Business
Billionaire Vinod Khosla Is Hiring for This In-Demand Job, Which Typically Pays $175,000 Per Year
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Published 10/19/2026 1:23:10 PM
Vinod Khosla Is Hiring for This Job, Which Typically Pays $175K
Key Takeaways
- Billionaire investor Vinod Khosla is hiring a chief of staff with a three-year commitment.
- Khosla emphasizes learning quickly, asking strong questions and thinking from first principles.
- Former chiefs of staff have founded companies and launched investment firms.
Vinod Khosla, 71, spends his days betting on the future. Now the Silicon Valley billionaire is hiring someone to help him decide which big ideas are worth the investment.
Khosla said in a recent post on X that he is accepting candidates for his next chief of staff.
“You won’t know every field I work in,” Khosla wrote in the post, which had nearly two million views. “What matters is how quickly you learn, the questions you ask and whether you can think from first principles.”
The job description specifies that the candidate must work in person in Menlo Park, California, and commit to the role for three years. The selected chief of staff must work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and “maintain around-the-clock availability.” They must be willing to work nights and weekends as needed.
In return, they have the opportunity to work closely with Khosla, serving as a “thought partner” to him.
“You’ll learn how Vinod evaluates opportunities and builds conviction,” the job description stated.
Khosla’sformer chiefs of staff have later founded businesses and started investment firms, the description added. The job offers experience that can translate into many careers.
The role did not list a salary range. Indeed noted that demand for chiefs of staff has grown. September postings for the position were nearly 90% higher than before the pandemic.
Indeed found that the median advertised salary for chiefs of staff was $175,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area, higher than about $152,000 nationwide.
Khosla was worth $11.3 billion at the time of writing, according to Forbes.
Khosla says AI is transforming work
In an interview earlier this year with Entrepreneur, Khosla predicted that AI will be able to carry out “80% of all jobs by 2030.”
“The good news is that AI will also be available to the everyday person who has an idea to start something of their own,” he explained. “Coding, customer service, marketing and design are no longer blockers. This means millions of new entrepreneurs will be born. What I see is massive wealth creation opportunities.”
When Khosla looks at a potential investment, he asks a couple of questions: Is the project important? Will it change the world meaningfully? Is the team capable of supporting it? Also, if the founder is wrong about everything except the core idea, can they still find a way to win?
“I prefer not to invest in incremental improvements,” Khosla said. “Plans change. What matters is whether the person can navigate that.”
The trait he looks for above all else in founders is learning rate. He disclosed that he often argues with founders about positions he doesn’t believe in, just to see how they respond. Do they push back or passively just agree?
“The ones who cave are not the ones I back,” he said. “I want someone with the intellectual confidence to say I am wrong and here is why. Beyond that, I want someone who is irrational about the importance of what they are building.”
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Key Takeaways
- It is becoming more common for companies to search for a chief of staff, a second-in-command to the boss.
- According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for chief of staff roles are up 85% since early 2020.
- Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, hired his first chief of staff 16 years ago, and his requirements for the role have evolved since then.
Over 16 years ago, Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, went searching for his first chief of staff. He wanted someone to shadow him, take notes and tell him what came next in his schedule.
However, as Imax expanded, nearly quadrupling in scope from 55 theaters in 2010 to nearly 2,000 today, Gelfond’s requirements for a chief of staff grew too.
“They’re really invaluable in helping me think through what I want to say and what I want to accomplish and then how to execute it and helping me execute it,” Gelfond told The New York Times in a recent interview.
It is becoming more common to search for a chief of staff. According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for the role are up 85% since early 2020. In contrast, companies are searching for comparably fewer executive assistants and secretaries. Chief of staff is usually a senior role, often second-in-command to the boss, while executive assistants and secretaries are comparatively more junior.
A chief of staff as a coordinator and gatekeeper
Clara Ma, founder and CEO of Ask a Chief of Staff, a networking site that brings together chiefs of staff, told the Times that an executive assistant “figures out what time something goes on the calendar, but a chief of staff figures out whether it should go on the calendar at all.”
The difference in responsibility leads to a notable difference in pay. According to a survey Ma conducted, chief of staff roles pay $150,000 to $200,000, depending on experience. In contrast, ZipRecruiter notes that the median pay for an executive assistant in New York City is $70,517.
Catherine Berardi was formerly the chief of staff to Mellody Hobson, a co-chief executive of Ariel Investments, and now runs Prime Executive Office, a company that matches executives with office leaders like chiefs of staff. She said in an interview with the Times that the chief of staff can be the “orchestrator” who coordinates events and activities for company leaders across divisions.
“When you think of these big issues that organizations have today — AI, cybersecurity, customer success, growth — it’s hard to be like, ‘this is just your thing,’” Berardi told the Times. CEOs “need somebody to make sure that that’s coordinated and successful and not a nightmare.”
Some employers are hiring before defining the role
As business leaders face more complex challenges, they increasingly see a trusted adviser as indispensable, though some are hiring chiefs of staff before defining exactly what the role will do.
“There’s a lot of people who are like Oprah — you should get a chief of staff! You should get a chief of staff,” Berardi said. “They’re such a follow-the-leader when it comes to this position.”
Instead of fearing being replaced by AI, Gelfond’s current chief of staff, Natalie Mayer, who is fluent in the technology, regularly suggests ways the organization can use it.
“Maybe they’ll teach me enough to replace themselves,” Gelfond told the Times. “But they haven’t done that yet.”
Key Takeaways
- It is becoming more common for companies to search for a chief of staff, a second-in-command to the boss.
- According to the job posting site Indeed, listings for chief of staff roles are up 85% since early 2020.
- Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, hired his first chief of staff 16 years ago, and his requirements for the role have evolved since then.
Over 16 years ago, Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax, went searching for his first chief of staff. He wanted someone to shadow him, take notes and tell him what came next in his schedule.
However, as Imax expanded, nearly quadrupling in scope from 55 theaters in 2010 to nearly 2,000 today, Gelfond’s requirements for a chief of staff grew too.
“They’re really invaluable in helping me think through what I want to say and what I want to accomplish and then how to execute it and helping me execute it,” Gelfond told The New York Times in a recent interview.
