Chief of Staff to the CEO

Evidence Action•Washington, DC

22h•$125,000 - $165,000•Onsite

About The Position

Evidence Action is in the midst of an organization-wide strategy refresh, moving toward a leverage model that scales proven interventions through government systems and payers-at-scale. The Chief of Staff supports the CEO to make that strategy move. You will own how our board engages with the strategy and evaluates our progress, drive the CEO's priorities through a global senior team, and build the operating system that tells us whether we are on track. This is a role for a builder. Evidence Action has grown quickly and is institutionalizing its operating rhythm. Much of what this role will oversee will not exist when you arrive, or exist in an early form to build upon, and you will be expected to design it, staff it, and oversee the maintenance of it rather than carry it indefinitely. The test of what you build is whether it still runs when you are not in the room. We want someone who builds processes that survive handoff and don't need to be rebuilt each cycle. You think systematically about where automation and AI can strengthen a workflow, and where people are essential to it.

Requirements

7 to 12 years of experience, including management consulting (MBB, Bridgespan, Dalberg) or an equivalent background in structured problem-solving and analytical rigor, combined with exposure to international development or global health.
A track record of operating with significant autonomy: bringing well-formed proposals forward and driving them to completion, rather than waiting for direction.
Evidence of moving senior people who do not report to you, and of building standing quickly with people who do not already know you.
Willingness to tell the CEO she is wrong, with reasoning rather than discomfort.
Sound judgment about confidentiality, including under relationship pressure.
Experience building operational systems that outlast their author: KPI tracking, review cadences and accountability structures that keep running through handoffs.
Fluency with AI tools as a default way of working, and judgment about where they add leverage and where they don't.
Comfort working across regions and time zones.
Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. for roles based in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

Experience in sub-Saharan Africa or India is an advantage.
Willingness to travel periodically, including to meet with the CEO (who is based in CA) and for semiannual leadership convenings.

Responsibilities

Own board meeting preparation end to end: agenda design, materials, and follow-up tracking.
Partner with the CEO on board strategy: how to sequence what comes to the board, how to frame the strategic narrative, and how to manage relationships between meetings.
Manage the cadence, purpose, and follow-through of Global Leadership Team meetings to produce decisions and hold their outputs through to completion. This includes designing semiannual in-person convenings.
Turn the CEO's priorities into owned, dated, tracked commitments across a global senior team, and drive follow-through without escalating every time.
Support the development and maintenance of a clear map of who decides what across executive and director levels, in regions and globally, and surface where that is breaking down.
Synthesize information from across the organization so the CEO has a current picture of organizational health, emerging risks and opportunities.
Serve as a thought partner to the CEO: pressure-test decisions, surface trade-offs, and offer candid, independent counsel, including when the information shared is unwelcome.
Support the strategy refresh change management, helping teams navigate shifts in roles, structure and ways of working.
Build and maintain a standing progress dashboard so the board, executives and staff see a clear picture of performance over time.
Build and run the cadence that keeps strategy alive: quarterly business reviews, annual OKR development and quarterly tracking, KPI reporting, and an annual refresh process.
Directly manage and provide technical direction to the Strategic Initiatives team, our internal consulting team, including quality control on analytical frameworks and conclusions.
Translate strategic direction and operating system into workstreams the team can execute and time-limited special projects, and develop the team into strong generalist strategists.
Provide oversight of executive and internal communications.