Chief of Staff

Culdesac is a real estate and technology startup that builds cities for people, not cars. Our goal is to create the first car-free city in the US. We started by creating the first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US - Culdesac Tempe, a $200 million mixed-use neighborhood development for 1,000 residents that opened in 2022. The neighborhood covers 17 acres and features 55% open space, shared courtyards, and abundant bookable spaces. Culdesac is the co-developer and tech-enabled property manager.

Read more about our vision, our product, and how we are changing how people live, work, and move:

Introducing Culdesac: Building car-free neighborhoods from scratch by Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

The Capital of Sprawl Gets a Radically Car-Free Neighborhood by The New York Times

Paying Rent Will Get You Wheels in New Car-Free Complex by Bloomberg

New Arizona Development Bans Residents From Bringing Cars - WSJ by Wall Street Journal

11 rules for buying an ebike. Ebikes are about to change the world. By Ryan Johnson (CEO & Founder)

We’re headquartered in Tempe, AZ and were founded in 2018. CEO Ryan Johnson was previously on the founding team of Opendoor. We raised a $30M Series A in January 2022. Our investors include top VCs like Khosla Ventures, Lennar (LenX), Zigg Capital, Initialized Capital, Byers Capital, and Y Combinator.

The Chief of Staff (COS) at Culdesac is a high-impact role where you will work directly with the leadership team to grow the company. Your responsibilities will range from working with the leadership team to define new growth strategies to jumping in to lead high-impact cross-functional initiatives with teammates.

Three major functions of the COS role:

Operations of the office of the CEO, e.g. managing the CEO’s time allocation, OKRs, quarterly/annual planning, and leadership team meetings. This is not an Executive Assistant (EA) role; you’ll work with the CEO’s EA.

Internal and investor communications, e.g. overseeing the team all-hands, board meeting prep, and investor updates.

Special projects, e.g. overhauling company metrics, incubating a new product line, spearheading a recruiting push, or managing an acquisition.

This is an in-person role based out of our Tempe, AZ headquarters, working with the CEO in the office every day.

This role is ideal for candidates looking to gain a holistic view of how startups function.

While this list represents what we are ideally looking for, we encourage you to apply even if your resume includes strengths and experiences that don’t match everything listed here. We expect most to need at least 5-6 years of related experience in a generalist role and prior consulting, finance, or startup experience is preferred.

Demonstrated ownership over work by being self-directed on ad-hoc projects and juggling complex projects, simultaneously meeting competing deadlines.

Experience leading projects that demonstrate one’s strong quantitative and qualitative problem-solving skills.

Ability to think strategically and analytically in order to distill and synthesize large sets of information and data to help drive key decisions.

Ability to be flexible in alignment with the constantly shifting priorities of a start-up.

Ability to communicate and work effectively with complex stakeholders, such as government officials, investors, and partners.

Ability to build clear and concise multi-form communications, such as documents, presentations, voiceovers, narratives, and talking points.

Prioritizes a lifestyle leveraging public transportation, micromobility, and other alternatives to private cars.

We are headquartered in Tempe, AZ, and our office is located in the heart of downtown Tempe. We encourage employees to visit and work in our beautiful Tempe office and offer relocation assistance to those who’d like to move to Tempe. We also have remote positions, and we work hard to create a first-class, remote-friendly environment.

🏥 Benefits Package - Includes options for medical, dental, and vision.

🥚 Family Planning Benefits

🐣 Parental Leave - Up to 12 weeks paid time off for qualifying events.

🏦 401K Savings

🖥️ Work From Home Stipend - Up to $500 for equipment paid by the company.

🌎 Co-Working Stipend - $100 per month paid by Culdesac for space intended for work productivity directly related to Culdesac business (e.g., co-working space pass for the day). Remote employees only.

🚲 Mobility Stipend - Up to $500 to invest in employee micro-mobility setup (e.g., e-bike, e-scooter, micro-mobility accessories).

🛴 Car-Free Commuter Stipend - $200 per month paid by Culdesac. Tempe employees only.

As sprawl became commonplace in our cities, we felt less connected to each other. We normalized hour-long commutes, even as private vehicle ownership became the largest source of carbon emission pollution. Our cities blend technology, real estate, and culture to reimagine our daily lives. Come help us make our residents happier, healthier, and more productive in the years they spend with us and the moments they spend together.

Be inclusive, drawing on the strengths of people who bring a different perspective.

Find ways to work together that overcome disciplinary and geographic separations.

Be output oriented. Ship.

Our mission weaves us deep into people's lives. Respect that trusted relationship by seeing your work through to the end, including the last 10%.

We have a competitive advantage in operationally complex, capital-intensive work.

Tackling all the layers in the stack gives us an opportunity to deliver an exceptional user experience.

Always remember Rule #0: learn from those who have done it before.

Only users know if we’re creating value for them.

We get better by observing behavior and asking others how we can improve.

Respect the limits of what we can know and plan. In the complex organism of a city, emergent behavior rules.

The messiness of human preferences and decision making is the rich soil where our product grows.

Human paradoxes and contradictions are our opportunity to create joy.

If you think Culdesac might be a good fit, we encourage you to apply! You have nothing to lose, and we'll respond to you within a week. If we move forward, here's our typical process:

1. A 15- minute call with a recruiter to understand your high-level background and cover logistics & expectations.

2. A 30-minute video call with our Head of People Operations.

3. A 30-minute in-person interview with our CEO to dig more into your background & experience.

4. A 30-minute video call with our Head of Business Operations overviewing how you would fit in Culdesac’s mission, vision, and culture.

5. A 30-minute video call with our Chief Investment Officer discussing Culdesac’s approach to new projects.

At each step, we leave time for you to ask us questions. We look forward to hearing from you!

Culdesac is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.