The CEO's right-hand person who runs special projects, prepares leadership meetings and makes sure decisions actually get done.
You sit in on the CEO's meetings, take notes on every promise made, and spend the afternoon chasing five departments to follow through. You might write the board presentation, plan the company offsite, and step in to run a team whose manager just quit.
Big-company and well-funded startup chiefs of staff earn the most.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's degree; often consulting, finance or startup experience first, sometimes an MBA.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Economics, Political Science, Public Policy.
Growing faster than average (about 6% over 10 years). Tracks general and operations managers.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI takes notes, tracks promises and drafts board decks, which is much of the job; judgment and getting departments to follow through stay.
Classes: English Language Arts, AP Government, Speech and debate, Business elective.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-1021.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.