Chief of Staff to Founder
2 days ago
City of London
The company The UK Job Institute helps international students in the UK land their dream jobs. Founded by Farhoon Asim in December 2023, we’ve quickly become the largest UK-focused career accelerator for international students by job outcomes (250+ placements) and revenue (£1.3m in ~2 years). In ~2 years, we have: • Helped 250+ international students land UK jobs (including job offers at Amazon, Bumble, CitiBank, Deloitte, EY, HSBC, KPMG, Siemens), • Reached 60 million+ organic views across LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube (with $0 spent on ads), • Grown to 90,000+ followers on LinkedIn and 76,000+ on Instagram, • Generated £1.3 million+ in revenue, • Remained 100% bootstrapped and highly profitable We are entering a new phase of scale: improving student outcomes, increasing revenue predictability, and installing the operational systems required to grow from £50k to £125k+ MRR within 12 months, all whilst maintaining the quality that built our reputation. Our core offer, The UK Job Institute, is a monthly subscription-based career accelerator for international students, with primary lead generation through Instagram (70%) and LinkedIn (30%). The main constraint is MRR volatility caused by conversion gaps, channel-specific bottlenecks, and churn (many students leave once they have learnt and landed jobs), which the Chief of Staff will help address. The Thesis The UK Job Institute is a deeply founder-led, operationally intense company. The founder currently runs marketing, sales, and operations, and is deep in the details on market positioning, conversion, pricing, student support, and how we structure our program. That intensity is a feature, not a bug. It’s how we built a profitable, bootstrapped company. But as we scale, one person cannot sit at the centre of every decision, priority, and execution loop. This is where you come in. The Chief of Staff operates the way the founder does - fast, direct, deep in the details - and extends the founder’s reach across the organisation. Your job will be to build the operating system so the founder can focus on the next 10x move, which is a) An 8 figure exit or b) launching a new business with 8-figure revenue potential. The role This role exists to remove founder dependency and turn a proven revenue formula into a scalable, predictable growth engine. We are hiring a Chief of Staff to work directly with the founder and act as the connective tissue across marketing, sales, and operations. The founder sets direction. You translate strategy into clear priorities, owners, and measurable outcomes. At any given moment, you operate at the company’s primary constraint - revenue predictability, conversion efficiency, team alignment, or student support - and move it forward without constant founder intervention. This is a high-autonomy operating role with a clear path to COO and eventually CEO for someone who consistently delivers results. You will be empowered to cut tools/vendors, redesign processes, and hold the team accountable - escalating only key decisions. Responsibilities Strategic Growth & Systems (30%) • Partner with the founder to grow revenue from £50k → £125k+ MRR within 12 months, by improving product retention and student outcomes first, then marketing conversion, then sales efficiency., • Reduce founder involvement in day-to-day operations to <5 hrs/week within 6 months by implementing KPI dashboards (single source of truth), Clear ownership/decision rights, delegation structures and weekly meeting cadence + agendas + action tracking Team & Performance Management (40%) • Implement weekly KPI reviews and quarterly OKRs so every team member has clear targets and accountability, • Act as the connective tissue between the founder and the wider team of 10 across marketing, sales, and operations, ensuring clarity, alignment, and forward momentum, • Train team members on systems and ensure adherence to SOPs (+ create new SoPs where needed), • Introduce performance dashboards for marketing, sales, and operations to make bottlenecks visible and drive accountability., • MANAGE agencies and suppliers: performance reviews, renewals, scope, and negotiating prices/terms, • Translate strategy into execution plans, then drive follow-through (owners, timelines, blockers, decisions) Student Outcomes & Operational Leverage (30%) • Track and improve core student outcomes: placement rate, time-to-offer, NPS (and the leading indicators that drive them)., • Ensure scale does not dilute student support and experience, • Identify bottlenecks in the student journey (onboarding → resources → execution → interviews → offers) and fix them through process and product improvements., • Build and document core SOPs for marketing, sales, operations, and delivery - turning best practices into repeatable systems., • Own cross-functional initiatives (e.g., new product launch, hiring sprint, funnel rebuild) from scope definition to measurable outcome, • Turn delivery best practices into documented systems First 90 Days in the role Day 0-30 - Diagnose & Prioritise • Deep dive into sales funnel, conversion metrics, and student journey, • Identify the top 3 constraints across marketing, sales, and delivery, • Alongside the founder, align on the business’ #1 constraint and build a clear execution plan with owners, timelines, and success metrics, • Begin implementation Day 31-60 - Install Structure • Implement weekly execution cadence, • Establish KPI dashboards across marketing, sales, and operations, • Reduce founder involvement in at least one operational area, • Formalise core SOPs in marketing, sales, or delivery, • Deliver measurable lift in one key metric (e.g., close rate, placement speed) Day 61-90 - Drive Measurable Improvement • Operate as the default decision-maker for day-to-day execution, • Execute key projects without constant founder intervention Requirements Must haves • 3–7 years in an operating role (startup, scale-up, or founder) with direct exposure to the CEO / Founder, • Strong written and verbal English communication (able to run meetings, document systems, and communicate clearly across teams), • Experience holding teams accountable across either marketing, sales, or operations, • Experience shipping customer-facing improvements (journey, onboarding, retention), not just managing projects Nice to haves • Prior Chief of Staff / Founder Associate experience This Role Is For You If: • You’ve been the #2 but want to become the #1, • You think in outcomes, not tasks, • You want equity in a profitable company, not a lottery ticket startup What’s In It For You • Base salary: £65,000 – £85,000 (depending on experience), • Direct founder partnership: Work 1:1 with the founder of a hyper-profitable bootstrapped online education business, • Ownership: Oversee, build and improve every process in the business across marketing, sales and operations, • Equity: 2–5% with 4-year vesting, 1-year cliff. Additional equity grants tied to hitting revenue milestones, • Performance-based progression: Increased comp and equity at the COO / CEO level Start date: Immediate