Chief of Staff

About Altara

Altara is creating a scientific intelligence platform for the physical world, aimed at speeding up breakthroughs across semiconductors, batteries, advanced materials, aerospace, and related fields. These sectors account for enormous global spending, yet much of their work still depends on outdated software. The company is building the intelligence layer that helps scientists and engineers work faster across research and development through manufacturing.

Altara sees a rare opportunity to build a category-defining company at the intersection of AI and the physical sciences, and is assembling a top-tier team to make that happen. The company recently closed a seed round led by Greylock, with support from Neo, BoxGroup, Liquid 2, and several notable angels, including Jeff Dean and leaders from OpenAI and AMD. The team includes people from Applied Intuition, SpaceX, Warp, Jane Street, and Microsoft, and works together in person in San Francisco near the 4th and King Caltrain station.

Role Overview

As Chief of Staff, you will act as a force multiplier for the founders and broader leadership group. In this highly strategic, early-stage role, you will help with everything from early product direction to preparing for critical sales conversations. The position is built for someone who thrives in ambiguity, operates with a strong sense of urgency, and wants to help shape the foundation of a company with long-term potential.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and deploy internal AI agents and automated workflows that streamline and speed up operational work across the company.
• Create the early operating systems for major parts of the business, including product launches, recruiting, and go-to-market growth.
• Lead special projects from start to finish, balancing strategic research with hands-on execution needed to support scale.
• Work directly with the founders on the company’s most important initiatives and serve as a strategic partner and executive stand-in across functions.

What We’re Looking For

• Someone who enjoys making the people around them more effective and is ready to handle tasks of any size.
• Comfort in fast-moving, loosely defined environments where priorities and requirements can change quickly.
• Regular use of AI tools, strong curiosity about their limits, and enough technical comfort to build agents for operational automation, even without being a software engineer.
• A bias for learning, decisive action, and taking complete ownership of problems from beginning to end.

Bonus Background

• Prior experience at an early-stage startup, founding a company, or planning to start one in the future.
• Experience in business operations, management consulting, investing, or another startup operator role.
• Exposure to science or a strong interest in learning more about it.

Additional Information

This role is based in San Francisco and is intended for in-person work. The office is located within walking distance of the 4th and King Caltrain station.

Learn More

The source mentions additional company materials such as a video, a blog post, and a TechCrunch feature, along with social profiles on LinkedIn and X.