Chief of Staff, Smartly.io
Product
$140-190k
AI-powered advertising platform
Be an early applicant
AI-powered advertising platform
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$140-190k
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To unify the full funnel of marketing and break silos between advertisers, marketers, and creatives.
Role
Who you are
- 8–12+ years of experience across a combination of:
- Top-tier management consulting (e.g. McKinsey, BCG, Bain or equivalent)
- Product strategy, business operations, or strategy & operations roles at a high-growth or Big Tech company
- Proven experience working closely with senior executives and influencing at the C-level
- Experience operating in complex, platform-based SaaS or technology businesses strongly preferred
- Analytical & Technical Skills
- Advanced proficiency in SQL and strong working knowledge of Python for analysis and modeling
- Comfort working directly with large datasets, dashboards, and experimentation results
- Ability to move seamlessly between quantitative analysis, qualitative research and strategic synthesis
- Leadership & Mindset
- Exceptional structured thinking and problem-solving ability
- High judgment, discretion, and ability to operate in ambiguity
- Strong executive presence with the ability to challenge constructively
- Bias toward action, clarity, and impact
What the job involves
- Smartly.io is currently looking for a Chief of Staff to join our growing team!
- The Chief of Staff to the Chief Product Officer (CPO) is a senior, highly trusted partner who amplifies the effectiveness of the Product organization and its leader
- This role blends strategy, analytics, and execution, acting as an extension of the CPO across planning, decision-making, and cross-functional alignment
- This is not an administrative role
- It is a thought partner and operator role designed for someone with top-tier strategic rigor, deep analytical skills, and experience driving complex initiatives inside high-growth or Big Tech environments
- You will help turn product vision into reality by shaping strategy, driving operating cadence, surfacing insights, and ensuring the Product org delivers measurable customer and business impact
- Strategic Thought Partnership
- Serve as a primary strategic advisor to the CPO on product vision, portfolio tradeoffs, org design, and long-term bets
- Lead structured problem solving on ambiguous, high-stakes questions (e.g. build vs. buy, sequencing of AI investments, platform vs. feature tradeoffs)
- Prepare clear, data-backed narratives for the CEO, executive team, and Board
- Operating Rhythm & Execution
- Drive the Product organization’s operating cadence: planning cycles, roadmap reviews, KPI reviews, and executive updates
- Track and unblock critical cross-team initiatives spanning Product Management, Design, Engineering, Product Marketing, and AI Platform teams
- Ensure alignment between product strategy, commercial priorities, and go-to-market execution
- Cross-Functional Leadership
- Act as a connective layer between Product and key partners including Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Finance
- Lead or support high-impact, cross-functional programs (e.g. major platform launches, AI initiatives, org transformations)
- Identify and proactively resolve misalignment before it becomes execution risk
- Communication & Narrative
- Craft concise, compelling written and visual materials for exec forums, Board meetings, and customer-facing moments
- Pressure-test messaging to ensure product strategy is clear, credible, and grounded in customer value
- Raise the bar on clarity, precision, and decision quality across Product leadership communications
- Ah Hoc Product & Business Analytics
- Own deep-dive analysis to inform new initiatives or key decisions (prioritization, investments, and KPI tracking)
- Draw customer and business insights from product usage, adoption, retention, monetization, and roadmap performance
- Build and maintain core dashboards
- Travel with CPO when needed to provide on-the-ground support for important events and team activities
Our take
Smartly.io helps advertisers automate their campaigns across the largest media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. After seeing quick success following Facebook’s 2012 IPO, the company now works with over 700 brands including eBay, Uber, Ralph Lauren, Under Armour and TechStyle.
Its suite of tools automatically creates ads and videos from product images - handling budget allocation and audience targeting, as well as analysing where and when to purchase advertising. Consequently, Smartly.io has positioned itself to play a leading role in a market where brand and performance work are converging.
Smartly.io sold a majority stake to Providence Equity Partners in 2019 in a move to further its presence in the US. The company has since gone on to make several acquisitions of its own with Viralspace.ai and Ad-Lib.io. Smartly.io's ability to adapt to evolving advertising trends supports its continued growth, and its introduction of AI-powered intelligence across its platform shows it is keeping up with technology trends too.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (1 round)
Apr 2015
$3m
SERIES A
Total funding: $3m
Company benefits
- Generous healthcare packages and mental health services
- Career development opportunities, bonus programs and annual performance reviews
- Hybrid working model, with the option to work abroad for up to 30 days
- Company equity options program
- Paid holidays, OOO time and family leaves
Company HQ
Kluuvi, Helsinki
Leadership
Tuomo Riekki
(Co-founder, Board Member & Advisor)Initially served as CPO of the company. Also the founder of Focal and Zero, and previously founded DealMachine and Metrify.io.
Kristo Ovaska
(Co-founder & Board Member)Founder and CEO at Taito.ai. Initially served as CEO of the company. Previously founded Metrify.io, Startup Sauna, and Funrank.
Laura Desmond
(CEO)Also Founder and CEO at Eagle Vista Partners, and Operating Partner at Providence Equity Partners, as well as being a Board Member at Adobe and DoubleVerify. Former CEO of Starcom.
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