Chief of Staff

We're Blue River, a team of innovators driven to create intelligent machinery that solves monumental problems for our customers. We empower our customers – farmers, construction crews, and foresters - to implement safer and more sustainable solutions, driving increased profitability with less reliance on scarce labor. We believe that focusing on the small stuff – pixel-by-pixel and task-by-task - leads to big gains. With our partners at John Deere, we have the ability to bring innovative computer vision, machine learning, robotics, and product management solutions to scale production, maximizing their potential impact.

Our people are at the heart of what we do. Through cross-discipline collaboration, this mission-driven and daring team is eager to define the new frontier of mobile robotics. We are always asking hard questions, rapidly iterating, and getting our boots in the field and on-site to figure it out. We won't give up until we've made a tangible and positive impact on the planet.

Summary

Blue River Technology is looking for an accomplished Chief of Staff to support our CEO. As the right-hand person, a strategic and operationally strong leader will provide a wide range of support to increase the CEO's leverage throughout the company. Being effective in this pivotal role requires a natural ability to build strong, trusting partnerships across the organization and drive progress on key initiatives, cross-functional projects, and effective communications on behalf of the CEO.

As the CEO's "trusted counsel," this role will work closely with the CEO's direct reports (Heads of Engineering, Product, People, and Internal Platforms) to communicate changes in prioritization and decision-making efficiently. This requires a highly resourceful individual who thrives in a fast-moving, complex environment requiring strong emotional intelligence, self-motivation, and comfort with ambiguity in a fast-changing environment.

Job Responsibilities

• Strategic thought partner to CEO- bringing together needs, notes, and action items, and leading operational follow-up of key initiatives. Frame problems and propose structures/models that help people better understand the problem and trade-offs.
• Ensuring the CEO has the information needed to make important decisions, and that information travels from the CEO and Blue River's leadership team to relevant parts of the organization.
• Owning high-priority meetings for the CEO. Examples include structuring the agenda and attendee lists, scoping and reviewing meeting materials, and following up on post-meeting tasks.
• Collaborate with Blue River's team to translate strategy into actionable goals and objectives, driving cross-functional initiatives to successful completion.
• Facilitate effective communication between the CEO and internal stakeholders, ensuring transparency, alignment, and collaboration.
• Continuously seek opportunities to optimize the CEO's productivity, removing bottlenecks and streamlining decision-making processes.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, both internally and externally.
• Managing CEO admin support to help prioritize and triage meeting requests, emails, and other communication.

Required Experience and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in business administration or similar field.
• 7 or more years in a business or executive management role in a corporate setting.
• Proven experience in a strategic leadership role, experience as the Chief of Staff to the CEO or other executive.
• Exceptional analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into actionable insights.
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust and influence at all levels of the organization.
• Strong project management and organizational skills, with a track record of driving cross-functional initiatives to completion.

At Blue River, we're passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. While we have more work to do to advance diversity and inclusion, we're investing in our programs, including recruiting, mentorship, career development, and learning & development to ensure they support our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals. We support each employee in living a full life, enabling a thriving career, and accomplishing a meaningful, challenging mission while collaborating with incredible people. We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align completely with the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway.

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, perform essential job functions, and receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.

The US annual base salary range for this position is $133,000 - $199,000, along with eligibility for Blue River's bonus and benefit programs.

Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process. During the recruitment process, we may identify an alternative role or level to which you are more suited. If your ideal role at Blue River differs from the advertised position, we will provide an updated pay range as soon as possible during the hiring process.