Chief of Staff

Hillel International•Cambridge, MA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Chief of Staff (COS) is a newly created role, reporting to the Harvard Hillel executive director. This role is responsible for ensuring the organization’s strategy, culture, and executive operations are planned, coordinated, and tracked in collaboration with the executive office and colleagues. The COS will serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the executive director, translating strategic goals into operational plans, timelines, and accountability structures. The role aims to add capacity to the executive director, allowing them to focus on leadership, vision, goal setting, and stakeholder engagement. The COS will also contribute to a collaborative and engaging organizational culture and will evolve over time in collaboration with the executive director and the Harvard Hillel team.

Requirements

No less than 10 years of progressive experience in nonprofit or mission-driven leadership roles.
Commitment to the organization’s mission and respectful of Jewish values.
Demonstrated success in strategic planning and execution, operational systems and tracking, and Board governance.
People-center systems thinker, with strong success operationalizing strategies into trackable, measurable action plans.
Strong financial, project management, and institutional administration skills.
Exceptional written, verbal, and interpersonal skills.
Highly effective manager of people, projects, and budgets.
Adaptable, sound judgment, diplomatic, and respectful of holding sensitive information.
Ability to successfully balance high emotional intelligence with result-driven project management and serving as an empathetic culture carrier who models collaborative leadership and teamwork.
6+ years of experience in similar nonprofit, community engagement role.
High comfort in Microsoft Office tools, project management tools, PowerPoint and Canva.
Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent.

Nice To Haves

A connector, of ideas, people, projects, and outcomes.
Both strategy and implementation, success in this role is being both a hub of information and a project management expert.
Open and willing to engage in conversations about religion, and to learn about Judaism and Israel in a way that inspires stakeholders to invest in our work.
Highly collaborative problem-solver with curiosity to engage across teams both inside and outside of Hillel to successfully manage competing priorities.
A self-starter, adept at project management tools and practices, time-management and effective communications both verbally and in writing.
Highly comfort working effectively both independently and in teams to meet goals and deadlines.
Skilled at creative, data driven presentations.

Responsibilities

Plan and coordinate virtual and in-person Board and Committee meetings, serving as a liaison with the Board of directors.
Support the development of calendars, invites, agendas, material document coordination and production; record Board meeting minutes and manage post-meeting follow up.
Support Committee development, structures, and governance principles and processes using the organization’s Bylaws.
Ensure strong compliance, documentation, and institutional records.
Lead annual planning and cross-departmental coordination processes.
Establish dashboards and ways of learning to engage colleagues around annual and project planning, implementation, and tracking.
Develop systems, tools, and schedules to operationalize and track annual work plans, and quarterly and monthly activities against annual plans.
Facilitate team progress reviews with department heads and wider teams.
Ensure organizational priorities remain visible and actionable.
Lead and directly manage internal communications related to institutional planning and coordination.
Serve as a trusted colleague and coach across the institution around execution and accountability.
Oversee financial and administrative functions of the executive director’s office.
Manage workflows, priorities, and communications on behalf of the executive director.
Manage discretionary budgets, fiscal sponsorship operations, and executive office expenditures.
Prepare briefings, reports, and presentations for internal and external engagements of the executive director.
Support positioning and materials for the executive director’s public-facing activities.
Ensure timely follow-through of executive director’s commitments.
Build and maintain systems and tools for information flow and decision-tracking.
Partner with colleagues across the organization to build and manage budget process, forecasting, and reporting in relation to the executive office budgets.
Directly manage cross-functional initiatives and special projects.
Design, write, and coordinate business processes for finance and compliance obligations implemented through the executive office.
Serve as an active participant in the executive director’s community and student-facing work.
Directly coordinate and participate in internal and external engagements of Harvard Hillel’s communities.
Work closely with the director of development and executive director on Board-related fundraising strategies.
Support planning and presence around High Holidays and key moments in the Jewish calendar.
Work closely with the director of development and executive director to support donor stewardship and engagement related to the Board of directors.
Lead planning and coordination of Board-related special events.
Directly manage appropriate follow up correspondence and gift acknowledgements.
Work closely with colleagues on HR-related initiatives, leading initiatives as appropriate.
Serve as a guide and contributor to design and manage human resources policies and practices.
Lead and contribute to initiatives that establish a structured set of onboarding activities for new hires.
Coordinate with colleagues to actively welcome new colleagues into the organization.
Serve as an advisor with hiring managers to design job descriptions, job needs assessments and hiring practices.
Serve as a trusted colleague and guide on staff hiring, introducing prospective candidates into hiring pipelines.
Maintain and record HR / personnel records and materials.
Establish and coordinate state or federal mandatory staff trainings, and broader professional development opportunities.
Promote and manage staff events and events, such as birthdays and other special occasion events.
Undertake other projects and activities as agreed with the executive director.