The founders' time is the company's scarcest resource. Someone has to guard it, and see the problem before it becomes one. That someone is you. You run their calendars, their travel, and the office itself, and you stay a step ahead so the day runs on time and nothing reaches them as a fire. This is not a reactive role. It is anticipation, and it is yours.
Who We Are
First Order Effects (FOE) is building America's Infrastructure Prime for the robotic era. Autonomous ships, drones, and robots are rewriting how the world moves, fights, and builds - but none of them work without infrastructure to power them, connect them, and launch and recover them. That's what we build.
We've Built Cutting Edge Systems at Legendary Companies
Our team comes from SpaceX, Anduril, Saronic, Lockheed Skunk Works, Forterra, and Fuse Energy. Before founding FOE, we built satellite ground stations that closed a national comms gap in days, deployed multi-megawatt power systems at commercial speed, and shipped autonomous surface vessels into Navy fleet production. We've built infrastructure at lightspeed before - now we're applying that playbook to an entire company.
The Role
Own the founders' calendars: complex, shifting schedules across three founders and multiple time zones, prioritized ruthlessly, with focus time protected.
Own travel end-to-end: domestic and international flights, hotels, ground, agendas, and the last-minute changes, so a trip is never a distraction.
Own the office: facilities, snacks and kitchen, supplies and inventory, printers, and the vendors who keep it stocked and working.
Own shipping and receiving: incoming and outgoing shipments, including parts and hardware, logged and routed to the right hands.
Own front of house: the warm, professional first point of contact for visitors, candidates, customers, and partners.
What You'll Do
Manage the founders' calendars and protect focus time, resolving conflicts before they happen.
Book and run domestic and international travel and logistics end-to-end, including the last-minute changes.
Keep the office and facilities stocked, working, and welcoming, and manage the vendors behind it.
Handle shipping and receiving, expense reports, receipts, and day-to-day admin with accuracy and discretion.
Prepare for meetings and coordinate on-sites, team events, and the offsites that keep a fast-growing team connected.
Partner daily with the Chief of Staff on the operating rhythm and jump on whatever the founders and the company need most.
What We're Looking For
You've done this at a fast-moving, high-growth technology company, and you know what it takes to support leaders who operate at speed.
Anticipatory and proactive - you see around corners, prepare for what's next, and solve problems before they're raised. You are never strictly reactive.
Ruthlessly organized and detail-obsessed. Nothing slips: not a flight, not a receipt, not a package, not a guest.
Calm and resourceful under pressure, and able to turn on a dime when plans change.
A warm, clear communicator with a genuine service mindset - and the discretion to be trusted with sensitive schedules, travel, and information.
Low ego, high ownership. You take pride in a well-run office and a well-run day.
Bonus: you've supported founders or senior executives at a company known for speed and ownership (Anduril, Saronic, SpaceX, Tesla, Anthropic, or OpenAI, or the equivalent bar somewhere less obvious); fluency with Google Workspace and modern scheduling, travel, and expense tools; experience in a hardware, defense, aerospace, or GovCon environment; and having helped stand up or scale an office from the early days.
Compensation
Competitive base + equity + benefits. If you're an outlier, we'll pay like it.
ITAR requirement
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations (ITAR/EAR), applicants must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3). Candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance; active clearance not required.
FOE is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with FOE is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.
Sovereignty is built, not declared - come build it with us.
Skills Required
- Experience supporting leaders at a fast-moving, high-growth technology company
- Proactive, anticipatory approach with strong problem-solving skills
- Highly organized and detail-oriented
- Ability to remain calm and resourceful under pressure
- Clear communication, service mindset, and discretion with sensitive information
- U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual under ITAR/EAR regulations
- Eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance
- Experience supporting founders or senior executives
- Fluency with Google Workspace and modern scheduling, travel, and expense tools
- Experience in hardware, defense, aerospace, or GovCon environments
- Experience helping establish or scale an office
What We Do
First Order Effects (FOE) is building infrastructure for the autonomous era, serving the United States and its allies. The company develops and deploys physical systems that power, connect, launch, and recover autonomous ships, drones, and robots. Its work includes MESH Box and SURGE systems and draws on experience in satellite ground stations, power systems, autonomous surface vessels, and defense-oriented engineering.
