--- title: 'Chief of Staff at Roadrunner Venture Studio' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-roadrunner-venture-studio-tampa-bay-4rm9xz419qyb' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-10' --- # Chief of Staff at Roadrunner Venture Studio - **Company:** Roadrunner Venture Studio - **Location:** Tampa Bay, FL - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-11 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-10 - **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/roadrunner-studios/c0b7811a-f520-46ca-832b-ddea534619c0 ## Job description Chief of Staff The Company Roadrunner Venture Studios is the nation's leading platform for founding breakthrough ventures in frontier technology. Our mission is to turn deep technology into breakthrough companies for the benefit of the American people. Together with engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs, we build products, create initial business models, recruit exceptional teams, align companies with their first customers, and provide initial funding. Roadrunner is launching a new photonics platform focused on building a scaled, vertically integrated domestic leader serving the U.S. Government, defense prime contractors, and commercial markets. The company is pursuing an acquisition-led strategy to bring together leading photonics technologies and capabilities into a single enterprise. The Opportunity We are seeking a Chief of Staff to work directly with the CEO during a period of rapid growth, acquisitions, and company building. This is a highly strategic and operational role spanning M&A, government customers, investors, executive operations, and the integration of acquired businesses. The Chief of Staff will serve as a force multiplier to the CEO, taking ownership of critical priorities and helping build the systems and operating cadence required to scale the company. The role offers significant exposure across the business and the opportunity to grow into a broader executive operating position as the company scales. ## What You'll Do Drive high-priority strategic and cross-functional initiatives from planning through execution. Establish and manage executive operating rhythms, including leadership meetings, planning cycles, KPI reviews, and Board preparation. Prepare the CEO for Board meetings, investor discussions, government engagements, and acquisition activity. Support acquisition diligence, integration, and other corporate development initiatives. Build analysis and recommendations around markets, competitors, investments, and strategic opportunities. Support relationships with the Department of Defense, defense primes, federal agencies, investors, and other key stakeholders. Drive alignment and communication across the executive team and acquired businesses. Step into important operating gaps and special projects as the organization scales. ## Preferred Qualifications 7+ years of progressive experience across defense or government, consulting, investment banking, private equity or venture capital, corporate development, or high-growth technology companies. Experience working in or around the defense and national-security ecosystem. Experience with deeply technical or engineering-driven businesses such as photonics, semiconductors, aerospace, quantum, or advanced manufacturing. Experience owning ambiguous, cross-functional initiatives and driving them to completion. Exposure to M&A, including diligence, integration, or portfolio company operations. Strong executive presence and experience working with senior leaders, Boards, investors, or government customers. Exceptional written, analytical, and verbal communication skills. High ownership, sound judgment, low ego, and a strong bias toward action. Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment. U.S. Government security clearance or ability to obtain one. Bachelor's degree; MBA or relevant advanced degree preferred. Career Growth This role is designed for a high-potential operator who wants to grow into executive leadership. As the company scales, the Chief of Staff will have opportunities for increasing ownership, P&L exposure, and progression into a broader operating role. ## About Roadrunner Venture Studio ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Roadrunner Venture Studios co-founds breakthrough deep-tech ventures with scientists and engineers, accelerating ideas from lab to market. - **Entity Type**: Private (venture studio; backed by America's Frontier Fund) - **Headquarters**: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA - **Founded**: 2022 - **Founders**: Co-founded by America’s Frontier Fund (individual founders not publicly named) ## Core Business - Primary industry: Deep-tech venture studio (energy, space, quantum, advanced materials, manufacturing, high-performance computing) - Target customers: Scientists, engineers, and innovators (B2B; co-founder/partner model) - Mission: “Ensure that the U.S. remains the best place in the world to commercialize deep tech” and “burst technology out of labs by identifying, developing, and investing in deep tech companies” [roadrunnerventurestudios.com](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/mission) ## Products & Services - **Venture Studio Services**: Full-stack company creation – provides capital, talent, top-to-bottom advising, product development, commercialization, and recruitment. Acts as a “starter-kit” for founders, taking ideas from whiteboard to venture-backed growth engine. [roadrunnerventurestudios.com](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/) ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private venture studio) - **Key Metric**: 21 total employees (Built In profile); portfolio includes companies like Photon Queue (quantum memory) and Maybell Quantum (quantum device assembly) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: America’s Frontier Fund (co-founder), Playground Global (led Photon Queue seed round), New Mexico Economic Development Department (Maybell Quantum) - **Growth Signals**: Active hiring for multiple roles (Chief of Staff, Executive/Founder in Residence, Facility Manager, etc.); oversubscribed seed round for portfolio company Photon Queue ($4M); expansion into Albuquerque quantum lab [jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/roadrunner-studios) | [roadrunnerventurestudios.com](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/) ## Competitive Advantages - **Deep-tech specialization**: Focus on hard-science domains (quantum, energy, space) where traditional venture studios rarely operate. - **Government & private network**: Deep ties to America’s Frontier Fund and federal/state economic development agencies provide unique access to funding and partnerships. - **De-risking vehicle**: Offers a complete “company creation factory” that reduces the friction of commercializing frontier technologies. ## Strategic Focus - Continue building a national system of venture studios to catalyze American technological competitiveness. - Prioritize quantum computing, advanced energy, space technologies, and advanced manufacturing. - Scale the studio model by hiring domain experts and operators in Albuquerque and Tampa Bay. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Mission-driven environment focused on strengthening U.S. competitiveness; work alongside top scientists and engineers on frontier technologies. - **Work policy**: Mix of on-site and hybrid roles; offices in Albuquerque, NM (HQ) and Tampa Bay, FL. On-site roles are typical for lab and facility positions. - **Perks**: Opportunity to be part of a “company starter-kit” and directly shape breakthrough ventures from inception. Small team (21 employees) offers high impact and ownership. - **Engineering culture**: Emphasis on deep technical work in quantum, energy, and space; roles include R&D technicians, experimental fluid mechanics, and quantum lab management. ## Sources 1. [Roadrunner Venture Studios – Home](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/) 2. [Roadrunner Venture Studios – Careers (Lever)](https://jobs.lever.co/roadrunner-studios) 3. [Roadrunner Venture Studios – Built In profile](https://builtin.com/company/roadrunner-venture-studios) 4. [Roadrunner Venture Studios – Team](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/team) 5. [Roadrunner Venture Studios – Mission](https://roadrunnerventurestudios.com/mission) ## Other roles at Roadrunner Venture Studio - [Head of Venture Creation](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-venture-creation-roadrunner-venture-studio-remote-adwc76p88wmd) - [Head of Atmospheric Research - Onsite in San Francisco, CA](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-atmospheric-research-onsite-in-san-francisco-ca-roadrunner-venture-r48pcsxvf5q2) — San Francisco, CA - [Head of Hardware Engineering - Onsite in San Francisco, CA](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-hardware-engineering-onsite-in-san-francisco-ca-roadrunner-venture-2cg12qgm4bzb) — San Francisco, CA - [Head of Hardware Engineering - Onsite in Albuquerque, NM](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-hardware-engineering-onsite-in-albuquerque-nm-roadrunner-venture-studio-pe7rs6vgaz0a) — Albuquerque, NM - [Head of Atmospheric Research - Onsite in Albuquerque, NM](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-atmospheric-research-onsite-in-albuquerque-nm-roadrunner-venture-studio-bms4qxwaav6y) — Albuquerque, NM - [Executive/Founder in Residence - Advanced Energy](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-founder-in-residence-advanced-energy-roadrunner-venture-studio-zy8fnkvb1b2f) — Albuquerque, NM - [Field Operational Meteorologist](https://feeny.ai/job/field-operational-meteorologist-roadrunner-venture-studio-albuquerque-am26rw63wjh1) — Albuquerque, NM - [Facility Manager - Roadrunner Quantum Lab](https://feeny.ai/job/facility-manager-roadrunner-quantum-lab-roadrunner-venture-studio-albuquerque-9gayrv4x5bgy) — Albuquerque, NM - [Chief Financial Officer](https://feeny.ai/job/chief-financial-officer-roadrunner-venture-studio-tampa-bay-vvje29bagdgr) — Tampa Bay, FL - [Experimental Fluid Mechanics: Two-Phase Flow & Nozzle Testing (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/experimental-fluid-mechanics-two-phase-flow-nozzle-testing-contract-roadrunner-4tgnya127c7g)