Founder's Associate (CEO & Business Operations)

Role Summary

We are seeking a Founder’s Associate to work closely with the founders and management of a deep tech company developing AI-based perception systems for robotics and safety-critical applications.

The position combines CEO Office, Business Operations, Executive Support and strategic projects.

You support where information needs to be structured, decisions need to be prepared and topics need to be brought to a consistent conclusion: when preparing a pitch deck for investors, following up after a customer meeting, preparing management information or implementing internal processes.

At the same time, operational topics such as preparatory financial accounting, invoice management, CRM maintenance, inventory management or the coordination of external service providers are also part of everyday life.

This is neither a classic assistant role nor a pure strategy role.

We are looking for someone who wants to take on responsibility, likes to bring different topics together and can handle both management presentations and operational details.

As you gain experience, you will take on clearly defined workstreams, projects and operational processes independently.

Responsibilities

CEO Office & Founder Support

• You work closely with founders and management on operational, commercial and strategic issues.
• You prepare meetings with customers, partners and investors, structure relevant information and create decision-making principles, presentations and management updates.
• After meetings, you ensure that decisions, responsibilities and next steps are documented and consistently tracked.
• In doing so, you will increasingly develop a good understanding of what information management needs in order to make quick and well-founded decisions.

Pitch decks, research & strategic projects

• You support the creation and further development of pitch decks, investor documents and management presentations.
• You research markets, competitors, potential customers, partners and new business opportunities and prepare the results in a structured manner.
• As part of fundraising, strategic partnerships or important customer projects, you will support preparation, coordination and follow-up.
• As you gain experience, you will be able to coordinate clearly defined strategic projects independently.

Sales & Commercial Operations

• You ensure that leads, customer contacts and agreed next steps from sales and business development discussions are consistently followed up.
• You keep CRM data up to date, support customer appointments and offers and prepare account research, pipeline overviews and commercial documents.
• As you gain experience, you can take on individual commercial workstreams or projects independently.

Finance & Administration

• You support preparatory financial accounting as well as collaboration with internal and external finance stakeholders.
• This includes, in particular, the structured recording and management of invoices, receipts and financially relevant documents as well as invoice tracking and supplier documentation.
• You help keep open administrative issues transparent and consistently track them.
• You don't have to be an accountant. However, careful handling of numbers, documents and financial information is essential.

Business Operations

• You support management - especially the COO - in the implementation and further development of internal processes.
• This includes, among other things, asset and inventory management, procurement and vendor management, operational documentation, internal registers and the coordination of external service providers.
• You help to reliably execute existing processes, identify weak points early and prepare improvements.
• Where processes are unnecessarily manual, you should not simply take on additional work, but rather consider together with those responsible how processes can be simplified, digitized or automated.
• As you gain experience, you will be able to take independent responsibility for clearly defined operational processes and projects.

Requirements

1. Fluent German and English

You can communicate confidently and professionally both internally and to customers, partners and external stakeholders.

1. 1-4 years of relevant work experience

• For example, in a startup, scale-up, CEO office, business operations, consulting, venture development, project management or a comparable generalist role.
• 3.

Very good organizational and implementation skills

You can structure several topics in parallel, recognize priorities and complete tasks reliably.

1. Confident use of business tools and information

You can work professionally with presentations, tables, documents and digital tools and prepare complex information in an understandable way.

1. Hands-on mentality and ownership

You are prepared to work on strategic projects as well as administrative and operational tasks without having to be told every single step.

Nice to have

1. Pitch Decks & Fundraising

Experience with pitch decks, fundraising, investor relations or management presentations.

1. Finance & Commercial Operations

Experience with CRM, preparatory financial accounting, finance operations or commercial processes.

1. Automation & AI Tools

Experience with process automation, AI tools, no-code solutions or modern SaaS platforms.

1. Deep tech interest

Interest or initial experience in the field of artificial intelligence, computer vision, robotics, autonomous systems or deep tech.

Benefits

• 30 days vacation
• Job ticket
• Urban Sports Club
• Direct collaboration with founders and management
• Early responsibility for your own projects and processes
• Broad insight into fundraising, sales, finance and business operations
• Opportunity to actively shape internal processes with modern AI, automation and SaaS tools
• The role is designed for you to gradually take on more responsibility.
• At the beginning you will primarily support coordination, analyses, administration and follow-ups.
• As you gain experience, you will take on your own workstreams, processes and projects.
• Depending on your strengths and the development of the company, the position can develop in the long term towards, for example, Chief of Staff, Business Operations or Strategic Projects.
• If you would like to work closely on business decisions, take on responsibility and at the same time are not afraid of the operational details that actually keep a company running, let's talk.