Formic→
Chief of Staff to the CEO at Formic in Oakland, CA
Job Description
Who we are:
Formic is on a mission to reshape American manufacturing by making automation accessible to every factory. As labor constraints rise, costs increase, and global competition intensifies, automation is no longer optional for manufacturers that want to stay competitive.
We deliver automation through a Robotics-as-a-Service model that combines industrial robotics, proprietary software, and full-service support into a single, integrated solution. By removing the traditional barriers of cost, complexity, and risk, we enable manufacturers to deploy automation quickly and realize measurable gains in throughput, safety, and operational efficiency without large upfront capital investment.
Backed by leading investors including Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, Blackhorn Ventures, and Mitsubishi HC Capital North America, Formic is scaling rapidly and building the foundation for a new era of high-performance, Made in America production.
About the role:
The Chief of Staff to the CEO is an early-career, high-output operator who works directly with the CEO to drive execution across the company’s most critical priorities.
This role is designed to increase the CEO’s effectiveness by ensuring clarity amid ambiguity, follow-through, and momentum across the business. As an execution-heavy role in a fast paced startup, it requires producing tangible outputs quickly, ramping quickly and beginning to contribute in a short period of time.
This is a hands-on, in-person role based in Oakland for someone who wants to learn how a company is built from the inside and take on increasing responsibility over time.
In this role you will:
- Drive execution on the CEO’s highest-priority initiatives by owning outcomes, ensuring clear owners, timelines, and follow-through
- Collecting data across the organization for ground-truth insights and analysis of business performance
- Track progress across teams on key initiatives and follow up consistently to ensure work gets done
- Take ownership of outcomes end-to-end, even when work requires coordination across multiple teams
- Identify bottlenecks and actively resolve them
- Prepare materials for leadership, board, and investor conversations
- Take on ad hoc projects across the business and deliver concrete outputs on tight timelines
- Support the CEO directly across both strategic and operational work, including scheduling, prioritization, and execution
- Act as a utility player, taking on whatever work is needed, from high-priority initiatives to basic operational tasks
What makes you a great fit:
- 2–3 years of experience in a high-performance environment (consulting, investment banking, startup, operations, etc.)
- Motivated to learn by doing, not by directing
- Strong problem-solving ability and structured thinking
- High ownership and a strong bias toward action
- Ability to operate in ambiguity and move quickly
- Clear, concise communication
- Low ego, high curiosity, and willingness to do whatever it takes
- You prioritize execution over analysis and are comfortable delivering imperfect but fast outputs
- You are direct and willing to push for clarity when needed
- You take full ownership of outcomes, even when work depends on others
- You are highly responsive and operate with a strong sense of urgency
- You move quickly and are comfortable delivering high-quality work on short timelines
- You are comfortable receiving direct feedback and adjusting quickly
- You do not rely on influence, positioning, or optics to drive impact; you focus on doing the work and delivering results
Bonus Point if you have:
- Experience building dashboards, working with data, or improving internal systems
- Familiarity with SaaS, robotics, or industrial businesses
What success looks like:
In your first 90 days:
- You are consistently producing tangible outputs weekly (documents, dashboards, decisions, follow-ups)
- The CEO is spending less time tracking work and more time on high-leverage decisions
- Teams experience you as reducing friction and accelerating progress
- You proactively unblock issues without waiting for direction
- You operate with urgency and close loops quickly
- You are not waiting for direction; you are identifying what needs to be done and executing
What we look for:
We’re building this company from the ground up, and every person we hire has an outsized impact on our culture, performance, and trajectory. While each team member brings unique strengths and perspectives, we look for people who align with our Operating Principles and embody them in action. If this sounds like you, Formic may be the right place for you!
- Fearless Optimism: You make bold bets and default optimistic. You believe in the mission, aren’t paralyzed by risk, and fear inaction more than failure. You see ambiguity as opportunity and bring energy to building what doesn’t yet exist.
- Create the Magic: You absorb complexity so customers don’t have to. Whether your customer is external or internal, you focus on delivering experiences that are clear, fast, value-added, and outcome-driven. You don’t say “not my job.” You make things work.
- Today, Not Tomorrow: You have a bias to action. You close the loop. You take extreme ownership. You understand that speed compounds, and you don’t confuse activity with results.
- Seek Truth: You think from first principles. You value data over ego and strong opinions loosely held. You’re willing to challenge assumptions, including your own, in pursuit of the best answer.
- Made of Rubber: You are resolute and adaptable. When things break or priorities shift, you rebound stronger. You treat setbacks as learning moments and move forward with grit.
- One Formic: You operate without silos. You practice radical helpfulness, document clearly, and make clean handoffs. You assume positive intent and prioritize team success over individual credit.
Equal Opportunity Employment:
Formic is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or religious creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, family or parental status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. All employment decisions are based on a person’s merit, business needs, and role requirements. If you require further accommodations or have questions regarding accessibility of our roles, please reach out to careers@formic.co.
AI Use:
At Formic, fairness and transparency are at the heart of our hiring process. We use AI-powered tools in some interviews to help our teams evaluate candidate responses, but all final hiring decisions are made by humans. You can learn more about how AI is used in our recruitment process by reviewing our AI Hiring Disclosure linked here.