Chief of Staff

Location: Onsite — Austin, TX

Employment Type: Direct Hire, Full Time

Job Title: Chief of Staff

About 9 Mothers

The modern battlefield has changed. Cheap, autonomous suicide drones have turned the tactical advantage upside down, and the world is looking for a solution. At 9 Mothers, we aren't just "innovating." We are building the shield.

Backed by top-tier investors, we develop AI-powered machines designed to intercept and neutralize Group 1/sUAS threats in real time. Our flagship product, Edda, is a low-cost, autonomous-capable point defense turret that detects and engages high-speed FPV drones at close range.

Why 9 Mothers?

While others build for "awareness" or "long-term research," we build for the immediate survival of those in harm's way. We are a team of hackers, engineers, and mission-driven builders who value field-ready capability over polished slide decks.

Position Summary

We are seeking a high-horsepower, mission-driven Chief of Staff to serve as the operational right hand and strategic force multiplier to our CEO.

This is not an Executive Assistant role. You will not be managing calendars, booking personal travel, or coordinating catering.

Instead, you will function as an embedded tactical operator and executive force multiplier. You will sit directly in the flow of operations to diagnose friction, deconstruct complex commercial and defense contracts, resolve partner bottlenecks, and keep multidisciplinary engineering sprints synchronized with critical milestones. You will take the CEO’s strategic vision and intent, translate it into structured execution, and own outcomes end-to-end.

Essential Duties

• 1. Strategic Operational Offloading & Problem Solving
• Intercept, deconstruct, and execute complex operational blockers before they reach the CEO's desk.
• Dissect commercial, vendor, and defense subcontract agreements (statements of work, milestones, invoicing terms, and deliverable schedules) to protect the company's financial and legal posture.
• Audit, trace, and resolve operational friction points—from supply chain procurement hold-ups to invoicing discrepancies and critical vendor deliverables.
• Conduct independent quantitative and qualitative analysis to present decision-ready frameworks, trade-offs, and clear recommendations directly to the CEO.
• 2. Cross-Functional Execution & Technical Alignment
• Bridge the gap between the CEO's strategic vision, commercial commitments, and the shop floor.
• Embed with hardware, software, and systems engineering teams to ensure daily sprint priorities map directly to contracted milestones without pulling the CEO into the weeds.
• Establish operating rhythms (cadences, issue trackers, milestone gates) that instill execution discipline without bureaucratic slowdown.
• 3. High-Stakes Partner Diplomacy & Stakeholder Management
• Represent the CEO in high-friction conversations with suppliers, integration partners, primes, and government counterparts.
• Exercise mature diplomacy and high emotional intelligence to resolve partner friction, de-escalate commercial tension, and preserve long-term strategic leverage.
• Draft critical high-signal communications, executive briefs, board materials, and partner memos in the CEO's voice.
• 4. Special Initiatives & 0-to-1 Builds
• Lead time-sensitive operational blitzes across facility build-outs, production scaling, tooling procurement, and compliance milestones.
• Automate manual processes across operations, finance, and reporting using modern AI and workflow tools to keep our core team lean and high-velocity.

Required Qualifications

• Direct Operational Experience: 4–8+ years of high-impact experience in hardware/defense startup operations, technical program management, management consulting (engagement/project lead), or as a military operations/executive officer (XO).
• Comfortable in Ambiguity: You do not wait for an SOP to be written. You diagnose the problem, scope the variables, build the framework, and execute.
• Contract & Commercial Fluency: You can read a statement of work or vendor agreement, immediately identify misaligned deliverable clauses, and trace billing/invoicing back to raw project data.
• Technical & Warfighter Literacy: You are comfortable working alongside elite hardware, firmware, and software engineers in a lab/shop environment. Defense technology, unmanned systems, or defense acquisition experience is a distinct advantage.
• Extreme Ownership & Composure: You thrive under high operational tempo, maintain a calm, authoritative presence under fire, and take pride in delivering unglamorous operational wins that allow the CEO to lead and engineers to build.
• Onsite Presence: 100% onsite in Austin, TX. You believe real hardware and defense capability are built shoulder-to-shoulder with the engineering and test teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience at an early-stage defense tech, aerospace, robotics, or complex hardware startup(s).
• Experience reviewing or executing government/commercial contracts (e.g., SBIR/STTR, OTAs, commercial subcontracts) and understanding deliverables/invoicing flows.
• Active U.S. Security Clearance (Secret or TS/SCI) or eligibility to obtain one.
• Technical or engineering degree (Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, Aerospace, or CS).

Benefits

• Meaningful Early Equity: You aren’t just an employee; you are a foundational owner. Your contributions directly drive the value of your stake in the company.
• Direct Roadmap Influence: Forget the bureaucracy of big defense. You will have a seat at the table, directly shaping our product and technology trajectory from day one.
• Mission-Critical Work: We don’t build for "what if." We build systems the Department of War actively needs to counter immediate, real-world threats.
• 100% Employer-Paid Premiums: We cover 100% of your medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums and cover 50% of healthcare premiums for your dependents.
• Unlimited PTO: We value results, not clock-watching. Take the time you need to stay sharp and recharge.
• Zero Red Tape: You report directly to the founders. You have the autonomy to make operational decisions that would take months of committee approval at a larger firm.
• Austin-Based Culture: Join an onsite team in Austin, TX, where we prioritize high-bandwidth collaboration and rapid field-testing.
• Relocation Assistance: We want the best talent in the room. If you aren’t in Austin yet, we'll help you get here, to make your transition to the Silicon Hills seamless.

About the Interview

• Initial screening with recruiter – 30 min phone call
• Virtual interview with co-founder / COO – 45 min via MS Teams
• Onsite interview in Austin with co-founders / COO and CEO