Chief of Staff (CEO office)

Backbase is hiring for a Chief of Staff role within the CEO office, based in Amsterdam.

The Chief of Staff (CoS) is the CEO’s and SLT’s primary strategic and execution partner, responsible for aligning product development, AI platform evolution, and commercial execution into a single, coherent operating rhythm.

The purpose of this role is to ensure that Backbase’s transformation into an AI-native Banking OS is not just a product vision, but a repeatable, sellable, and deliverable reality—from roadmap to revenue, and from strategy to field execution.

This is a high-trust, high-impact role for someone with deep SaaS and AI software experience who can operate fluently across Product, Technology, Sales, Marketing, and Expert Services.

What you'll do

Core responsibilities (Company Operating System: Product ↔ Commercial)

• Design and run the CEO’s operating cadence across product and platform execution, commercial execution, and services execution.
• Ensure meetings result in decisions, owners, and measurable outcomes.
• Structure complex decisions by framing trade-offs across product scope, delivery capacity, and commercial impact.
• Ensure clarity on what truly matters and what should not consume executive attention.
• Track progress on the key initiatives that define Backbase’s transformation.

Product & Platform execution

• Work closely with CTO and Product Leadership to ensure roadmaps are outcome-driven, not feature-driven.
• Translate strategy into clear product priorities and sequencing.
• Surface execution risks early (dependencies, ambiguity, delivery capacity).
• Help institutionalize modern delivery models (e.g. Agentic SDLC, MissionOps) by ensuring clear intent and domain contracts.
• Ensure tight feedback loops between build, deploy, and learn.
• Act as an execution integrator connecting strategy, product decisions, and delivery reality.
• Ensure that what is built can be understood, sold, delivered, and adopted by the field.
• Partner with Product and Commercial leadership to shape packaging, pricing, and commercial boundaries.
• Define clear value propositions tied to business outcomes.
• Avoid “roadmap drift” that undermines commercial focus.
• Translate field feedback into actionable product and packaging adjustments.

Commercial & service execution (Field effectiveness)

• Work closely with Sales, Marketing, and Expert Services leadership to improve pipeline development.
• Align marketing narratives with actual product and delivery maturity.
• Ensure services are sold and delivered in ways that accelerate platform adoption.
• Partner with Services and Product leadership to evolve Expert Services toward IP-scaled, MissionOps-driven delivery.
• Establish clear scoping, pricing, and renewal mechanics.
• Ensure delivery choices reinforce product adoption, customer outcomes, and sustainable margin expansion.

Who you are

Ideal background & experience (Must-have)

• 10–15+ years experience in B2B SaaS, preferably with exposure to AI, platforms, or data-intensive software.
• Strong understanding of product development and software delivery, including modern platform architectures.
• Proven experience working closely with Sales, Marketing, and Services organizations.
• Prior roles near C-level, such as Chief of Staff, Head of Strategy, Senior Product or Platform leader, or GM/commercial leader with product accountability.

Highly valued

• Experience in platform transitions, category creation, or operating-model shifts.
• Exposure to enterprise, regulated industries.
• Track record of turning complex product strategy into commercially successful offerings.

Personal attributes & gravitas

• Bilingual in product and commercial language.
• Technically fluent—able to engage deeply without getting lost in detail.
• Commercially grounded—understands how buying, selling, and delivery really work.
• Direct and trusted—willing to challenge the CEO and ELT constructively.
• Structured, pragmatic, outcome-driven.
• Low-ego, high-leverage.

Success in the first 12 months looks like

• Product roadmaps, GTM motions, and services delivery are tightly aligned.
• AI-native Banking OS and MissionOps move from vision to repeatable execution.
• Field teams can clearly explain—and successfully sell—what Backbase builds.
• Product teams receive fast, high-quality feedback from real customer interactions.

Why join us

This role offers a unique opportunity to be at the heart of a high-growth software company, working closely with the CEO and leadership team to shape the company’s future. You will have a direct impact on our path to $1B ARR and be a key driver of our long-term success.