Chief of Staff and Head of External Affairs

About the Opportunity

The organization is building the future of sustainable lumber with next-generation sawmill technology. It designs and operates state-of-the-art modular sawmills that produce high-grade dimensional wood products with greater efficiency and less waste.

Key Responsibilities

• Advise the CEO on company strategy, organizational priorities, major decisions, and new market opportunities.
• Establish and manage the executive operating cadence, including leadership meetings, strategic planning, performance reviews, and follow-through on key decisions.
• Track progress against company priorities, identify execution risks and dependencies, and work with functional leaders to resolve them.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that require coordination across teams or new efforts that lack an existing organizational owner.
• Support organizational planning, including leadership hiring, headcount allocation, organizational design, and other priorities required to scale the company.
• Support the organization's growth pipeline from market evaluation through deployment, ensuring strategic, financial, operational, commercial, and external-affairs workstreams remain aligned.
• Manage relationships with investors and board members, including board materials, investor updates, meeting preparation, and follow-up.
• Support financing processes alongside the CEO, CFO, and CSO.
• Develop and maintain the organization's corporate narrative across investor materials, press, public statements, presentations, and stakeholder communications.
• Lead government relations at the state and local levels, including relationships with elected officials, regulators, public agencies, and economic development organizations.
• Support new mill deployments through government engagement, public incentives, community outreach, and local stakeholder relationships.
• Develop and manage strategic partnerships with industry organizations, trade groups, policy coalitions, timberland owners, and other key stakeholders.
• Identify regulatory, political, community, and reputational risks associated with expansion and develop plans to address them.
• Establish repeatable processes for investor relations, government engagement, communications, market entry, and deployment as the organization expands nationally.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in a role combining strategic operations/chief of staff work with government relations, public affairs, policy, or community engagement — startup, political, or high-growth operating environments strongly preferred.
• Track record of building relationships with government officials, regulators, or community stakeholders, ideally in natural resources, manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, or a similarly regulated/physical industry.
• Strong operating instincts: able to run a rigorous internal cadence, manage competing priorities, and drive projects to completion without heavy oversight.
• Excellent written and verbal communicator who can represent the organization credibly to a CEO, a board, a state legislator, and a rural community meeting.
• Bias toward action and comfort with ambiguity; the organization moves fast, and this role will often be defining its own playbook as it goes.
• Willingness to travel regularly to mill sites, including in Mississippi and other expansion markets.
• Genuine interest in domestic manufacturing, forestry, rural economic development, or the housing supply chain is a strong plus.

Location Requirements

Candidates must live or relocate to Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary will be determined based on your location and experience. The salary range expected for this role is 100,000 USD - 160,000 USD. The organization offers competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including:

• 100% employer-paid health coverage for employees and dependents (medical, dental, and vision).
• 100% employer-paid life insurance and disability coverage.
• Paid time off and company holidays.
• The opportunity to help build something from the ground up in an essential, evolving industry.

Join the team as the organization modernizes timber from forest to finished product.