Chief of Staff
VSCO ยท San Francisco Bay Area
๐ San Francisco, California๐ฐ $150,000 - $175,000via greenhousePosted 2026-07-20
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About VSCO
For years, we've helped photographers create their work. Now we're building what comes next.
VSCO exists for photographers. Not as a side feature, not as an afterthought, but as the whole point. We build the connected system photographers rely on, and we've spent over a decade earning the trust of a global creative community that takes the craft seriously.
Photography is at an inflection point. AI is reshaping what's possible for creative work, and that's where our mission shines. VSCO is building the full photographer's workflow: from creating and editing your work, to delivering it to clients, to running your business. All of it built thoughtfully, with photographers leading the way. We believe the future of photography tools creates more space for creativity, handling the busy work so photographers can focus on the craft.
If you care about craft, community, and what technology can unlock for creative people, this is the work. We're a mission-driven and focused company where your work ships quickly, is meaningful, and reaches tens of millions of people worldwide. You'll have a real say in what we build and how we build it. We hire people who don't wait to be asked, naturally connect the dots, care about the quality of what they ship, and believe the best outcomes come from building together.
About You
Most business education happens from a distance. This role puts you in the room where it's made.
We're hiring a Chief of Staff who gets genuine energy from making things run well, and who wants to learn how a real company grows by doing the actual work, not studying it. You'll work directly with VSCO's CEO to drive execution across the full company: owning high-stakes projects, building the operating rhythms that keep a fast-moving team aligned, and making sure what matters on Monday actually happens by Friday.
You'll touch everything: planning, hiring, product, go-to-market, finance, and culture. You'll be trusted to figure things out without waiting to be asked. In return, you'll get something genuinely rare: direct mentorship from a deeply experienced CEO, unfiltered access to how strategic decisions get made, and a front-row seat to building a company that helps photographers turn their passion into a profession.
If you're 5+ years into your career, are wired to execute, and want to compress a decade of business education into a few years of real work, this is that opportunity.
This role reports directly to the CEO and is based out of our San Francisco, CA office (minimum 3 days/week in office).
The Day-to-Day
Operating Rhythm & Execution
Own the company's operating cadence: weekly leadership syncs, monthly business reviews, quarterly and annual planning
Track priorities, decisions, and commitments across the leadership team; make sure nothing important falls through the cracks
Build lightweight systems that keep teams aligned and moving without adding bureaucracy
CEO Partnership
Be the CEO's closest day-to-day operational partner: anticipate needs, manage inbound priorities, and protect focus on the highest-leverage work
Serve as a strategic sparring partner to the CEO: pressure-test ideas, challenge assumptions, and help sharpen thinking before it goes anywhere important
Prepare the CEO for high-stakes conversations with crisp briefing materials, clear decision framing, and the right context
Draft memos, strategic updates, and communications on behalf of the CEO; act as a trusted proxy when the CEO can't be in the room
Cross-Functional Projects
Lead initiatives that don't fit neatly inside one function: planning processes, org design, go-to-market launches, vendor relationships, internal tooling
Identify where cross-functional work is stalling; surface ownership gaps, resolve friction, and drive follow-through
Be the person who can be dropped into any problem and trusted to figure it out
Company Operations & Culture
Support board meeting prep, investor communications, and company-wide all-hands
Partner with our People team on headcount planning, new hire onboarding, and leadership team offsites
Help design and communicate internal processes that reflect how VSCO works and what it stands for
Qualifications
5+ years of experience in operations, consulting, strategy, business development, or a cross-functional startup role
Demonstrated ability to run complex, multi-stakeholder projects from kickoff to completion
Strong systems thinker: you build processes that scale, not workarounds that hold
Executive partnership: you are comfortable partnering with the CEO and other senior executives, asking difficult questions, challenging assumptions respectfully, and driving accountability across leadership teams
Excellent written communicator: you write clearly and concisely, whether it's a decision memo or a company update
Strong synthesizer: you take ambiguous information and turn it into clear recommendations that reduce complexity and help people drive outcomes quickly
High judgment and discretion: you know what to escalate, what to handle, and what to let go
Genuinely curious about business: how companies grow, how teams operate, how decisions get made
Fluent using AI tools: you use them to work faster and think better, not as a substitute for judgment, are able to elevate others to use them in a best-in-class way
What Makes You Stand Out
Teams you've been part of move faster and with more clarity after you join them
You've consistently taken on more than your title suggested, and delivered
Operational problems you drive get solved with extreme ownership
You've operated as the "glue" on a team before, making everyone around you more effective
You turn messy information into clear recommendations that people can act on
When you don't know the answer, you find it instead of letting yourself get blocked
You write a good memo. Not verbose. Concise
You want to become a better business le
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