Chief of Staff, R&D

Description Sprout Social is looking for a Chief of Staff to partner with our R&D leaders (Product, Engineering, and Design) to turn strategy into motion. Reporting to the CPO and supporting both the CPO and CTO, you will hold a high-visibility, high-leverage position at the intersection of strategy and execution. You’ll shape how a category-leading Social Intelligence company builds and scales for the world's most forward-thinking social media practitioners. Why join Sprout's R&D team? R&D is Sprout’s single largest investment area and the engine of our growth. As Chief of Staff, you’ll help senior leaders run this complex organization with the speed and clarity expected by our shareholders. We value transparency and ownership, offering the autonomy to build scalable, AI-forward operating systems. This role provides a rare seat with direct exposure to executive leadership and the opportunity to influence the decisions shaping our roadmap. What you’ll do Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to both the CPO and CTO, shaping the R&D leadership agenda and preparing them for board and executive interactions. Lead the operational teams managing the R&D operating cadence (meetings, reviews, and quarterly planning) and drive the tracking, reporting, and alignment of R&D OKRs with company strategy.. Act as the first line of judgment on escalations and meeting requests—triaging what requires direct leadership attention versus what can be resolved async. Build and maintain the R&D operational dashboard, translating data on delivery velocity, capacity, and headcount into clear narratives that drive decisions. Lead high-priority, ambiguous initiatives (e.g., org design or AI-operating-model buildouts) across the R&D portfolio. Serve as the primary POC and partner for FP&A, leading overall budget governance across Engineering, Product, and Design. Surface trade-offs by bringing options, costs, and recommendations to the CPO and CTO to make prioritization calls highly visible. Partner with People and Finance on the joint R&D hiring plan, capacity model, and senior onboarding. Draft and own key R&D communications, ensuring a consistent voice across executive memos and board content. What you'll bring You are a strategic operator who thrives at the seam of product and engineering. You bring a rare combination of analytical rigor, executive presence, and operational discipline, and you know what "good" looks like because you've built and worked within high-performing R&D organizations. You can hold the trust of two principals at once, influence without formal authority, and move fluidly between the details and the strategic picture. You build processes where none exists and simplify and streamline to increase efficiency. You also possess a high emotional intelligence and discretion, with the judgment to navigate sensitive issues and competing priorities. The minimum qualifications for this role include: 12+ years of experience spanning strategy, operations, management consulting, product management, or a prior Chief of Staff role, ideally within a high-growth or public B2B SaaS company 5+ years of direct people management experience Deep fluency in how R&D organizations operate — the product development lifecycle, product, design, and engineering org structures, capacity planning, and the relationship between roadmap, resourcing, and business outcomes. You don't need to have been an engineer, but you do need to read an architecture diagram, a capacity model, and a P&L with confidence A proven track record of influencing VP-, SVP-, and C-level leaders without owning the org chart Exceptional written and verbal communication — you can draft board materials and present to senior leaders, framing complex topics clearly and proactively Strong operational and analytical rigor: you build repeatable processes and hold yourself to a high standard of accuracy and accountability Preferred qualifications for this role include: Experience supporting a combined Product and Engineering (or R&D) organization, or reporting into a CPO, CTO, or CPTO Background in high-growth SaaS or technology companies, ideally with exposure to multiple planning cycles and periods of organizational change Familiarity with the tooling of modern R&D operations — OKR and planning systems, roadmapping tools, and delivery/velocity analytics What this role is not: To set clear expectations: this is not a senior Technical Program Manager or Engineering Manager role, and it is not an Executive Business Partner role. How you'll grow Within 1 month, you'll plant your roots, including: Build trust and working rhythms with both the CPO and CTO, and relationships across the R&D leadership team and key cross-functional partners Develop a deep understanding of Sprout's business model, product strategy, and R&D operating model Diagnose the current state of the R&D operating cadence, OKRs, and reporting, and identify the highest-leverage opportunities to improve Within 3 months, you'll start hitting your stride by: Standing up a single, unified R&D operating cadence and OKR ledger jointly owned by the CPO and CTO Documenting a clear decision-rights framework so it's always evident which principal owns which class of decision Establishing yourself as a trusted thought partner to both principals and a reliable connection point for cross-functional leaders Within 6 months, you'll be making a clear impact through: Delivering multiple cross-cutting strategic initiative end-to-end Running a crisp quarterly business review and a maturing R&D operating review that leadership relies on Demonstrably recovering time and focus for both the CPO and CTO, and surfacing trade-offs early enough to keep priorities aligned Within 12 months, you'll make this role your own by: Operating as an indispensable partner to the R&D leadership team through full annual and quarterly planning