Chief of Staff

High level:

As a key member of Reading Partners’ leadership team, the Chief of Staff (CoS) will report directly to the CEO and play a critical role in the overall strategic management of the organization. During a time of ambitious goal-setting and future planning, the Chief of Staff will support the CEO as a strategic thought-partner, run the Executive Office efficiently, manage the national leadership team, and serve as an ambassador for Reading Partners’ REDI work. The Chief of Staff to the CEO will manage a broad and diverse range of responsibilities and relationships. The role will act as a right-hand to the CEO, working across the broader organization to advance initiatives and various dimensions of Reading Partners’ mission. They will also act as a thought partner and gatekeeper to ensure successful outcomes of the CEO’s key priorities. They will manage the CEO’s Director of Executive Office (DEO) who oversees the day-to-day operations and logistics for the Office as well as manage a part-time Executive Assistant.

The CoS to the CEO is a leader, strategist, and implementer. You lead and advance work through engagement, partnership, and consensus-building. You are capable of analyzing complex ideas and breaking them down into manageable pieces to advance the efforts of the CEO. You think on your toes and have a strong ability to see opportunities and issues before they arise.

While we prefer candidates located in the NYC metropolitan area, the candidate location can be flexible within the U.S. as this role is remote. 

What you’ll do:

CEO Support  – 40%

• Manage Executive Office, including strategy, internal communications, and information flow to ensure CEO’s involvement in decision-making at the right moment(s).
• Through close collaboration with the DEO and EA, manage the execution of the CEOs workload to ensure priorities are completed accurately and promptly.
• Ensure that the CEO’s calendar reflects organizational priorities, conduct CEO time assessments, and facilitate monthly stepback with the Executive Office team to increase effectiveness of CEO’s time.
• Work with the Director of Executive Office and Part-Time EA to support preparation for all meetings and opportunities.
• Lead and support National Board of Directors meeting preparation and execution.
• Represent the Executive Office within the organization and serve as strategic counsel to the CEO.

Organizational Culture & Internal Communications – 35% 

• Act as “eyes and ears” for cohesion and alignment between the CEO and the broader organization.
• Help the CEO set the tone for a more collaborative, transparent, and welcoming organization that values differences in backgrounds, perspectives, and identities.
• Lead strategy, preparation, and execution for all executive team meetings, leadership team meetings, and All RP meetings.
• Codify and execute processes for decision making and communication among leadership team.
• Liaise with every member of the executive team to ultimately ensure the Executive Team is aligned on internal communications, announcements, and REDI (Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) priorities.
• Efficiently capture CEO’s vision and draft internal communications; collaborate with the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications to gather input for internal communications and provide input for external communications.
• Manage and oversee organizational calendar.
• Lead planning and facilitation of executive team retreats and build spaces for team connection.

Strategic Leadership – 25% 

• Act as a key project manager for CEO and organizational priorities by planning and building planning and design sessions for internal stakeholders.
• Advance organizational priorities in a collaborative way, ensuring that Reading Partners’ strategic priorities and mission-critical initiatives are advancing on a timely basis.
• Oversee strategic plan implementation, progress, engagement, and change management.
• Support Finance team with building out a successful annual planning implementation process.
• Keep executive team work aligned with organizational goals and strategic initiatives.
• Ensure the CEO’s direct reports consistently understand and are aligned with the priorities of the CEO.
• Oversee framework for dashboard that measures against goals.
• Serve as liaison between the CEO and key staff to ensure clear lines of communication, sharing of resources and information, and strong partnership in joint projects and initiatives.
• Both independently and in partnership with other internal stakeholders, lead special projects, which may be related to internal engagement and alignment, and other organizational priorities.
• Assess inquiries directed to the CEO, determine the proper course of action and delegate to the appropriate individual(s), or manage directly.

How you’ll do it

Internal Communications & Relationship Management

• You have experience identifying, building, and maintaining strong relationships with a diverse array of non-profit, government, community, private sector, and high net worth stakeholders. Demonstrate a savvy ability to cultivate strong internal and external relationships with people such as staff, community constituents, elected officials, media outlets, nonprofit and for-profit leaders, as well as board members. For external stakeholders, provide a best-in-class experience with Reading Partners.
• Have a strong aptitude for and commitment to effective communication remotely, in person, via email, via phone, etc.; demonstrate an ability to effectively communicate with a variety of folks.

Organization and Project Management

• Demonstrate a strong ability to balance multiple competing priorities daily. Consider all stakeholders and implications in projects that are cross-functional.  Demonstrate an ability to rally a variety of stakeholders to meet a goal. Anticipate challenges and opportunities, and proactively act to address them. Translate larger strategic priorities into action steps, and leverage a team to make measurable progress against these larger goals efficiently and effectively. Show an ability to make quick, sound, and on-the-fly decisions that consider all stakeholders. See the bigger picture and be able to drill down to smaller details and connect the dots. Ability to remain positive and goal-oriented in the face of competition for time and resources.

Collaboration & Influence

• Facilitates ongoing interaction and positive dialogue to enable people to collaborate with each other independently across Reading Partners' national and regional organizational structure. Ongoing interaction with key players and stakeholders in order to help them shape a consensus, collectively. Consultative and collaborative leadership style that engenders trust and shared passion across Reading Partners. Possess a strong inclination to develop the relationships that are most important to Reading Partners, be they current partnerships and/or funding relationships and the like, or new targeted relationships.

Strategic Leadership

• You develop and design new strategies and approaches to meeting goals and then lead implementation of those strategies. You bring a systems perspective to organizational challenges, with the ability to effectively move from vision to strategy, to plan, to execution, while managing multiple work streams and demonstrating exceptional project management instincts. You are creative, a thoughtful decision maker, and are comfortable partnering with others to problem solve, and use clear and strategic processes in making decisions. In addition, you have professional experience both developing and executing strategy to optimize organizational processes and achieve ambitious goals.

About you!

You’ll be successful in this role if you:

• Previous executive-level Chief of Staff experience (Strongly Preferred)
• Have a minimum of 8 years of experience in a leadership role
• Experience working across many teams within the organization
• Are a strong written and verbal communicator
• Are experienced interacting and collaborating with board leadership
• Able to manage up and have experience giving feedback to C-Level leadership
• Ability to build strong relationships across all levels of the organization
• Possess strong project management skills and experience executing large, complex projects
• Boast a deep belief in our mission and root your work in our core values
• Strong preference for a candidate based in the NYC Metropolitan area
• Can prove eligibility to work in the US legally
• Hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• COVID-19 vaccination is required unless a medical or religious accommodation is requested and approved. Please review our Vaccination Policy.

Bonus Points if you:

• Are an AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, or other national service alum/alumna
• Have experience working in launch or growth phases of organizations
• Have experience leading strategic and annual planning processes

What we offer:

Reading Partners offers the full package – great benefits, a great place to work and the opportunity to have a glowing and growing career. 

• We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience. This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position. Pay range for this role is $150,000 - $155,000 annually.
• We offer a rich suite of health, welfare, and lifestyle benefits, including medical, dental, vision, paid time off, commuter benefits, referral bonuses, 403(b) match option, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• We offer an exciting and dynamic culture, and we commit to investing in and supporting our amazing people to grow their careers with us. 

The other things you need to know:

While we prefer candidates located in the NYC metropolitan area, the candidate location can be flexible within the U.S. as this role is remote. This position requires travel for quarterly board meetings, Executive Leadership retreats, and other select events.

What’s Next?

If you’re interested in joining our Reading Partners team, please submit the following application materials to our online job posting:

• A cover letter describing your interest in Reading Partners and how your past experience has prepared you for this role. Please include your salary needs.
• Resume