ABOUT NOVARA Novara is an early-stage, AI-native company building systems to improve how people and organizations discover major future opportunities, strengthen judgment and turn strong decisions into real-world creation.
The opportunity
Novara is seeking a Chief Executive Officer to turn an ambitious long-term strategy into a focused, high-velocity company. This is the company’s most important immediate hire. The founder will continue to set Novara’s long-term vision and ultimate strategic direction; the CEO will own company-wide execution.
This is a builder-operator role, not a conventional large-company management assignment. The right person has lived through both 0-to-1 creation and 1-to-10 scaling, can integrate product, engineering, operations, growth and organization, and is comfortable making consequential decisions with incomplete information.
What you will own
· Translate the founder’s long-term strategy into a clear annual plan, quarterly priorities and a disciplined operating cadence.
· Create one management system across product, engineering, operations, growth and organizational development.
· Set goals, budgets, KPIs, decision rights and accountability mechanisms that increase execution speed without creating bureaucracy.
· Build an effective leadership team, clarify ownership and establish a culture of candid review, learning and follow-through.
· Support fundraising, major corporate partnerships and other high-stakes external relationships.
· Design an AI-native operating model in which automation creates leverage while humans remain accountable for judgment and outcomes.
What success looks like
· A credible company operating plan with explicit priorities, owners, budgets and decision cadence.
· A functioning leadership rhythm that surfaces blockers early and closes cross-team gaps.
· Visible improvement in product-launch reliability, organizational speed and accountability.
· A management foundation that can scale without losing the founder’s long-term direction or Novara’s judgment standards.
What we are looking for
· Substantial experience as a founder, CEO, COO, GM or early-stage executive with direct responsibility for company or business-unit outcomes.
· Evidence of both 0-to-1 building and 1-to-10 organizational scaling.
· Strong product and commercial judgment, including the ability to prioritize, stop weak initiatives and concentrate resources.
· Experience managing distributed or international teams across technical and business functions.
· Practical understanding of AI-native organizations, including where AI can automate work and where human judgment must remain decisive.
· Ability to partner closely with a founder whose authority includes long-term vision while independently owning organizational execution.
· Clear, direct communication; high integrity; low ego; and a record of learning honestly from failed decisions.
Strong pluses
· Experience in AI, learning technology, talent systems, decision infrastructure or future-of-work platforms.
· Fundraising and enterprise-partnership experience.
· Experience building a global company from an early stage.
How we work
· Founding-stage ownership: you will build the system, not inherit a finished playbook.
· High standards with low bureaucracy: decisions, owners, evidence and outcomes should be visible.
· AI as leverage: agents can accelerate research, drafting, coordination and analysis, but named humans remain accountable for consequential judgment.
· Global collaboration: the team works across functions, locations and time zones.
· Long-term orientation: we care about durable capability and real-world results, not activity or hype.
Position details
Job type: Full-time
Primary location: San Francisco Bay Area, California; remote initially. Exceptional candidates in other locations may be considered.
Compensation: Competitive salary and equity, calibrated to experience, role scope and expected impact. Final range is subject to approval and must be added before publication where required.
Travel: Regular travel for leadership, fundraising and major partnership work should be expected.
Suggested LinkedIn skills: Startup leadership; company building; P&L ownership; product strategy; organizational design; fundraising; AI strategy; global team leadership
How to apply
Apply through LinkedIn with your profile or resume and a brief note addressing the prompt below.
APPLICATION PROMPT In your note, describe the most important judgment you have made as an operator, the outcome, and what you changed afterward.
Novara evaluates candidates on relevant experience, demonstrated judgment and the ability to produce results. We welcome applicants from different backgrounds and do not discriminate on any basis protected by applicable law.