Chief of Staff - Hardware Projects

Chief of Staff - Hardware Projects

Location: Brussels or Paris - regular travel between the two expected

Type: Full-time

About Hexa

Hexa (formerly eFounders) gives entrepreneurs the best chances to build outstanding companies.

We are a pioneering, world-leading startup studio born in Europe that designs, builds and launches category-defining startups. We are today recognized as one of the best venture studios in the world, with a track record comparable to tier-1 VC funds.

We have created 60+ companies (including 3 unicorns) with a combined valuation of over $5 billion among them Aircall, Spendesk, Front, Swan and Yousign. We are passionate about B2B software, particularly AI-native and agentic SaaS, fintech, climate tech, defense tech and healthtech.

Hexa is in full growth mode, with three early-stage activities: our Ventures programs Hexa Start and Hexa Sprint which help entrepreneurs go from zero to one, and a PE program, Hexa Scale, which takes majority stakes in existing startups and pushes them to new thresholds.

A new hardware vertical at Hexa

We've just welcomed Guerric as a new Partner at Hexa, and he's launching our hardware vertical. Guerric is an engineer with a PhD in aerospace engineering. He co-founded ScanWorld, a satellite imagery analytics company, before spending a few years in nuclear energy, where he played a key incubator role in launching companies across fission, fusion and defense.

Guerric is building and scaling hardware startups within the studio, starting with two projects already validated and entering a critical growth phase:

• An atmospheric water generation project: producing drinking water from ambient air.

• A satellite communications project: space telecommunications infrastructure.

Two projects, two markets, one thing in common: relatively long sales cycles, complex procurement processes, and a need to land the first customers and partners in highly specific industrial environments.

The mission

We're looking for a Chief of Staff to support these two projects on their go-to-market and business development track. You'll be at the heart of building the commercial engine for these early-stage startups: identifying targets, structuring the commercial approach, making first contact, and developing strategic partnerships in sectors with long, complex sales cycles.

What you'll be doing

• Mapping the market: identifying the first target accounts, decision-makers, and buying committees in industrial sectors such as aerospace, energy, defense, and data centers.

• Building the go-to-market approach: structuring how each project reaches its first customers and partners, from outreach strategy to positioning.

• Prospecting hands-on: picking up the phone and cold-calling into specific B2B, industrial buying environments. This is not a delegated task, you'll be doing it yourself.

• Developing partnerships: engaging with industrial players, integrators, and institutional actors relevant to each project's ecosystem.

• Acting as a right hand to the founders: helping structure priorities, coordinate across the projects launched within the venture studio, and bring an operator's rigor to fast-moving, still-forming teams.

• Feeding learnings back into the projects: translating what you learn from the field (objections, buying criteria, procurement constraints) into sharper go-to-market decisions.

Who we're looking for

• Solid experience in a hardware / industrial environment, with long sales cycles and complex procurement (e.g., aerospace, energy, defense, infrastructure, or adjacent sectors).

• A background that combines a large industrial company (e.g., Airbus, Siemens, Rheinmetall, EDF, Thalès) with startup experience. We're looking for someone who also has a real hands-on, scrappy startup layer.

• A genuine go-to-market / business development appetite: you're not afraid to cold-call into specific, technical B2B worlds.

• An existing network in industrial sectors like aerospace, energy, defense, or data centers is a strong plus.

• Deep knowledge of the sector and its purchasing dynamics matters more than the exact title of your previous role.

Recruitment process

• First call with Laure - introduction to Hexa and a check on cultural fit.

• Interview with Guerric - mutual introduction, deep dive into the role, both projects, and our approach to management.

• Case study - an exercise inspired by our real projects (for example: identifying the first 10 contacts to reach out to for the water project).

• Final interview - with other team members

• Reference check and offer