Chief of Staff: A guide to what they do and when to hire one

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“The Chief of Staff is in a really unique position to work across all levels, all roles within the executive team and sometimes even at board level or board committee level.” — Louisa Gregory, Former CoS

The Chief of Staff (CoS) role has quietly become one of the most leveraged hires for high-growth companies. Once thought of as a political aide reserved for government and large corporates, the CoS is now a common presence in scaling start-ups, venture-backed companies and even founder-led growth-stage businesses.

Why? Because as an organisation grows beyond 30–50 people, the CEO’s job changes. It becomes less about personally pushing priorities forward and more about ensuring the system itself works. A strong CoS is the glue between strategy and delivery, translating vision into coordinated execution, ensuring the right conversations happen at the right time and unblocking the inevitable friction that arises when work spans multiple functions.

What a Chief of Staff actually owns

At its best, the CoS role covers five broad areas:

• Priorities into plans: turn the top company priorities into owners, timelines and clear definitions of done
• Operating rhythm: run staff meetings, set quarterly goals, track follow-ups and prepare board materials so decisions happen on time with the right context
• Cross-functional execution: spot dependencies early, unblock teams and create a single source of truth for critical initiatives
• Decision leverage for the CEO: filter information, pre-digest options and trade-offs and protect the CEO’s focus time
• Special missions: take on high-impact ambiguous projects that do not sit neatly in a single function

In practice a CoS will often toggle between being a programme manager, strategic adviser, diplomat and firefighter, sometimes all in the same day.

How a CoS Differs from an EA, COO or PMO

One of the most common points of confusion is how a CoS differs from adjacent roles:

• EA (Executive Assistant): focuses on optimising the executive’s time, schedule and logistics. A CoS, by contrast, optimises the company’s priorities and execution
• COO (Chief Operating Officer): owns line functions and results, typically with a P&L. A CoS orchestrates across functions without necessarily owning direct outcomes
• PMO (Project Management Office): excels at project mechanics. A CoS blends programme management with strategy, organisational design and executive decision support

If the EA ensures the CEO shows up to the right meeting, the CoS ensures the meeting itself matters.

Signs you’re ready to hire one

Not every company needs a Chief of Staff but when the following signals show up, it’s time to consider the role:

• Important work lives in the cracks between teams and stalls unless the CEO personally pushes it
• Leadership meetings generate lots of updates but very few decisions
• Priorities shift faster than the operating system can absorb
• A major inflection point is looming, such as a fundraise, international launch or big product rollout
• The CEO wants to give functional leaders more autonomy without losing alignment

A useful heuristic: when the CEO’s calendar becomes the bottleneck for company progress, a CoS can unlock leverage.

The various faces of CoS

Different company stages call for different CoS archetypes. Some common patterns:

• ‍The Builder-Operator: early-stage generalist who can spin up lightweight finance, recruiting or ops before those functions mature‍
• The Programme Navigator: quarterback for complex cross-functional initiatives once the strategy is set but execution lags‍
• The Department Proxy: a credible stand-in who can stabilise or temporarily lead a function while running company-level priorities‍
• The Strategic Partner: a seasoned operator who represents the CEO with executives, the board and external stakeholders

The key is to match the CoS profile to your company’s stage and gaps, not to a generic job description.

When NOT to hire a CoS

A Chief of Staff is a force multiplier, not a silver bullet. Avoid hiring one if:

• You are still pre-product/market fit and the only priority is shipping product
• The role you wrote is actually a single-function job (for example 80% growth marketing). Hire the specialist first
• You want someone to work around weak executives instead of addressing performance gaps directly

What “Great” looks like in the first 90 days

The first three months should provide quick proof of value:

• ‍X-ray the business: map goals, metrics, org shape and recurring meetings. Identify the two or three biggest friction points‍
• Stabilise the cadence: redesign staff meetings for decisions, set company and functional goals and publish a decision log‍
• Ship a flagship initiative: choose one cross-functional project and drive it to done‍
• Create a single source of truth: dashboards, trackers or lightweight tools that make progress visible‍
• Codify working agreements: clarify who decides what, escalation paths and how to engage with the CoS

How to scope the role (and avoid common traps)

• Anchor to outcomes, not tasks. For example: “By Q2 launch our EU market: legal and ops readiness, first 50 customers, support SLAs — owner: CoS”
• Define authority levels. Be explicit: where can the CoS decide, where do they drive and where do they advise
• Give real access. Include them in leadership and board prep; information asymmetry kills the role
• Back them publicly. If the CEO routes around the CoS, so will everyone else
• Plan the runway. Top CoS talent is ambitious. Discuss what “graduation” looks like (owning a function or GM role) and rough timelines

Metrics to prove ROI

• Throughput: more cross-functional priorities reach done without CEO intervention
• Decision speed: time from issue raised to decision recorded shrinks
• Quality: fewer re-work loops and clearer ownership per initiative
• Focus reclaimed: CEO and exec hours shift from status updates to customers, product and talent
• Predictability: goals and roadmaps carry over quarter to quarter without constant reinvention

Hiring: Scorecard and Questions

Scorecard themes:

• Systems thinker who communicates plainly
• High trust, low ego; comfortable with ambiguity
• Track record of shipping cross-functional ambiguous work
• Exceptional writer (memos, decision docs, board prep)
• Strong judgement and discretion with sensitive topics

Interview prompts:

• “Tell me about a project that crossed three or more functions. Where did it almost fail and what did you change?”
• “Show me a decision memo you wrote. How did you frame options and risks?”
• “Describe a time you had to manage up and say no to the CEO”
• “What does a healthy operating cadence look like at our stage?”

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A Chief of Staff is the fastest way to add execution muscle without adding another layer of hierarchy. If your company’s biggest challenges live between teams, not within them, consider hiring one. But match the profile to your actual gaps, grant real authority and access and measure the role by outcomes not activity.

If you would like more advice on hiring a CoS or discuss how Talentedge can help you find the best Chief of Staff for your business get in touch with Chris Pestell at chris.pestell@talentedge.co.uk.

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