Chief of Staff to COO, Business Operations Lead

About This Role

About Hike Medical

Hike Medical is reinventing musculoskeletal care, starting with feet. Our proprietary AI\-vision platform turns a 30\-second web\-based (no sensors) foot scan into precision\-engineered, 3D\-printed insoles that prevent pain before it starts. We're already protecting on\-their\-feet workforces at Fortune 50 leaders, major health systems, and middle America manufacturers.

Fresh off a stealthy round with top\-tier VCs, we run a fast, no\-BS, execution\-first culture out of Boston's Seaport as we sprint toward $100M ARR and standing with 10M Americans as they step into their shoes daily.

• First and only PDAC\-approved 3D\-printed custom insole in the world
• 3 proprietary AI models that power the experience
• Two products: one for employers \& health plans, one for clinics — creating a virtuous cycle of clinician\-labeled data
• Expanded care access to 100,000\+ Americans to date

The Opportunity

You'll be the strategic and operational right hand to the founding team, reporting directly to the COO — sitting at the intersection of planning, metrics\-driven accountability, and large\-scale execution. This role is for a strategy and operations athlete who moves fluidly between building the framework and getting their hands dirty to ship it.

The role spans four critical functions: running the company's management cadence, driving performance culture through data and truth\-telling, program\-managing major operational rollouts, and owning select partnership relationships. If you've ever been the person in the room who sees the system everyone else is inside of — this is your seat.

This role is perfect for someone who is

• Energized by operational rigor and the challenge of scaling a hardware\-meets\-software business
• A systems thinker who can define KPIs, own dashboards, and run a weekly review cadence without being told to
• Comfortable doing the analytical work themselves — not just managing others to do it

What We're Looking For

These are not hard\-and\-fast requirements — we care more about ownership, execution, and judgment than checking every box.

• 5–10 years total experience, with at least 2–3 years of direct exposure to manufacturing, supply chain, or industrial operations
• Has worked inside a company actively going through scale — not just a mature, stable operation
• Ideally has served as the right hand to a GM, COO, or CEO before — knows how to operate in that leverage role
• Fluency in unit economics, COGS structure, and contribution margin analysis
• Experience running S\&OP or analogous cross\-functional planning processes
• Understands factory economics: yield, throughput, capacity utilization, capex payback
• Proven ability to structure ambiguous problems into a rigorous framework and drive to a decision
• Experience designing and implementing leading and lagging indicator systems
• Strong executive presence — equally effective with operators on the floor and founders in the boardroom

Ideal Background

The best candidates tend to come from one of four places:

• Ops or Industrial Engineering at a scaled hardware/manufacturing company — Thinks in systems and constraints. Apple, Tesla, SpaceX, Medtronic, or similar. Has seen what rigorous operational excellence actually looks like at scale.
• Military (engineering or logistics) MBA ops — Execution discipline, cross\-functional influence without authority, and genuine comfort with ambiguity.
• Management consulting ops or manufacturing role — Gets strategy and structure, and has been tested in implementation. Work product should show operational results, not just decks.
• Private equity or portfolio ops — Wired to find COGS and efficiency opportunities, drive metrics discipline, and manage toward milestones. Blend of financial and operational instincts.

What we're not looking for: pure finance backgrounds without operational exposure, or generalist chiefs of staff whose work has been primarily coordination.

Primary Responsibilities

• Management Cadence: Develop and operate the company's executive operating rhythm — planning cycles, reviews, and decision\-making forums
• Metrics \& Truth\-Telling: Apolitically drive performance culture through data, dashboards, and honest analysis — with both numbers and anecdotes
• Program Management: Lead large\-scale operational rollouts, cross\-functional initiatives, and crisis response
• Partnership Ownership: Own select partner and supplier relationships end\-to\-end
• Operating Model: Build and maintain the company operating model; own make/buy/partner analysis and investment cases
• Systems Design: Design and run company\-wide and operations\-wide KPI systems from definition through weekly and monthly review cadence

What You'll Get

• Competitive cash compensation \+ equity
• Full medical, dental, and vision coverage
• $15K relocation bonus if needed
• Daily collaboration with the founding team and senior leadership
• Free custom insoles (of course…)