Director, Chief of Staff, Office of the CTO

Job Summary
The Chief of Staff, Office of the CTO serves as a strategic and operational partner to the Chief Technology Officer, increasing the CTO’s capacity to lead a complex technology organization and associated business responsibilities. This is a director level position reporting directly to the CTO.
This role operates at the intersection of technology, engineering, program execution, business operations, and strategy. The Chief of Staff prepares the CTO for key decisions and engagements, coordinates priorities across the organization, manages executive-level actions and operating rhythms, and translates complex technical and business information into clear, decision-ready materials.
The successful candidate does not need to be the organization’s deepest technical expert. Rather, this individual must possess sufficient technical fluency to work effectively with engineers and technical leaders, understand the business implications of technical issues, ask informed questions, and synthesize complex information for executive decision-making.
The role requires exceptional judgment, discretion, executive communication skills, business acumen, and the ability to drive results across an organization through influence rather than direct authority.
Responsiblities and Tasks

Serve as a trusted strategic and operational advisor to the CTO, helping prioritize issues, commitments, decisions, and organizational focus.
Prepare the CTO for executive, customer, supplier, program, and technical meetings by developing briefing materials, background information, talking points, decision packages, and presentations.
Gather and synthesize complex technical, programmatic, financial, and business information into concise executive-level recommendations and communications.
Coordinate preparation for major technical and business reviews, working with engineering, program, finance, operations, business development, supply chain, and other functional organizations.
Manage and support the operating rhythm of the Office of the CTO, including staff meetings, business reviews, strategic planning activities, action tracking, and follow-through.
Support development and management of CTO budgets, forecasts, capital investments, technology investments, and other financial planning activities.
Assist the CTO with business and P&L-related analysis, including understanding the impact of technical and program decisions on cost, schedule, revenue, margin, customer commitments, and strategic objectives.
Track key decisions, commitments, risks, actions, and strategic initiatives and drive cross-functional activities to closure.
Develop executive-level presentations and communications for senior leadership, customers, technical reviews, and other key stakeholders.
Coordinate special projects and strategic initiatives requiring cross-functional participation or direct CTO oversight.
Partner closely with technical leaders and subject matter experts to ensure the CTO has the appropriate technical context and analysis required for decision-making.
Support customer and supplier engagements by coordinating preparation, consolidating technical and business information, and documenting decisions and follow-up actions.
Identify issues requiring CTO attention and distinguish between matters that can be resolved within the organization and those requiring executive intervention.
Handle sensitive, proprietary, and executive-level information with appropriate discretion.

Knowledge (Education/License/Certification, Prior Experience)

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, program management, finance, or a related field.
Significant professional experience within aerospace, defense, advanced manufacturing, engineering, technology, or another complex technical environment.
Demonstrated experience supporting or working directly with senior executives and cross-functional leadership teams.
Strong understanding of business operations, financial management, budgeting, forecasting, and organizational performance.
Working knowledge of engineering and technical development environments sufficient to understand technical discussions and translate their implications for executive audiences.
Demonstrated ability to synthesize large amounts of complex information into concise, decision-oriented executive materials.
Strong written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to manage multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to influence and drive accountability across organizational boundaries without relying on direct reporting authority.
Strong judgment, discretion, organizational awareness, and ability to work with confidential or sensitive information.
Demonstrated ability to independently identify issues, gather relevant information, engage appropriate subject matter experts, and drive matters toward resolution.
Experience within the U.S. aerospace and defense industry.
Experience in program management, engineering operations, technical program management, strategy, business operations, or a similar cross-functional leadership role.
Experience supporting an executive responsible for both a technical organization and business/P&L performance.
Familiarity with defense acquisition, government customers, major defense programs, and customer/supplier technical engagements.
Experience with engineering development programs and formal technical or program reviews.
Experience developing executive, customer, or board-level presentations and decision materials.
Understanding of program financials, cost and schedule performance, capital planning, investment prioritization, and business forecasting.
Experience coordinating complex initiatives involving engineering, programs, operations, finance, business development, and supply chain.
Graduate degree in engineering, business administration, program management, or a related discipline.

Skills and Abilities

Strong proficiency with Microsoft 365 applications, particularly PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, and Copilot.
Advanced ability to develop concise, executive-quality presentations from complex technical and business information.
Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret financial, programmatic, operational, and technical data.
Working knowledge of engineering development processes, systems engineering concepts, technical reviews, risk management, and program execution.
Ability to quickly develop working knowledge of unfamiliar technologies and technical subject areas.
Ability to understand and communicate relationships among technical performance, cost, schedule, program risk, customer commitments, and business performance.
Familiarity with enterprise business intelligence, program management, engineering, and collaboration systems.
Experience using modern digital and AI-enabled productivity tools to research, analyze, synthesize, and communicate information is preferred.

Travel Requirements

25% travel

#LI-TS1