SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 165,000 - 200,000 / annual
Zeno Power is a deep-tech startup developing nuclear batteries—compact power systems that harness radioisotope heat to provide reliable, clean energy in frontier environments. These systems power critical missions on Earth, in space, and at sea, with commercial launch targeted for 2027.
The Chief of Staff will work directly alongside the CEO and leadership team to drive operational excellence, support business development, and scale the company through its next growth phase. This is a high-impact, broad-exposure role spanning strategy, partnerships, and organizational operations.
Key responsibilities include:
• Serve as an extension of the CEO, driving clarity and execution on priorities; produce substantive post-meeting deliverables such as tailored two-pagers, client-specific decks, and briefings.
• Build and run the internal operating rhythm: design and refine weekly leadership meetings, quarterly strategy/OKR processes, and cross-functional accountability cadences; track outcomes and follow-ups without direct people management.
• Lead special projects with high ownership from zero-to-one, such as analyzing and validating new business lines, developing market sizing, customer mapping, feasibility assessments, and go/no-go business cases for alternative isotope or adjacent opportunities.
• Support investor relations and capital readiness: contribute to board materials, orchestrate fundraise data rooms, coordinate diligence responses, and ensure timely, accurate information flow; prioritize investor outreach and inbound coordination for the CEO.
• Develop and use financial and operating metrics to identify trends, assess tradeoffs, and provide forward-looking recommendations to executive leadership.
• Conduct targeted market and competitor assessments tied to near-term decisions (defense, space, government programs), producing concise, decision-ready briefs.
• Partner with internal communications on executive communications, memos, and presentations that synthesize technical and commercial inputs for external stakeholders (DoD, NASA, Space Force, Navy, partners, investors) and internal audiences.
The role requires in-office presence in Washington, DC (Mt. Vernon/Chinatown area) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; remote work is optional on Mondays and Fridays. Exceptional Seattle candidates will be considered with an expectation of at least one week per month in DC. Travel of 15–20% is required.
Requirements:
• 5–8+ years of relevant experience in defense, space, hardware, robotics, or adjacent deep-tech environments; growth-stage startup experience strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience engaging with government customers or programs (DoD, Space Force, NASA, Navy) and familiarity with government contracting processes; prior business development, strategy, or operations work interfacing with federal stakeholders is a plus.
• Strong operator with bias to action: able to independently scope ambiguous problems, drive research, synthesize insights, and produce executive-ready outputs quickly.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to translate complex technical and regulatory topics into clear, actionable materials.
• Process builder who has implemented OKRs/KPIs and cross-functional operating rhythms; comfortable driving accountability without direct people management.
• High emotional intelligence, discretion, and stakeholder management across senior leaders and technical teams.
• Mission-aligned with Zeno's government-facing, hardware/deep-tech realities; energized by remote power applications and national programs.
• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree a plus.
