Chief of Staff

Location

Oakland, CA | United States

Job description

Title: Chief of Staff

Reports to: President

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary Range: $189,509 - $214,667

Location: Remote

Tentative Start Date: TBD

About Race Forward

Race Forward's mission is to catalyze movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, we build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture. Race Forward imagines a just, multiracial democratic society free from oppression and exploitation, in which people of color thrive with power and purpose.

Since 1981, Race Forward has brought a systemic analysis and an innovative approach to complex race issues to help people take effective action toward racial equity. In 2017 Race Forward united with the Center for Social Inclusion to become the new Race Forward.

Position Summary

The Chief of Staff reports directly to the President and works closely with and on behalf of the President and the Senior Leadership Team, coordinating a wide range of complex activities and responsibilities. The Chief of Staff is the President's primary liaison and represents the President before a variety of internal and external constituencies. They will provide leadership and overall project and relationship management for key strategic projects between the President's Office and others within and external to Race Forward. The Chief of Staff carries primary responsibility to provide the President with strategic counsel and guidance. They serve as a member of the executive and senior leadership teams, participating in the formulation of organizational strategy, guiding the development of strategic and leadership interventions.

The Chief of Staff will be politically astute, with a high level of emotional intelligence, sound judgment and a commitment to excellence. Engaging with a wide range of constituents, including, executive and senior teams, staff, and members of the board, will require an executive with outstanding communication skills and the ability to operate with the highest level of diplomacy.

Duties/Responsibilities
● Triage issues on the President's behalf, negotiating solutions to complex
problems, and handling confidential and sensitive issues;
● Provide the President with timely and balanced views of current and emerging
issues/problems and suggest options for dealing with them;
● Interact with executive and senior leaders on advancing the President's goals
and objectives;
● Coordinate meetings and briefings with disparate stakeholders and the
President, participating as required, and managing follow-up;
● Coordinate implementation of strategic planning priorities, including strategic
calendering process, working in close collaboration with the Executive
Leadership Team, to ensure sufficient attention is directed to key strategic
priorities and key internal and external constituencies;
● Ensure that the President is well informed and briefed in advance of meetings
and other engagements;
● Develop and/or review items for the President's signature, formulating
recommendations and presenting options, and drafting responses;
● Provide leadership and mentoring in creating an atmosphere of excellence and
teamwork among all staff within the Office of the President, and executive and
senior leaders;
● Represent the President in meetings, on standing and ad-hoc committees, and in
external meetings as needed;
● Supervise administrative support staff in the Office of the President to ensure that
efforts are aligned;
● Provide creative and strategic thought partnership to senior leaders;
● Define goals that lead to supporting Office of the President priorities;
● Problem-solve with executive and senior leaders on crisis issues as they arise;
● Collaborates with the Chief Operating Officer on board and committee
engagement ensuring critical matters are prioritized and managed accordingly;
and
● Foster connections and collaboration with all Race Forward Offices.

Required Job Competencies (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities)
To perform successfully in this role, incumbent should possess skills identified below:
● Strong understanding of the racial justice movement, including Race Forward's
mission, vision, and programmatic work;
● Understanding of organizational development and change management
● Ability to manage complex projects with multiple moving pieces, stakeholders,
and deadlines;
● Exceptional written and verbal communication skills;

● Ability to form and maintain strong collaborative partnerships with members of
the SVP team, Senior Team, Board of Directors, donors, organizational partners
and other strategic stakeholders;
● Ability to exercise discretion, sound judgment and the highest professional ethics;
● Strong interpersonal and relational skills, adept at facilitating large groups
towards a common goal;
● Ability to communicate and effectively share information with senior leadership
and other audiences;
● Able to successfully navigate within varying degrees of ambiguity in a fast-paced
environment; and
● Highly advanced levels of ingenuity and analytical skills are required to evaluate
alternatives and develop new approaches to resolving problems and assess
ambiguous and/or changing facts or conditions affecting the work group, division,
or organization.

Required Education and Experience
● 10-15 years of experience in senior management within the nonprofit sector;
specific experience working with philanthropy, social justice movements and
organizational development;
● Demonstrated skills in the principles and practices of effective management
including: team leadership; collaborative leadership; change management;
continuous quality improvement initiatives; delegation; implementation;
establishing goals, objectives, and standards; supervision; and evaluation of
programs and of individual performance;
● Thorough knowledge of the racial justice ecosystem to understand priorities,
issues, motivations, and constraints;
● Excellent consulting, relationship building, and strategic thinking skills;
● Excellent ability to establish mission and goals at the macro-level and to lead
members of the executive and senior leadership teams to develop goals in
alignment with mission;
● Excellent political acumen and ability to navigate complex organizations;
● Sophisticated leadership abilities to establish goals and motivate and influence
others to achieve;
● General knowledge of financial analysis and reporting techniques, human
resources and risk management planning, and accounting and payroll;
● Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and project planning skills;
● Advanced written, verbal, and presentation skills for influencing and facilitating
sustained change;
● Highly developed diplomacy, influential, and interpersonal skills to work
effectively across the organization at all levels; and
● Thorough knowledge of the legal constraints and opportunities for diversity and
racial equity interventions.

Physical Demands
● Sedentary work that primarily involves sitting/standing.
● Light work that includes moving objects up to 20 pounds.

Travel Requirements
Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time.

Job tags

Salary

$189.51k - $214.67k