and time management: expert at triaging competing priorities for the CEO and the leadership team.
Stakeholder management and diplomacy: experience balancing competing interests across functions, investors, and external partners.
Adaptability and resilience: thrives in fast-changing environments and can pivot priorities responsively while maintaining quality.
Coaching and team development: ability to mentor leaders and build leadership capability across teams.
Attention to detail with a bias for action: rigorous about follow-through and delivering polished outputs under tight deadlines.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Management, Public Policy, or related field.

Preferred Education:

MBA or advanced degree in a relevant discipline preferred but not required; or equivalent experience in high-growth startups or management consulting.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration
Strategy / Management
Finance / Economics
Public Policy / International Relations
Computer Science or Engineering (for product- or tech-heavy environments)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

6–12+ years of progressive experience in operations, strategy, program management, management consulting, or corporate development; including 2–5 years supporting C-suite leaders or operating at the executive level.

Preferred:

8+ years with demonstrated ownership of company-level programs, board and investor communication experience, and a track record of driving measurable business outcomes in a fast-scaling organization.