CoS Digest: 2025 Chief of Staff Salary Report

Hi {{first_name|there}},

We’re pleased to release our annual Chief of Staff Salary Report! Our goal with this report is to arm you with the data, tools, and language you need for confident salary conversations heading into 2026.

Download 2025 Salary Report

💡 Key Insights

1. Compensation is at an all-time high.
Average base salary rose to $167,954 (median $160K), up 8.5% from 2024. Nearly 1 in 4 Chiefs of Staff earn over $200K, signaling continued growth and maturity of the role.

2. Seniority drives clear salary tiers.
Executive-level CoS now average $194K, while entry-level roles average $91K. Variability expands sharply at higher levels, reflecting broader scope and influence.

3. Experience and expertise pay off.
Chiefs of Staff with 20+ years of experience average $260K, reversing last year’s dip and confirming that long-tenured operators are increasingly valued.

4. Gender parity improves.
The gender pay gap has nearly closed. Women average $166K vs. $163K for men, and women dominate at nearly every level, holding 80% of Director and 69% of Executive/CXO roles.

5. AI maturity is now a pay differentiator.
Chiefs of Staff who identify as AI-First earn 16% more than AI-Curious peers. Personal fluency in AI correlates more strongly with pay than company AI maturity.

To support the release, we’re hosting a special office hours with Rahul Desai, Chief of Staff Network Fellow and co-author of the report. Rahul will break down the highlights, unexpected trends, and key takeaways from this year’s data, then open the floor for live Q&A and one-on-one advice.

📅 Office Hours: Join here

🗓 Wednesday, November 12

💬 Bring your questions and your career goals, Rahul will help you make sense of the data in context.

Join Session

🎧 New Podcast Episodes

Scaling Without Bureaucracy: How Lu Borko Builds High-Trust, High-Growth Teams

In this episode, we sit down with Lu Borko, Chief of Staff at Manychat, to unpack how fast-growing companies can scale without losing their edge.

Drawing from her experiences at Deliveroo, Intercom, and now Manychat, Lu shares how to build systems that support growth while keeping teams agile and aligned.

Listen to the Episode —>

Second Brains & First Principles: Julian Hodari from Fluency Labs on Helping Funds Get AI-Ready

Julian Hodari, Co-Founder of Fluency Labs and former Head of Growth at FlyFlat, told us how he’s helping mid-sized PE, VC, and public markets funds adopt AI while building a company that’s part consultancy, part product studio. Then, he demo’d the “second brain” he’s built in Claude Code to scale himself.

Listen to the Episode —>

Upcoming Events

🗓️ IRL CoS Events

There are a variety of in-person meetups coming up around the world to cap off a year of connecting Chiefs of Staff. If you're local, please join below.