Chief of Staff to the CEO at Apollo Agriculture

About The Role

Apollo is seeking a world-class Chief of Staff to serve Apollo’s CEO as strategic partner, trusted operator, project manager, and executor of strategic initiatives across the company. The Chief of Staff’s mandate is to ensure that the CEO allocates his time to the most important and strategic areas by (i) setting and helping to execute the CEO’s priorities, (ii) developing a deep and broad view of goings on across the company, (iii) managing complex cross-company challenges and initiatives, and (iv) generally managing a broad spectrum of responsibilities in response to changing business needs. This is a fantastic opportunity to take a highly strategic role in a rapidly growing start up and serve as a force multiplier for Apollo’s senior leadership team.

Your Day-to-Day

• Track and ensure the completion of the CEO’s priorities, and proactively identify and mitigate obstacles as they arise.
• Proactively follow up with the CEO’s direct reports and other team members to ensure that tasks delegated from the CEO are completed and that company goals are on track. When goals are not on track, provide actionable recommendations for improvement.
• Act as an extension of the CEO and funnel appropriate information across the leadership team by exercising both exceptional relationship building skills as well as excellent discretion and judgement.
• Support the CEO with the development of board materials and investor communications and work closely with the CEO on fundraising, from strategy to relationship building, due diligence and closing.
• Run leadership meetings and off sites, and ensure that relevant information is disseminated appropriately across the company.
• Identify key gaps and move quickly to address them, either directly or by flagging necessary additions to the leadership team.
• Serve as thought partner, strategic advisor, and confidante to the CEO.
• Provide analysis, recommendations, and options to the CEO regarding high impact decisions.
• Move with urgency and without ego to solve whatever problem or need comes up.
• Evaluate all incoming requests and inquiries directed to the CEO and determine the level of priority and the right course of action.
• Manage the CEO’s schedule, inbox, and travel schedule, either personally or by managing an EA to support the executive office.
• Travel as needed between Apollo’s offices in Nairobi and Amsterdam.

You

• Are an exceptional writer and communicator. You can turn complex information into digestible and actionable insights and can communicate effectively to a broad range of audiences and stakeholders, and you exercise excellent judgment about what level of information is necessary to enable efficient decision making.
• Have an eye for design, and can develop compelling investor materials and presentations. You are a great storyteller and can translate that across mediums, both written and visual.
• Exercise excellent judgement and discretion and have deep emotional intelligence. You are a considerate listener and believe that effective leadership requires meaningful relationships across the company that are built on trust and transparency.
• Are capable of influencing outcomes without directly owning them.
• Are excited to travel frequently between Apollo’s offices and service territories, and are as comfortable spending time with Apollo’s farmer customers as you are in the boardroom.
• Are comfortable providing effective feedback on ideas and proposals from team members across the company. You are comfortable pushing back when necessary and are excited to wade into the details to ensure you can partner with leaders effectively and help bring improvements to life.
• Are a strategic and analytical thinker who can analyze complex business challenges and independently investigate when things go wrong. You are comfortable in excel and either know or would be excited to learn SQL to enhance your understanding of business challenges.
• Are a tireless problem solver who can roll up your sleeves to tackle whatever challenges need urgent attention, no matter when they arise. You have a “whatever it takes” attitude and are comfortable managing both strategic initiatives and nitty-gritty details to get the job done.
• Have worked in management consulting, in a high-growth tech start up or similar, ideally in a cross-cutting role, or previously in a Chief of Staff role.

We

• Are a collaborative team of smart and ambitious people who are dedicated to serving our customers.
• Make magic happen to solve hard problems and always come with solutions when challenges arise.
• Are comfortable taking risks that can result in radical scale, and understand that failures are opportunities to learn and improve.
• Are considerate listeners and take the time to deeply understand and seek out ideas from the people around us, even when we disagree.
• Offer a dynamic environment that fosters talent, collaboration and growth.
• Take pride in our work and share the responsibility to see it through from conception to deployment.
• Back up our talk with a competitive compensation and benefits package and challenging projects.
• Value autonomy, honesty, transparency, and respect.
• Are excited to hear from you!

Please submit a cover letter that convinces us that you're a fantastic fit for this role!