Chief of Staff & Head of Platform

Company Description

Rypples is the platform to scale ocean innovation.

The technologies that can restore the ocean and transform the maritime economy already exist. What they lack is the capital and operating muscle to go from first customers to global scale. Venture funds are built for short cycles and power-law outcomes. Private equity and project finance need revenue and EBITDA. Growth-stage ocean companies fall into the missing middle.

Two unicorn founders built Rypples to fill that gap. We are a permanent capital holding company, not a fund. We invest from our own balance sheet and work alongside founders as operators to take their vision to planetary scale.

In the last 18 months, we have backed 13 companies across Ocean Health, Ecosystems, Data, Maritime and Blue Foods. Over the next decade, we will deploy $1bn into 100 ocean-positive companies and prove a new model for financing impactful innovation.

We are a small team building Rypples from first principles, and building it AI-native from day one. We believe the only true generational wealth is the planet we pass on to our children.

Job Description

Capital alone doesn’t scale a company. At the heart of Rypples is our Growth Engine: the operators, programs and know-how we bring to every company we back, so its path to scale is de-risked by design and moves faster. It covers growth trajectory, CEO development, talent, execution, financing and AI, in one system that gets smarter with every company.

The Growth Engine is our product, and this role owns it. As Chief of Staff & Head of Platform, you work directly with our CEO to build and run it, and to make Rypples AI-native along the way.

What you’ll own

• An AI-native Rypples. Sourcing, diligence, investor relations, finance: you design and run the agents that let a small team do the work of a large one.
• Operating partners. We work with board-level partners who each look after one portfolio company, and with experts in People, Go-To-Market and Finance who work across the portfolio. You find them, onboard them, and give them the context and tools to make a difference.
• Founder programs. Growth Readiness helps founders turn technology that works into a company that sells. Ocean Scalers brings ocean CEOs together to learn from each other. You run both: the design, the rhythm, the right people in the room, and the follow-through.
• Rypples OS. Our playbook to scale ocean innovation. Every board meeting, partner engagement and founder session feeds it, and it gets smarter with each one. You build it and keep it learning.

Qualifications

• You’ve been Chief of Staff to a founder-CEO at a fast-growing startup, or you’re a founder yourself.
• You're AI proficient and you’ve built agents and workflows that changed how a team works.
• You build fast: a working version in days, not a plan in weeks.
• You’re credible with CEOs and senior operators, and you write and speak clearly.
• You care deeply about the ocean and the planet.

Additional Information

Diverse teams perform better. Please bring your difference along.