Maxima — Chief of Staff

Type: Full-time | On-site (5 days/week) | San Mateo, CA Compensation: $110,000–$150,000 + competitive equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: None available Reports to: VP of Product and Post-Sales

About Maxima

Maxima builds agentic accounting software for enterprises. It is a Series A company that has raised $41M and grown to roughly 55 people across engineering, sales, post-sales, and go-to-market, with zero engineering attrition since founding. The company is in a heavy growth phase, investing in its go-to-market motion and enterprise sales.

Founded: 2024 | Team size: ~55 | Total funding: $41M Industry: AI Tools / Agentic Accounting Website: maxima.ai Office: San Mateo, CA

Why Candidates Should Join

• Direct line to leadership: You are a direct extension of the VP of Product and Post-Sales, taking on the full range of work she can't get to and enabling her to operate at 10x capacity.
• Enormous, expanding scope: One seat spanning recruiting coordination, post-sales process building, executive calendar, KPI dashboards, board decks, and outbound prospecting — no playbook, and the complexity grows as enterprise sales scales.
• Strong momentum and team signal: Series A, $41M raised, agentic accounting for enterprises, and zero engineering attrition since founding.
• In-office perks: Company-covered individual medical, FSA, 401k, lunch and dinner in office, competitive equity.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake transcript was provided on the role page. An intake video exists but its contents are not captured here.

The Role

A high-ownership generalist role that functions as a direct extension of the VP of Product and Post-Sales. There is no playbook, and the complexity of the work will grow significantly as the company scales its enterprise sales motion.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the end-to-end recruiting coordination process: take first-round candidate calls, manage the interview pipeline, and build a repeatable hiring process across teams
• Build and improve post-sales processes, including QBR frameworks, upsell tracking, G2 review programs, and customer success documentation
• Manage and protect a complex executive calendar, proactively resolving conflicts and prioritizing time across internal and external commitments
• Drive visibility into KPIs across sales, product, and bugs by building and maintaining internal dashboards and tracking systems
• Prepare board decks, all-hands presentations, product status updates, and other high-stakes internal communications
• Support outbound prospecting experiments on LinkedIn and other channels, producing content and testing what drives pipeline

Tech stack: N/A — generalist operations role

Requirements

• 1 to 4 years experience, startup or generalist operations
• High-agency operator, no playbook provided
• Strong verbal and written communication, customer and candidate facing
• San Mateo in-person 5 days per week
• Prior startup, banking, consulting, or PM background preferred

Green Flags

• Prior startup operations or founder's associate experience
• Genuine hunger to break into startups from a strong academic or early-career background
• Demonstrated ability to sell or persuade in any context
• High IQ and EQ, visible through clear communication and self-awareness
• Degree from a competitive academic program as a signal of work ethic and hustle
• Experience with outbound prospecting, LinkedIn content, or customer-facing sales workflows

Red Flags

• Expectation of structured, strategy-focused work
• Needs a defined scope or direction to operate
• Not open to or available for full-time in-person work in San Mateo
• Visa sponsorship requirement

Role Details

• Salary — $110,000–$150,000
• Equity — Competitive equity
• On-site policy — In-person, San Mateo office, 5 days/week (occasional remote flexibility)
• Visa sponsorship — None available
• Employment type — Full-time
• Location — San Mateo, CA

Screening Questions

• None provided by Contrario on the role page.

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidate awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Initial get-to-know-you call — Assess personality, communication style, and cultural fit. Stage 3 — A selling or customer-facing conversation — Evaluate ability to hold a confident, persuasive conversation with a candidate or prospect. Stage 4 — A case study — Assess structured thinking and ability to work through an operational or business problem. Stage 5 — On-site interview — In-person evaluation at the San Mateo office. Stage 6 — Final interviews with the CEO and other co-founder — Founder-level alignment and approval. Stage 7 — Reference ChecksStage 8 — Offer ExtendedStage 9 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Benefits & Perks

• Company-covered medical insurance (individual)
• FSA available
• 401k (employee-contributed)
• Lunch and dinner in office
• Competitive equity