Chief of Staff

About the Company:

AIO is the AI-native operating system for modern restaurants. AIO unifies everything in one place - POS, payroll, scheduling, accounting, marketing campaigns, inventory, and purchasing - so teams can run smarter, faster, and more profitably with a single, intelligent platform.

This is a chance to build for a massive, fragmented, $1T+ annual industry alongside founder/CEO Alex Hult, a restaurateur who has spent 15+ years scaling hospitality concepts to $50M+ in revenue, and founder/CTO Zia Hasnain, a technologist with 25+ years of experience building hardware, software, and AI at scale (Motorola, Nvidia). Early pilots in the Bay Area are already seeing what happens when everything lives in one place: admin hours instantly saved every week, better customer support than legacy vendors, and margin gains in a razor-thin industry from using AI and automation in inventory and payroll.

Backed by Sound Ventures (Ashton Kutcher's Fund), Rebellion Ventures (Jukka Alanen), Cambrian VC (Rex Salisbury) and c-suite angels like Keith Cox (Opentable), David Faugno (1password), Mark Anderson (Cloudflare) and Doug Merritt (Splunk).

AIO is on a mission to redefine how restaurant technology works. We're a customer and execution-obsessed team building AI that actually understands restaurants.

About the Role:

As our first Chief of Staff, you'll be the right hand to our CEO, turning big, messy problems into clear plans and better decisions. You'll step into many of his day-to-day responsibilities — from prioritizing what matters most to unblocking teams — so they can move faster and focus on the highest-leverage work. Together, you'll meet daily to tackle the key issues facing AIO, find new ways to improve how we operate, and spot opportunities to grow the business. The CEO will be able to make better, faster decisions thanks to the work done by this role.

You'll be the “connective tissue” of the company: linking leadership to the rest of the organization, closing communication gaps, and making sure people, functions, and projects are all rowing in the same direction. It's a high-impact role that gives you a front-row seat to what it takes to build a world-class SaaS business and sharpens your executive mindset in the process. Success in this role is a launching pad for leadership opportunities across the company - and your career.

If you are unfamiliar with the role, please read Why You Need Two Chiefs in the Executive Office (https://review.firstround.com/why-you-need-two-chiefs-in-the-executive-office). We know the Chief of Staff role is broad and varies from company to company. For this role, we are looking for someone mid-career, director-level position for someone with 5+ years of professional experience who's excited to operate across GTM, strategy, and operations.

This role will be based in our San Jose office, and report directly to the CEO.

What will be your responsibilities?

• Be a Force Multiplier for the CEO: Help manage priorities, prep them for key meetings, and ensure their time is spent on the most important, high-leverage work across the company.

• Run Special Projects: Lead the cross-functional initiatives that matter most to the leadership team. Turn ideas into clear plans, drive them to completion, and keep everyone honest on progress in weekly check-ins.

• Own Company OKRs & Success Metrics: Partner with the leadership team and department heads to define quarterly OKRs, track results, and communicate progress so everyone knows what “great” looks like and whether we're on track.

• Run Company-Wide Cadence: Help prepare for and run all-hands and other company-wide meetings so the team stays informed, focused, and connected to our strategy and priorities.

• Lead People & Org Initiatives: Partner with Leadership and People Ops on high-impact people projects — from recruiting and org design to employee engagement — to ensure our structure and culture scale with the business.

• Own Internal Communications & Storytelling: Drive our internal communication strategy — including town halls, quarterly strategic messages, and updates on major initiatives — so everyone understands where we're going and why.

• Drive High-Output Leadership Meetings: Set agendas, guide discussions, ensure decisions are made, and drive follow-ups so leadership meetings consistently move the business forward.

What are we looking for, and what does it require to be the right fit for this role?

• 5+ years of progressive experience in business operations, management consulting, investment banking, or similar high-analytical roles — we care more about strong general business skills and systems thinking than an exact year count.

• Experience leading projects end-to-end: setting goals, driving cross-functional alignment, and seeing work through to successful completion.

• AI fluent with demonstrated ability to articulate how AI has impacted teams - and how to incorporate it into operations

• Someone who thrives in a fast-paced, results-driven, constantly changing environment and can juggle multiple priorities without dropping the ball.
  Someone who is an exceptional communicator and leader — a good listener who can be both empathetic and pragmatic depending on what the situation calls for.

• Someone with strong interpersonal skills and a knack for building productive collaboration and consensus across different teams and levels.

• Someone who is a clear-headed problem solver, comfortable working with imperfect information, and able to make sound decisions under pressure.

• Basic HR expertise

• Administrative task management

Why Join AIO?

Our mission is to revolutionize the US restaurant industry by providing a comprehensive and fully integrated solution that empowers restaurant owners to efficiently manage all aspects of their businesses. Our platform, designed to meet the unique challenges (post-COVID-19) faced by restaurants, combines our patented AI technology with unparalleled customer support to help owners increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve their overall profit margins.

We believe that restaurants should be able to focus on delivering exceptional dining experiences to their customers, without the added stress of managing complex and disparate systems. That's why we offer an All-In-One super app platform for all of their needs, from front-of-the-house operations like ordering, payment, marketing, and rewards, to back-of-the-house management like inventory, staff, and financials.

We are laser-focused on becoming a significant player in the $55 billion restaurant tech SaaS market. You will be a part of a world-class Silicon Valley-funded startup.