Chief of Staff to the CEO (m/w/d)

About the Position

Chief of Staff to the CEO (m/w/d)

Location: Paderborn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, DE

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Date Posted: 2026-09-01

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About Us

Unchained Robotics is a German robotics company based in Paderborn. Since our founding in 2019, we have been making industrial automation simpler, more accessible, and faster to implement for businesses.

With our turnkey robotics solutions, our automation framework LUNA, and our vendor-neutral robotics marketplace, we currently support more than 200 customers in over 20 countries.

We are in a critical growth phase: We are evolving our organization, preparing for the next funding round, and expanding international partnerships – including with robotics manufacturers and technology partners in China and the USA.

For this, we are looking for a Chief of Staff to the CEO (m/w/d), who translates strategy into action, drives cross-functional initiatives, and noticeably relieves our CEO of daily tasks.

The position is fixed-term for 24 months. During this time, you will take on a clear strategic mandate: You will support our CEO and the leadership team during a crucial growth and transformation phase and actively shape topics such as fundraising, international partnerships, and the further development of our leadership and decision-making structures.

Key Responsibilities

As Chief of Staff, you will work closely with our CEO Mladen and the leadership team. You will structure complex topics, prepare decisions, and ensure that priorities translate into concrete results.

You are neither a classic assistant nor a purely conceptual strategy role. You will take responsibility for important workstreams, coordinate different functions, and ensure that decisions are made, responsibilities clarified, and agreements implemented.

The role particularly combines:

• CEO Effectiveness and Decision Preparation
• Fundraising and Investor Relations
• Cross-functional Strategic Initiatives
• Further Development of Our Leadership Operating System
• China, USA, and International Partnership Strategy
• Strategic Analyses and Special Projects

Your Tasks

You Make Our CEO More Effective

• You structure the CEO's most important priorities and protect their time.
• You prepare complex decisions concisely and thoroughly.
• You develop independent recommendations, show options and trade-offs, and formulate clear next steps.
• You consistently follow up on decisions, responsibilities, and follow-ups.
• You recognize early where decisions, information, or responsibilities are missing and take proactive action.

You Translate Strategy into Execution

• You take charge of selected strategic and cross-functional initiatives.
• You bring Sales, Product, Engineering, Operations, and Finance together and ensure clear responsibilities.
• You create transparency about progress, dependencies, risks, and decisions.
• You request information, decisions, and follow-ups on behalf of the CEO.
• You take responsibility for the process and the result without replacing the functional ownership of the respective executives.

You Contribute to Our Fundraising Preparation

• You develop our investment narrative and fundraising story together with the CEO and CFO.
• You combine market positioning, company strategy, product vision, and financial planning into a consistent equity story.
• You coordinate the creation of pitch decks, company updates, and other investor documents.
• You prepare investor meetings and ensure structured follow-up.
• You analyze markets, competitors, comparable companies, and relevant investor groups.

You Develop Our International Strategy

• You structure strategic partnerships with international robotics manufacturers and technology partners – particularly in China and prospectively in the USA.
• You evaluate manufacturers, markets, and partnership models from a strategic and commercial perspective.
• You coordinate technical, operational, and economic evaluations with the responsible teams.
• You prepare opportunities, risks, dependencies, and business cases for decision-making.
• You support the development of an integrated vision for our activities in Europe, China, and the USA.

You Strengthen Collaboration in the Leadership Team

• You support the establishment of a clear and binding leadership and decision-making structure.
• You prepare leadership meetings and ensure they lead to clear decisions and results.
• You establish suitable formats such as decision logs, priority overviews, and follow-up routines.
• You address goal conflicts, unclear responsibilities, and lack of progress early and constructively.

Are You Ready?

• You have several years of relevant professional experience, for example, in a Chief-of-Staff role, a high-growth technology company, venture capital, strategy consulting, corporate strategy, or an entrepreneurial role.
• You have already independently taken on complex topics and led them to a concrete, measurable result.
• You can quickly switch between strategic thinking and operational implementation.
• You develop a clear position and make concrete recommendations even with incomplete information.
• You can lead, challenge, and align experienced stakeholders without formal authority.
• You communicate precisely, appropriately, and confidently – from the operational team to investors and management.
• You work structured, analytically, and with a high result density.
• You handle confidential information responsibly and discreetly.
• You have command of German at least at C1 level and very good English skills.
• You are ready to work at least three days per week at our location in Paderborn.
• International travel and collaboration across time zones and cultural contexts are natural to you.

Your profile is particularly interesting if you additionally:

• Have knowledge of funding rounds, investor relations, or venture capital processes from a company or investor perspective.
• Bring experience with investment narratives, market analyses, due diligence, or business cases.
• Have already worked in a robotics, automation, mechanical engineering, or industrial tech environment.
• Have experience with Chinese companies, manufacturers, or business partners.
• Have accompanied international partnerships or market entries.
• Have founded or taken on responsibility in a rapidly growing company.

Not every relevant career path looks the same. What is crucial for us is not your previous title, but whether you have already shown that you can quickly grasp complex topics, take responsibility, and bring people into implementation.

How You Work

• Ownership: You do not wait for complete instructions but take responsibility and ensure progress.
• Prioritization and Judgment: You recognize what needs to be decided now – and what can consciously wait.
• Influence without Authority: You create commitment, even if the involved persons do not report directly to you.
• Pace and Learning Agility: You quickly familiarize yourself with new topics and develop from thinking along to independent leadership within a short time.
• Trust and Low Ego: You put the common result above personal visibility and openly express what is necessary at the same time.

What You Can Look Forward To

• Responsibility and Room for Maneuver: You take on a central role in a crucial growth phase of Unchained Robotics and work closely with our CEO and leadership team.
• Strategic Impact: You shape topics with immediate influence on our company development, financing, and international expansion.
• 32 Vacation Days: To ensure that pace and responsibility are balanced with sufficient time for recovery.
• Flexible Work: You shape your work flexibly within our reliable presence model in Paderborn.
• Modern Equipment: You will receive a fully digital and modern work setup.
• Wellpass: With our EGYM Wellpass, you get access to a diverse sports and health offer.
• On-site Massages: With regularly offered massage appointments in the office, you can take a short break directly in your workday.
• Open Company Culture: An open, international working environment with motivated colleagues, short decision paths, and a lot of personal responsibility awaits you.
• Shared Experiences: At our monthly team event in Paderborn, we come together outside of the workday.
• Good Start: With your welcome package and a structured onboarding, we ensure that you quickly find your way around.
• In-Office Benefits: A modern work environment, free drinks, and other offers are a matter of course for us.
• Corporate Social Responsibility: You can invest 1% of your annual working time in social projects and engage in topics that are important to you.

Your Contact Person

Ready to translate strategy into results? Then apply as Chief of Staff to the CEO (m/w/d) at Unchained Robotics in Paderborn and shape the next growth phase of an international robotics company together with us.

We look forward to learning about your previous path, your motivation, and the topics you have already driven independently.

If you have any questions, Svenja from the People & Culture Team is happy to assist you. Simply send an email to [email protected], and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

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About the Company

Unchained Robotics simplifies access to automation for companies across Europe with the help of robotics solutions. We see robotics as an important opportunity to automate repetitive tasks and counteract the shortage of skilled workers. We believe that automation technology should no longer be rocket science, but many small and medium-sized companies still do not benefit from it.

We offer our customers three strong building blocks:

Our online configurator enables companies to create and evaluate customized automation solutions. On our vendor-neutral marketplace, we offer a wide range of robots, grippers, and cameras from leading manufacturers. With our turnkey solutions, we offer prefabricated robot cells that have been developed for numerous standard applications in industrial automation and can be implemented particularly quickly. That's what we call simplified automation.

Want to join us? Apply now and become part of the crew! We look forward to meeting you!

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