Eng Operations and Chief of Staff to the CTO

Ann Arbor, MI (Hybrid)
The Role

We're looking for someone to be the operational center of gravity for our engineering organization.

This is a blended role. Part of it (about 10%) is classic executive support: calendar, travel, inbox triage, meeting logistics, expenses, and the steady work of protecting a leader's time and attention. Part of it is chief of staff work (about 30%): preparing for meetings that matter, tracking the commitments made in them, chasing the decisions that are stalling, and being a trusted second read on what's actually going on. And part of it is program management for engineering (60%): keeping initiatives visible, running the operating cadence, wrangling tickets and making sure things that were agreed to in a planning meeting still exist three weeks later.

What makes this role demanding is the technical context. You don't need to write code, and we're not asking you to. But you will be scheduling around incident response, taking notes in architecture discussions, tracking a compliance audit, and summarizing an engineering status for the exec team.

We're also an AI-forward company, and this role should reflect that. A lot of what has historically made this job heavy - drafting, summarizing, reformatting, chasing status - is work that modern tooling handles well. We'd like you to lean on it aggressively so your time goes to judgment and relationships instead of transcription.

This role is based in Ann Arbor. Nametag is remote-first overall, but this position works closely enough with our CTO that we want you local, in the office together at least one day a week.
What You'll Do

Engineering program management

Run the engineering operating cadence - planning, status, retrospectives - so that it happens consistently and produces something useful. Track initiatives across teams: what's in flight, what's blocked, what's at risk, and who owes what to whom. Coordinate the cross-functional work that has no natural owner, including compliance evidence collection, audit preparation, and recruiting logistics. Maintain the internal documentation and trackers that keep engineering legible to the rest of the company.

Chief of staff work

Capture decisions and action items, then follow them to completion. A decision nobody tracked is a decision that didn't happen. Prepare briefing material and summaries for internal reviews, board-adjacent material, and cross-functional meetings. Be an early, discreet sounding board. You'll have visibility into sensitive personnel, compensation, and strategic matters, and handling that well is a core requirement. Notice what's being dropped across the organization and raise it before it becomes a problem.

Executive support

Own the CTO's calendar, making real prioritization decisions rather than just finding open slots. Manage travel, expenses, and the logistics of offsites and team gatherings. Triage inbound requests, route what can be routed, and surface what genuinely needs the CTO. Prepare for meetings in advance: agenda, context, prior commitments, and what a good outcome looks like.

Work AI-forward

Use AI tooling routinely for drafting, summarizing, meeting notes, and status synthesis. Build repeatable workflows rather than doing the same manual assembly every week. Keep judgment and accuracy yours. The tools draft; you decide what's true and what goes out.
What We're Looking For

Based in or near Ann Arbor, Michigan, and able to be in the office at least one day per week.

You do not need to match every bullet. We care most about organization, judgment, and comfort around technical work.

• 3+ years in executive support, chief of staff, program or project management, or business operations - ideally some combination.
• Exceptional organization and follow-through. You track commitments without being asked to, and things do not fall through you.
• Comfort with technical subject matter. You can sit in an engineering discussion, follow it, take notes that are actually useful, and summarize it accurately for a non-technical audience.
• Strong written communication. Much of this role is producing clear, brief written material under time pressure.
• Sound judgment about confidentiality. You'll handle personnel, compensation, and security-sensitive information routinely.
• Comfort with startup ambiguity - shifting priorities, undefined processes, and problems that are yours because you noticed them.
• Fluency with modern software tooling and a genuine appetite for using AI assistance in daily work.

Bonus Points

• Experience supporting a technical executive - CTO, VP Engineering, or similar.
• Experience in a software or security company.
• Program or project management experience with engineering teams specifically.
• Experience with compliance or audit coordination, such as SOC 2.
• Recruiting coordination experience.
• Experience building internal process or documentation from scratch rather than inheriting it.

What We Value

• High ownership. You see what needs doing and do it.
• Technical judgment. You make systems simpler, safer, and easier to operate.
• Speed with care. We move quickly because attackers move quickly, but we do not cut corners on trust or security.
• Kindness and integrity. Trust starts with how we work with each other.

Compensation

Nametag is a founding member of the Open Imperative and is committed to pay equity in technology. Final compensation is based on role, level, skills, experience, and education. Your recruiter or hiring manager can share more during the process.
Culture and Benefits

Nametag is a remote-first team with regular in-person time to stay connected.Nametag is a remote-first team with regular in-person time to stay connected. This role is the local exception - Ann Arbor based, in office at least weekly.

• Quarterly team offsites
• Flexible schedules
• Meaningful equity ownership
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
• Flexible paid time off
• New computer hardware and equipment