Chief of Staff, Zinc Work
Customer
£90-95k
+ Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
2 days a week in office
Automated employee reference and background checking software
Be an early applicant
Automated employee reference and background checking software
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
£90-95k
+ Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
2 days a week in office
101-200 employees
Company mission
To change the way people prove their work identity.
Role
Who you are
- Programme delivery: a track record of landing complex, cross-functional initiatives from scratch, not just running an existing process
- Operational and systems thinking: comfortable directing technical/ops resource (automation, data, dashboards) without owning it directly
- Commercial acumen: able to lead vendor/partner selection and negotiate commercial terms
- Prioritisation and portfolio management: able to weigh and sequence competing cross-functional demands with limited capacity
- Resourcefulness over headcount: genuinely comfortable delivering without a large dedicated team
- Structured problem-solving: able to take a messy, ambiguous problem, diagnose what's actually going on, and turn it into a clear plan of attack quickly
- Executive-ready communication: synthesises complexity into crisp written and verbal recommendations that senior stakeholders can act on
- Business case building: able to size and frame the case for a new investment or capability clearly enough that leadership backs it
- Trusted operator: the CCO and both function directors need to hand you real ownership quickly
- Comfortable with ambiguity: this role will be redefined as it proves itself
- Influence without full authority: most delivery happens through people who don't fully report to you
- Genuine comfort with letting go: building something up and then handing it off is a feature, not a loss
- Strategic and operational range: equally at home thinking about the function's readiness for further rapid scale, and running a specific project day to day
- Fast context-switcher: gets quickly up to speed in an unfamiliar problem area, then moves on once it's landed, without needing years to ramp up
- Bias to action under ambiguity: makes real progress with imperfect information rather than waiting for full certainty
- Builds credibility fast: earns trust and real authority with senior stakeholders quickly, rather than needing to grow into it over time
What the job involves
- At Zinc, we're rapidly technologising how we serve candidates, recruiters, and customers, without eroding what makes our service genuinely good
- This is a brand-new role at Zinc: part of a small, fast-moving team that exists to accelerate the customer function's ability to continuously improve how we serve customers, through better technology, process, and entirely new capabilities
- You'll report directly to the Chief Customer Officer, and partner closely with the Director of CS, Director of Retention + Expansion, and Head of Ops
- Right now, the team's first big mandate is standing up a 24-hour, multi-region outsourced live-chat operation, but that's one project among many
- This role exists to take on the big, cross-functional things that currently move too slowly (or don't start at all) because the people who'd need to run them are already fully occupied serving customers
- What's more, you will be a key strategic partner to our CCO Tom, helping to ensure the Customer function strategy is executed across the business
- This is a new function with no fixed playbook and no large dedicated team to lean on; you'll build capability mostly through people who don't fully report to you
- This is a brand new role with impact that sits across a complex cross-functional group of people and problems. Ambiguity about scope and shape isn't a bug here; it's most of the job in year one
- A meaningful chunk of your time goes into managing the tension between colleagues' day-job commitments and the new work you need from them; this takes real influence and negotiation, not just a project plan
- You'll operate at very different altitudes in the same week: deep in a specific vendor negotiation one day, shaping cross-functional prioritisation with the CCO the next
- Reporting to: Tom Jewell
- Own the Big Bets: Lead time-boxed, high-stakes transformation projects that neither the AM nor CS team can resource themselves, starting with outsourcing vendor selection and commercial set-up, with more to follow as the strategy demands it
- Decide What's Next: Act as the single point deciding which cross-functional, currently-unowned problem gets tackled next (e.g. the automation gap behind our fastest-growing support-ticket category). Nobody owns this today; you will
- Launch, Then Let Go: Stand new capability up, prove it works, then hand it to the relevant delivery team to run as business-as-usual. This team builds and transitions; it doesn't accumulate permanent ownership of everything it touches
- Direct, Don't Duplicate: Pull in Core Ops (via the Head of Ops) as additional project capacity (systems, data, analysis) for the "how," while this role owns the "what" and "why." With only a small team of your own, you'll get things done by mobilising others across the org
- Strategic Partner to CCO: Our CCO Tom - as well as his two Directors - will rely on you to challenge and build their strategic thinking, and then to enable Zinc to execute the Customer Function strategy as the business continues to rapidly scale. You will need a strategic brain, a transparent communication style + executional prowess to nail this part of the role
- Lead a Small, Mixed Team: Manage a service experience designer working full-time on new initiatives, plus another team member who will split their time between existing single-owner responsibility and new work for this team. Getting genuine new output from people who are also still running something else is a core part of the job. One team member initially stays managed by the Director of AM until you're in seat, then moves under you
- ️Make Your First Hire: Once you're up to speed, you'll scope and hire the team's Maker role yourself, defining what capability the team actually needs rather than inheriting a pre-written job spec. We're deliberately not filling this ahead of you landing
- Keep Pace With the Proposition: Make sure Zinc's customer experience keeps evolving as fast as customer expectations do (voice of customer, NPS, and customer education included) as much a building function as an improving one
Application process
- Video Exchange
- Talent Discovery Call
- Google Meets Interview
- Final In-Person Interview
- Hired
Salary benchmarks
Our take
The existing processes for referencing and background checking suffer from notable inefficiencies, marked by biases, time-consuming procedures, and an intimidating experience for candidates. Addressing these challenges, Zinc Work aims to solve these processes by introducing an automated reference and background-checking solution.
Setting itself apart in the market, Zinc Work focuses on the user-friendly design of its solution, its swift integration into existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and its high level of customisation. With a vision to offer a solution for background checks, Zinc covers a spectrum from criminal record checks to financial, education, identity, employment, and reference checks.
Funding secured in 2023 was led by esteemed financial services investor AVP (AXA Venture Partners) and supported by Seedcamp, and will facilitate the launch of groundbreaking industry initiatives. These include the introduction of the first reusable global Right To Work check, the first Employment verification reference integrated with HMRC, and a background check template library collaboratively contributed to by over 40 Zinc Work customers. This financial injection underscored Zinc's commitment to innovation and reinforced its position as a trailblazer in the realm of automated reference and background checking solutions.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
43% female employees
Company
Employee endorsements
Team energy
"Team energy is great, there is lots of positivity and support. Because we only come in 2-3 days a week, when we are in everyone is engaged and happy..."
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Jul 2023
$6.9m
SERIES A
Mar 2022
$1.4m
SEED
Total funding: $8.7m
Company benefits
- 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off
- Apple laptop and latest tech gear for your home workstation
- £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen, from month 2)
- Early finish Fridays (16:00)
- Yearly company Retreat
- Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave (2 months full pay, then statutory)
- Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
- Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
- Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
Company values
- Empathy: Seeking to understand your perspective first
- Collaboration: We will work teogether to solve problems
- Empowered: Empowering candidates with information and data
- Speed: We will work to deliver at pace
- Integrity: We are truth seekers, providing transparent information
- Pragmatic: We're a solutions oriented team that seeks to solve
Company HQ
London, UK
Articles
Leadership
Charlotte Lucy Hall
(Co-Founder)Previously a Marketing Manager at Superscript, Podcast Producer at Talent Hacks for Scaleups, and a Marketing Executive at ILTM.
Luke Shipley
(Co-Founder)Previously EMEA Head of Technology at Intelletec for 1 year. Has also co-founded stitch Leggings and Lean Lychee.
People progressing
He was a regular soldier in the Army, after leaving and studying he joined Zinc as an SDR (After a spell gold diving in FLorida). Having come in with no experience he has promoted fast through Zinc.
Tiasha joined Zinc way back in 2021, she highlighted that she wanted to work in Account Managment and has worked hard to make this career change happen.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Zinc Work
- We currently do not record LGBTQIA+ status: our team is small, which means data is hard to anonymise.
- As of January 2024, 48% of the Zinc team are Ethnic Minorities.
- We offer flexible working for everyone from day one.
- Accommodations are available for everyone, regardless of status and never need to be justified: this is outlined in our DEI Statement which is accessible to all employees.
- We offer prayer space at our co-working offices, and flexible diary arrangements for employees to keep their faith.
- We’ve created a ‘Manual of Me’ page in our company Notion: to help foster understanding and allow team members to advocate for their communication style and work patterns.
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