Chief of Staff

The Alliance for Youth Action (along with our sister 501(c)(3) organization the Alliance for Youth Organizing) is searching for a Chief of Staff (CoS) to work on a mixture of administrative, operational, and organizational-wide projects to make time, information, and decision-making more effective. The CoS is a doer, with experience and comfort interacting with and managing senior executives. The CoS is nimble, transparent, and thrives in a participatory leadership environment.

About the Alliance for Youth Action

The Alliance convenes, supports, and scales a national network of youth-led, locally rooted organizations growing civic engagement and social justice coast to coast. We truly are a multiracial network “of young people, by young people, for all people.” Our Network  runs massive voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, trains new young leaders, and runs powerful campaigns to win on the progressive issues our generation cares about most. Our national team empowers this work by tracking down national resources for the network, building capacity for local groups, seeding new efforts, and coordinating national issue campaigns. 

Job Responsibilities

Executive or Internal Management 

  • Oversee large, often cross-functional organization-wide projects or initiatives.
  • Organize the ideas, projects, people, time, and resources necessary to keep all departments moving forward.
  • Assign tasks to the appropriate people, support them, and hold them accountable for the results.
  • Improve current processes and coordinate organizational procedures for optimized efficiency and productivity.
  • Lead the coordination and development of departmental goal setting to ensure programmatic and operational work is efficiently and accurately reflected in the organization’s annual planning.
  • Collaborate with senior leaders and staff to develop systems and integration of other software used by the organization for effective monitoring, analyzing, forecasting, and reporting of projects across the organization.
  • Manage annual performance review process, including improving evaluation instruments, providing support for staff, and ensuring accountability for staff performance.

Internal Communications 

  • Communicate the vision, ideas, projects, or the process to the necessary stakeholders. This includes creating content, providing context, and helping connect the dots across all departments to create opportunities and growth
  • Refine and maintain internal communications systems to ensure staff have the information needed to successfully perform their responsibilities
  • Improve internal meeting culture, by refining meeting structures, frequency, communications, and decision-making processes, and holding staff accountable for meeting norms

Hiring and People Operations Management 

  • Lead initiatives in organizational management, performance management, and leadership development
  • Help develop existing managers, ensuring they are operating at their best and continuing to improve their management skills.
  • Build, improve, and implement core internal parts of the organization, including but not limited to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, human resources, people and culture, cross departmental collaboration, performance evaluations, and governance 

Executive Leadership

  • Partner with the Executive Director and relevant staff to manage the relationship with the Board of Directors, including working with Senior Leadership/Department Heads to manage board committees, and working within the Executive Team to support Board recruitment, onboarding, engagement, and meeting planning.
  • In partnership with consultants and key staff, navigate and lead on implementation of the organization’s new strategic plan.
  • Coordinate with appropriate stakeholders in all aspects of project planning, monitoring, and implementation for all capacity building activities;

Candidate Profile 

We are searching for a candidate that 

  • Has a core philosophy and belief in young people as change makers within their communities
  • Has a well-developed skill set in project-management: organized and disciplined, deep attention to detail, and active follow up to ensure the right results. 
  • Has a sophisticated mix of emotional intelligence, judgment, discretion, diplomacy, and political acumen
  • Can anticipate and avert problems
  • Has excellent and versatile writing skills including the ability to summarize detailed information
  • Can demonstrate knowledge and application of strategic planning and project management principles.

Key Qualifications & Experience

  • Nonprofit Organizational Leadership
    • Significant management experience (5+ years), particularly supervising professional staff in a fast-paced environment, in areas including but not limited to Belonging, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, operations, human resources, strategic planning, nonprofit financial management, and/or nonprofit governance.
    • Proven ability and a vision for building an equitable, diverse, and inclusive workplace, where all staff feel a sense of belonging in both a remote and in-person environment
    • Experience implementing management best practices, including caring for and getting the best out of people in both a remote and in-person environment
    • Tact, diplomacy, and a collaborative spirit in interacting with staff, Board, and external partners
    • Experience improving organizational systems and preparing departments to utilize them with rapidly shifting organizational demands
  • Critical Thinking and Strategy
    • A self-starter with a strong initiative who – beyond directing current systems – has the willingness to identify additional processes that could be streamlined and the skills to realize that vision
    • Willingness and excitement to think outside the box to ensure organizational values – especially those related to diversity, equity, and inclusion – are reflected in operations work
    • Know when to answer the question someone meant to ask rather than the one they did
  • Baseline Skills
    • Proficiency in excel and/or google sheets
    • Proficiency in Google Suite, Project Management Software and Slack 
    • Excellent interpersonal skills and patience
    • Excellent written and verbal communication
    • Comfortability with technology and virtual communication systems, including Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc.

Logistics

  • Compensation: $175,000 – $200,000 per year commensurate with experience.
  • Benefits: The Alliance offers a competitive benefits package covering:
    • Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance covering
      • 100% of employee premiums 
      • 75% of premiums for employee dependents
    • Employer retirement contributions (SEP IRA) of 5% of salary
    • Employer paid life insurance, short and long term disability income protection insurance 
    • Cell phone and internet stipends of $100 per month
    • WMATA transportation Smartbenefits for staff located in the DMV area
    • Professional development opportunities and funds 
    • Generous paid time off policy through which staff accrue 10 hours of PTO per month
    • Unlimited sick leave
    • Paid family and medical leave up to 16 weeks
    • Paid Sabbatical (after 4 years of service)
    • 15 paid holidays
    • Potential for end of year or other bonuses
  • Location: This is a full-time position based in the United States. All Alliance staff are required to live within about an hour from an airport with frequent flights to DC and to our network locations; eligible airports are listed here. Moving reimbursements are offered to employees who need to move for this position.
  • Travel:  Under non pandemic circumstances, domestic travel for this role may be up to 30% of this position. Must be willing to work periodically long, irregular hours and to travel as needed.
  • COVID-19: At the Alliance, we require staff to be fully vaccinated and boosted, with reasonable exemptions for religious or medical needs.

Commitment to Equity

At the Alliance for Youth Action, we want to create a world where our democracy works for everyone and where all people – no matter where they come from, what they look like, or how they identify – live in loving, safe, and thriving communities. As such, we value diversity and equity as central to our work. The Alliance for Youth Action is an equal opportunity employer and an inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. People of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, people of diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and identities are encouraged to apply. 

Some candidates may feel discouraged from applying if they don’t match every job requirement – we encourage you to apply anyway.

To Apply

Please fill out this form, and submit a single pdf document including the following:

  • Two paragraphs or less explaining why you want this position and what makes you a strong candidate (please prioritize content over formality) 
  • Resume
  • Three references (we will reach out to you first before contacting them)

Please reach out via email with any questions.

The Priority Deadline to apply is January 21, 2025, but application will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position has been filled.