Chief of Staff, Manufacturing

CHAOS Industries is redefining modern defense with a multi-product portfolio that gives the ultimate advantage—domain dominance. The company's products are powered by Coherent Distributed Networks (CDN™), empowering warfighters, commercial air operators, and border protection teams to act faster, adapt rapidly, and stay ahead of evolving threats. Founded in 2022, CHAOS Industries has raised $1 billion in funding from leading investors, including 8VC, Accel, and Valor Equity Partners, and is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, and London.

About the role

As CHAOS Industries scales production of advanced defense systems, manufacturing execution becomes a critical competitive advantage. We are seeking a Chief of Staff, Manufacturing to serve as a force multiplier for our manufacturing organization—driving strategic initiatives, solving complex operational challenges, and ensuring critical priorities translate into measurable outcomes. This role works closely with Manufacturing Leadership, Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, Finance, and Program Management to lead high-impact projects that improve throughput, enable scale, and strengthen operational performance.

This is a builder’s role: you will identify bottlenecks, develop solutions, and drive execution in areas that do not neatly fit within existing organizational boundaries. The ideal candidate combines structured thinking and analytical rigor with an ownership mindset and bias for action. This is a 0-to-1 role where you will stand up structure, own cross-functional work, and act as connective tissue across a leadership team still being built. High performers may move into manufacturing leadership seats as the organization scales.

Responsibilities

• Establish and run the manufacturing operating rhythm—performance reviews, operating mechanisms, and decision forums that create accountability across functions.
• Own cross-functional work that does not yet have a clear home: identify bottlenecks, run root-cause analyses, drive issues to closure, and stand up the structure to keep them closed.
• Build executive-level analyses, business cases, and decision-support materials that inform strategic and operational decisions.
• Develop the metrics backbone—throughput, quality, labor, capacity, and on-time delivery reporting—into a single operating picture leadership can run on.
• Support capacity planning, facility expansion, and production ramp efforts as a hands-on project owner.
• Lead special, high-priority initiatives on behalf of manufacturing leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 7+ years of experience spanning both a strategy/consulting environment and an operating role where you owned execution and results (manufacturing, industrial, or operations).
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from problem definition through implementation.
• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving capabilities.
• Experience developing executive-level presentations, analyses, and recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Proven ability to drive outcomes through influence rather than positional authority; this role leads cross-functional work without direct reports.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and project leadership skills.
• U.S. citizenship is required: this role accesses export-controlled information and requires a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secret security clearance—current, or the ability to obtain and maintain one.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a top-tier consulting firm such as McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, Oliver Wyman, LEK, or Accenture Strategy.
• Experience supporting manufacturing, industrial, supply chain, aerospace, defense, or other operationally intensive organizations.
• Experience leading operational excellence, business transformation, production scaling, or organizational effectiveness initiatives.
• Familiarity with manufacturing operations, production systems, supply chain management, or industrial engineering principles.
• Experience working directly with senior executives and leadership teams.
• Active U.S. Department of Defense Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company.
• 401k with 50% company match up to 6% of pay.
• FSA and HSA options.
• Life insurance.
• Free daily lunch.
• ‘No meeting Fridays’ and unlimited PTO.
• Casual dress code.
• Competitive base salaries and generous pre-IPO stock option grants.
• Relocation assistance.
• Annual bonuses (coming soon).

Pay

The salary range for this role is $150,000 - $220,000. This range reflects base compensation only and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. Actual salary may vary based on work experience, education, critical skills, and business considerations.