Chief of Staff (Technology) in Leeds

Location: Leeds HQ (office-based, with significant potential for external travel)

Type: Full-time

Do you want to work with the 15th fastest-growing startup in Europe? If so, you’re in the right place. AssetCool is one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, building the fastest path to more power on the grid. We’re tackling one of the most urgent challenges in the global energy transition: grid congestion. Electricity demand is rising fast; driven by electrification, AI and data centres. While traditional grid upgrades take years, demand exists today. The grid isn’t ready.

AssetCool delivers robotic grid upgrades that physically increase the capacity of existing transmission lines by up to 30%, without rebuilding infrastructure. Using advanced robotics and proprietary photonic coatings, we unlock data-centre-scale capacity in weeks to months, not years and at a fraction of the cost and disruption of conventional approaches. Our technology goes beyond capacity. We reduce losses, prevent corrosion, cut corona noise and generate high-value operational data that supports smarter grid operation and maintenance. Our systems are already deployed globally, and we just raised a big funding round from leading energy and climate investors. AssetCool is one of the most innovation-driven companies in the UK energy sector and we’re scaling fast! If you’re ambitious, mission-driven and excited to work on real deployments that strengthen the industry that really matters, AssetCool is where you can make it happen.

Role Overview

AssetCool is in an intense period of growth with an active funding round, a fast-expanding commercial pipeline, and a deep R&D programme spanning parts, chemistry, robotics, software and drones. We’re looking for a Chief of Staff to curate all of this and help the leadership team roll out frontier technology against an ambitious commercial and technical vision. This is a senior, strategic role rather than an executive support function. Instead, you’ll work as a close partner to the CEO: turning his priorities into clear plans with owners and deadlines, leading important projects that cut across teams, preparing him for board and investor conversations, and helping the leadership team make sharper, faster decisions. It will suit someone with a strong, high-agency personality who can build trust, challenge constructively, and get traction across technical and commercial departments. You’ll be given delegated authority on specific initiatives where it’s needed to keep things moving - for example, sorting out blockers between parts, chemistry, robotics, engineering and commercial teams - but this is a coordination and execution role, not a line management one.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as a close working partner to the CEO, converting his priorities into structured plans with clear owners, timelines and follow-up.
• Lead time-critical, cross-functional management that span parts, chemistry, robotics, engineering, commercial, operations and R&D, where ownership doesn’t naturally sit with one team.
• Coordinate fundraising activity and broader investor relationship management, including board and investor deck preparation, data room ownership, diligence follow-up, investor updates and board meeting preparation.
• Take ownership of specific friction points between teams – for example, between engineering leads or across R&D workstreams - with delegated authority to bring the right people together and get to a resolution, on a project-by-project basis.
• Prepare briefing materials, agendas and decision papers for leadership meetings, ensuring discussions end with clear decisions and accountable owners.
• Build lightweight operating rhythms (planning cycles, KPI reviews, regular leadership check-ins) that help the business scale without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Act as a sounding board for the CEO on strategic and commercial decisions, bringing structured thinking and an outside perspective to big calls.

Required Skills & Experience

• Expert, demonstrable experience in a high-growth company, ideally venture-backed or private equity-backed, in a Chief of Staff, strategy consulting, or senior startup operations role with direct exposure to a CEO or founder.
• Demonstrable experience leading complex, cross-functional projects with multiple stakeholders and no single natural owner, especially where technical, operational and commercial teams need to move together quickly.
• Experience coordinating fundraising activity, board reporting, investor relations and investor materials – whether in-house or via an advisory/consulting capacity.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, with the ability to take complex, messy information and turn it into clear recommendations for a CEO and leadership team.
• High comfort with things that aren’t fully figured out yet – able to build just enough structure to keep the business moving without adding unnecessary process.
• Strong relationship-building skills and a confident, resilient communication style, with the credibility to win over senior technical and commercial leaders without formal authority over them.
• Good business judgement and comfortable working with data to frame trade-offs and inform decisions.
• Productive, practical use of AI tools to improve analysis, coordination, communication and leadership-level operating cadence.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Experience in a deep-tech, hardware, robotics or engineering-led business, or another sector with comparably technical R&D operations.
• Background in similar positions, management consulting or a similarly rigorous, analytically-driven environment.
• Direct experience working through a funding round (equity or debt).
• Prior experience operating at a similar company stage (post-Series A, scaling fast, building out core operating processes for the first time).
• Experience operating in a venture-backed, private equity-backed, deep-tech or similarly high-growth environment.

Why Join AssetCool?

• Work directly with the CEO on an ambitious vision to roll out frontier technology across the power grid.
• Join a rapidly growing business developing advanced robotics, coatings, chemistry and data-led grid technology.
• Operate at the centre of a high-growth company with real deployments, major investors and board-level exposure.
• Competitive salary, office-based collaboration at AssetCool’s Leeds HQ, and significant potential for external travel.

Research shows that some candidates may hesitate to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. If this role excites you but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we still encourage you to apply. You might be exactly who we're looking for, either for this role or another opportunity within our team.

We’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. We’re committed to building an inclusive, supportive workplace where everyone can thrive, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. If you have a disability or any specific requirements and need adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process, just let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate your needs.