Role Summary

Most operators wait for institutions to be built before joining them. A rare few help build them.

We are building A2L - India's first BFSI-focused postgraduate institution — in Mumbai, co-built with senior Indian finance CEOs and practitioners. Engineered to produce modern finance professionals across Investments, IB, Markets, Risk, and Fintech. An institution designed to define a category, not compete in one.

We are in our founding phase. The ideas are sharp, the leadership team is forming, and the execution window is now. We are looking for a Chief of Staff to sit at the centre of it all.

This is not a coordination role. This is not a glorified EA or a project tracker.

You will be the operating nerve of the founder's office — translating vision into decisions, decisions into action, and action into outcomes. You will run the operating rhythm of the organisation, own the cross-functional connective tissue, and ensure that what the founder commits to, the organisation delivers.

A dedicated team across Academics, Content, Community, and Industry Relations will run their respective mandates. Your job is to make sure everything moves together — with clarity, pace, and zero ambiguity.

You will be part of the institution's founding leadership team.

Key Responsibilities

Own the founder's operating system — priorities, decisions, commitments, and follow-through across all workstreams.
Build and run the institution's internal cadence — weekly reviews, milestone tracking, cross-team alignment, and escalation management.
Translate high-level strategic intent into structured execution plans that teams can act on without hand-holding.
Serve as the primary interface between the founder and all internal and external stakeholders — filtering, synthesising, and preparing the founder for every high-stakes interaction.
Drive key initiatives directly when they don't yet have an owner — from fundraise preparation to partnership outreach to product launches.
Build institutional memory — ensure critical decisions, rationale, and learnings are documented and accessible.
Identify gaps in execution before they become problems; bring solutions, not status updates.
Manage a lean Founder's Office team and create leverage for the founder's time and attention.
Partner with the fractional COO on operational infrastructure and with department heads on cross-functional dependencies.

Ideal Candidate Profile

5–8 years of experience in consulting, investment banking, VC/PE operations, or a high-growth startup — with a track record of getting things done in ambiguous environments.
Graduate from a top-tier Indian or global institution.
Sharp strategic thinker who operates with a bias for execution — comfortable switching between 30,000-foot framing and ground-level follow-through.
Exceptional communicator — written, verbal, and visual. You represent the founder; quality is non-negotiable.
Genuinely organised. Not theoretically organised. The kind of person who has already built systems for how they think.
High ownership, low ego. You do not need credit. You need outcomes.
Deep interest in institution-building, education, or finance — ideally all three.

If running the operating core of a category-defining institution sounds like the right problem for you — we should talk