Chief of Staff

Chief of Staff

Location: Fully remote, operating on East Coast Time

About 50CAN

50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now, a nonprofit organization that works at the local level to advocate for a high-quality education for all kids, regardless of their address. We develop local education leaders by providing them with the research, tools and ideas needed to create learning environments that best meet every child’s needs. 50CAN operates campaigns in Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and Tennessee and is led by CEO & Founder Marc Porter Magee.

Position

The Chief of Staff is a key member of 50CAN’s leadership team, supporting strategic objectives for our network of highly effective advocacy campaigns. Reporting to 50CAN’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Chief of Staff will drive progress on organizational goals; partner with local campaign leaders to ensure they receive excellent service from our national team; mentor and develop national staff; manage key projects; and coordinate leadership team and board meetings. To succeed in this critical role, you should be a strategic thinker, an eager doer, highly discreet and able to contribute thoughtfully and with sound judgment on a range of tough, exciting challenges.

The Chief of Staff’s primary responsibilities and duties will be:

Reporting to the COO, with input and feedback from the leadership team, to monitor progress towards organizational goals and develop vision, strategies, structure and content for leadership meetings and retreats

• Strategic Leadership

  • Work with the executive team to lead the annual planning processes to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
  • Lead the effort to produce disciplined processes to create and track progress against organizational priorities.
  • Manage and update organization staff policy handbook annually.
  • Articulate, track and ensure ongoing reflection on 50CAN’s Core Values.

• Staff Culture

  • Coordinate leadership meetings, national staff meetings and all-staff team meetings, and develop critical internal and external communications.
  • Partner with the leadership team to build a diverse organization with a strong culture.
  • Set vision and direction, and manage staff goal setting, annual performance review, staff survey, professional development and staff gatherings.
  • Develop meeting agendas and manage follow-up to key decisions.
  • Manage quarterly board meeting agenda and materials, including capturing all action items and meeting minutes accordingly.
  • Lead national staff who manage event logistics for CAN Summit, quarterly gatherings and other meetings.
  • Prepare briefings or materials in advance of important internal and external meetings

Serve as project manager for special projects, and inspire and motivate national support staff to ensure high-quality services are being delivered to campaign teams in service of advocacy plans

• Perform analysis and strategic consultation on major issues impacting the organization.
• Prepare briefings, memos or presentations to communicate findings.
• Manage and oversee, at the direction of the COO, projects that typically require cross-functional collaboration and resource allocation.
• Provide project planning and management for both departmental projects and initiatives.
• Supervise team members assigned to special projects, such as managing the planning and execution of the CAN Summit and the planning and production of the CANnual Report.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders and support the leadership team in identifying high-priority topics for board input and draft agendas for quarterly board meetings

Provide excellent internal communication support

• Coordinate internal communication projects across 50CAN.
  • Build strong and collaborative working relationships with 50CAN state and national staff in order to advance internal communication priorities.

Who you are

A professional who possesses strong written and verbal communication skills, personal drive and motivation, demonstrates exemplary professional behavior and values and who is resourceful, responsible, tenacious, independent and self-confident. Must have the demonstrated ability to deal with highly confidential information and act as a liaison between the COO/leadership team and other stakeholders, both internal and external. Must exhibit the skills to collaborate with and achieve actionable results through others, the ability to build strong and sustainable relationships and the capability to interact within all levels of the organization.

The ideal candidate will have formal experience with a client services organization, management consulting firmor nonprofit organization that is organized as a spoke-and-hub model. In addition, the successful candidate will have:

• Fast-paced, urgent, and high-capacity. The ideal candidate will have the ability to work quickly, under pressure and with strong attention to detail, including some weekend and evening hours as necessary. Experience in fast-paced education nonprofits strongly preferred. Ability to work proactively in an ambiguous, dynamic, entrepreneurial organization. A working understanding of a client/advisory services or consulting environment.

• A superb writer with proven ability to consistently deliver error-free, clear and compelling writing. The ideal candidate will have a track record of delivering exceptionally strong writing, as well as the ability to copy edit their work (and the work of others.)

• Able to work effectively with development teams and programmatic leaders, building fundraising capacity throughout the organization as needed. The ideal candidate will consistently think about how to codify what is and is not working so our campaigns can replicate successes as easily as possible. Possess the ability to build relationships and influence others by interacting with a broad range of stakeholders with different interests and needs. Able to manage multiple simultaneous deadlines while maintaining attention to detail.

• Driven by strong values, integrity and humility. Our core values (“PORCH”) are plussing it, optimism, relentlessness, candor and humility. The ideal candidate will enjoy collaborating to advance the mission in a culture defined by those values, as well as have a sense of humor, “roll up your sleeves” work ethic and willingness to do what it takes.

Educational background and work experience:

• Bachelor’s degree from a competitive college or university
• 7-10 years of project management experience, ideally in a client-service or consulting environment, with a track record of successful project management and management through influence and/or cross-functional leadership

The following training/skill set is ideal but not required:

• Demonstrated passion and commitment to working in the field of education reform
• Familiarity with the challenges facing public schools and education reform efforts in the United States

Working At 50CAN

This position is fully remote and operates on the East Coast time zone. Salary for this position is competitive and commensurate with experience. In addition, 50CAN offers a comprehensive benefits package.  50CAN is an equal opportunity employer and we encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply. Full compliance with our organization's policies regarding COVID-19 includes the requirement that all new hires are to be fully vaccinated.

How To Apply

Interested applicants should apply through 50CAN's BambooHR portal here.  Please include your current resume and cover letter addressed to Michele Mason, COO and submit that through the BambooHR portal. Please note that the position post will be accepted on a rolling basis.