Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal looking for Chief of Staff: Will have to pay ₹20 lakh ‘fee’, no salary for first year

Zomato Ltd's founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Deepinder Goyal, on Wednesday, November 20, said that he is looking for a “Chief of Staff” at Zomato in a social media post on LinkedIn. The chief of staff candidate will have to pay an opportunity “fee” of ₹20 lakh to the food delivery giant and will receive no pay for the first year of employment.

“I am looking for a chief of staff for myself,” said Goyal in his LinkedIn post. 

In the post on the job platform, Goyal is on the hunt for a candidate and is offering an opportunity to someone who is willing to spend ₹20 lakh as an opportunity fee, which will be donated directly to the charity Feeding India. 

“There is no salary for this role for the first year. You will have to, in fact, pay ₹20 lacs for this opportunity. 100% of this ‘fee’ will be paid in the form of a donation directly to Feeding India (if you are offered the role, and you accept it),” according to the job offer.

The post highlighted that the salary of a Chief of Staff is ₹50 lakh, and the company will contribute the same amount to a charity of the selected candidate's choice.

“At our end, we want to demonstrate that we are not trying to save money here - we will contribute ₹50 lacs (equivalent to a Chief of Staff salary) to a charity of your choice,” as per the offer. 

From the second year, the company will start to pay the selected candidate the usual salary, i.e., more than ₹50 lakh, which will be subject to discussion at the start of the second year.

“Second year onwards, we will start paying you the usual salary (definitely more than 50 lacs, but something we will only talk about at the start of Year 2),” said the job posting.

Why is Zomato charging an opportunity ‘fee’?

Goyal shared that the company believes that the people who apply for this role should do it for the learning opportunity it presents as compared to the idea of a fancy well, well-paying job which will make them look cool in front of the people.

“Put differently, think of this as a fast track learning program, for you both personally and professionally - whether or not you succeed at this role. And we want learners for this role, not résumé builders,” said Zomato in the job posting. 

Job role and what to expect?

In the new Chief of Staff job role, the candidate will be expected to do anything and everything to build the future of Zomato and its other ventures.

“Anything and everything to build the future of Zomato (including Blinkit, District, Hyperpure, and Feeding India),” said the company.

On the expectations front, the CEO said the candidate will receive “10x more learnings than a 2-year degree from a top management school, working with me and some of the smartest folks in consumer tech.” 

Zomato Ltd's shares closed 0.24 per cent higher at ₹271.35 after Tuesday's market close, compared to ₹270.70 on the previous day. The domestic stock markets were closed on Wednesday, November 20 due to a public holiday.