Helium — Chief of Staff

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $120,000–$160,000 + 0.30%–0.60% equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: None available — US citizens or existing visa holders only Reports to: Zach, CEO (LinkedIn not provided)

About Helium

Helium is building "Self-Improving Software" — AI that automatically generates and tests new product experiences to lift revenue. The product helps consumer apps (Calm, Whisprflow, Locket, comparable) convert more users to subscriptions and retain them by managing monetization experiences, pinging customer apps in real time, and auto-generating AI-driven onboarding and paywall variants.

The team is 8 people (5–6 engineers, ~75% ex-founders; all three cofounders hold ML degrees), backed by $6M from Y Combinator and Gradient (Google's AI fund), with leaders from OpenAI. Currently ~$80K MRR doubling monthly, on track to $1M ARR with a Series A targeted this summer.

Founded: 2024 | Team size: 8 | Total funding: $6M Industry: Consumer Tech / AI Website: tryhelium.com Office: San Francisco, CA

Why Candidates Should Join

• CEO's right hand at a fast-scaling, YC- and Google-backed AI startup: direct line to the CEO, working on whatever moves the needle most.
• Real ownership: 0.30%–0.60% equity in a Series-A-track AI company doubling revenue monthly.
• Breadth and velocity: run strategic projects end-to-end across growth, fundraising, hiring, expansion, customer success, and ops infrastructure; build on the newest AI models before public release.

Benefits & perks: All meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) in office · gym membership at a nearby gym · quarterly off-sites · build on the newest AI models even before public release · 0.30%–0.60% equity.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake call transcript was included on the role page. An Intake Video is present but not transcribed — add a bullet summary once that content is available.

The Role

Chief of Staff to be the CEO's force multiplier — take strategic projects and run them end-to-end, with the goal of helping Helium 10x revenue over the next 3 months. Day-to-day shifts between customer-facing work, operational-infrastructure builds, and strategic projects.

What You'll Be Doing

• Strategic projects across growth, fundraising, hiring, and expansion (CEO's force multiplier)
• Customer onboarding, activation, and support for Helium's enterprise customers (Calm, Whisprflow, Locket, comparable)
• Operational infrastructure: build the processes, automations, and tools for the next 1,000 customers
• Spec product improvements based on customer and team feedback
• Special projects (growth, events, recruiting) that are strategically important

Tech stack: Not specified. AI-native daily usage expected — using AI tools to 10x output while maintaining high standards.

Requirements

• 1-4 years ops, consulting, or banking
• High-intensity background (consulting, banking, startup, sport, military)
• Top 1% communicator
• AI-native, uses tools to 10x output
• Low ego, jumps on bugs
• SF 5 days in-person, weekend pushes common

Green Flags

• Ex-IB or ex-consulting (top tier: MBB, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, comparable) with 1-3 years and clear interest in startup operator work
• Ex-ops at an early-stage startup (pre-Seed through Series C). Direct match for the role.
• High-intensity background (D1 sport, military, elite academic competition). Strong correlation with discipline and follow-through.
• AI-native: uses AI tools to 10x output, not just experimental usage
• Strong academic signal (SAT/ACT, top university, meaningful awards). Helium asks for this in the application directly.

Red Flags

• Wants 9-5 or strict work-life-balance role
• Pure manager / "Chief of Staff" in the corporate sense (delegating, scheduling, no IC work). Helium wants execution.
• Career is consulting-only or banking-only with no demonstrated builder signal (side projects, hacks, scrappy wins)
• Pure remote preference. SF 5 days in-person is the bar.
• Big ego or status-driven motivation. Zach direct: "low ego, jumps on the bug."

Role Details

Salary$120,000–$160,000Equity0.30%–0.60%On-site policyOn-site, San Francisco — 5 days in-person, with frequent weekend pushesVisa sponsorshipNone available; US citizens or existing visa holders onlyEmployment typeFull-timeLocationSan Francisco, CA

Screening Questions

1. Your SAT/ACT score
2. What's a time you successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage?
3. What was the hardest you ever worked on something? How hard did you work, why did you work so hard, and how did it go?

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Initial Screen Stage 3 — Take Home Assignment Stage 4 — On-Site Stage 5 — Work Trial Stage 6 — Offer Extended — Offer has been extended. Stage 7 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

Not provided on the role page.

Ideal Candidate Profiles

Not provided on the role page.

Rejected Candidate Feedback

None provided.