Executive Operations and Governance Director

California Endowment•Los Angeles, CA

2h•$172,584 - $258,876•Hybrid

About The Position

The California Endowment is seeking an Executive Operations and Governance Director to report to the CEO and be based in their Los Angeles Office. This is a true “thinker–doer” role best suited to someone who can engage as a strategic partner while also ensuring that work moves forward with structure, clarity, discipline, and follow-through. The Director operates as an extension of the President & CEO, helping to translate priorities into actionable plans, preparing them for high-impact engagements, and ensuring alignment and execution across the organization. At the same time, the Director advances cross-functional initiatives that require enterprise coordination, bringing structure, momentum, and accountability to complex work. With an enterprise-wide lens, the Director connects strategy, leadership, governance, and execution.

Requirements

Minimum 7 years of experience in strategy, operations, consulting, or program leadership
Experience working closely with senior executives and boards
Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives in complex environments
Experience supporting external engagements, partnerships, or communications
Trusted partner
Relentless follow-through, ensuring work moves from idea to completion
Strong strategic judgment and ability to connect details to enterprise priorities
Influence without authority across senior leaders and teams
Exceptional synthesis and communication skills
Ability to manage multiple complex initiatives simultaneously
Exercises discretion and sound judgment in high-stakes contexts
Operates comfortably as both a behind-the-scenes driver and as a visible representative as needed
Brings low ego, high accountability; focused on outcomes over ownership
Navigates ambiguity while creating structure, clarity, and forward motion
High emotional intelligence; builds trust across diverse internal stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Background in philanthropy, public health, or policy environments preferred
Deep understanding of and commitment to The Endowment’s values, ensuring that all engagements with staff, partners, and grantees are rooted in trust, transparency, and shared power. Champions TBP as a guiding principle in organizational processes and decision-making.
Strong understanding of board governance, nonprofit leadership, and effective governance structures.
Ability to effectively communicate complex projects, priorities, and insights across multiple stakeholders, ensuring alignment and clarity in decision-making.
Expertise in planning, organizing, and executing cross-functional projects using industry-standard project management tools, ensuring accountability, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
Ability to define and track KPIs, develop dashboards, and leverage technology to monitor enterprise-wide initiatives
Skilled in mentoring and training team members in process optimization, project execution, and the effective use of data-driven insights to improve operations.

Responsibilities

Partners closely with the President & CEO on ensuring internal enterprise-wide work is organized, coordinated and advanced.
In partnership with Leadership Team, ensures the President & CEO is well-prepared for internal and external engagements, including briefing materials, talking points, and synthesis of key issues, framing of decisions, trade-offs, and stakeholder dynamics.
Attends key meetings and engagements with the President & CEO, synthesizing discussions, identifying critical insights, and ensuring timely follow-through on commitments and decisions.
At the direction of the President and CEO, represents the President & CEO in internal and external settings.
Supports the CEO and CSO in grantmaking efforts as directed.
Serves as key liaison and coordinates with Communications, Government Affairs & Policy, the Executive Assistant to the President & CEO, and others to support the President & CEO’s external presence and relationships, including speaking engagements, partnerships, and field leadership, and engagement with community leaders, grantees, and stakeholders.
Tracks and ensures follow-through on meeting/event commitments and action items, communicates any key insights to appropriate team members.
Partners with the President & CEO to prepare for board meetings, committee meetings, retreats, and governance discussions.
Supports the development of board-facing materials and discussions that surface key decisions and trade-offs.
Ensures the President & CEO is positioned to engage the board with clarity and strategic focus.
Tracks and ensures follow-through on board actions and commitments.
Oversees the board liaison and their work to ensure successful board meetings and supporting materials.
Leads the development of strategic and aligned organizational work plans and budgets in coordination with senior staff and the Finance Department.
Translates CEO and Leadership Team priorities into actionable and measurable workplans with clear ownership and accountability.
Synthesizes complex inputs into structured, decision-ready insights.
Clarifies trade-offs, dependencies, sequencing, resources considerations, and implications of key decisions.
In Partnership with senior staff, tracks enterprise priorities and proactively surfaces emerging risks, gaps, and opportunities.
Leads high-priority, cross-functional initiatives and projects from concept through implementation, defining clear scopes, timelines, ownership, and success metrics; drives disciplined follow-through across teams, ensuring commitments are met; identifies and addresses interdependencies, bottlenecks, and execution risks; ensures accountability and timely implementation of enterprise work.
Promotes a culture of accountability, bringing consistency and rigor to how work gets done across the organization.
Develops Leadership Team meeting agendas to ensure focus, clarity, and outcomes.
Develops tools and resources to keep the Leadership Team organized and ensure progress on enterprise-wide work.
Establishes systems for decision tracking, accountability, and follow-up.
Reinforces enterprise-wide thinking vs. siloed execution.
Supports leaders in aligning their work to shared priorities and sequencing.
Serves as a central connector across departments and senior staff.
Aligns initiatives to reduce duplication and fragmentation.
Facilitates coordination and shared ownership of outcomes.
Ensures consistent communication and shared understanding of priorities and progress.
Introduces and reinforces lightweight systems and tools that support execution and visibility.
Tracks progress on enterprise priorities and establishes visibility into status and risks.
Builds organizational capacity for project management and follow-through.
Drives continuous improvement efforts that strengthen the organization’s ability to execute on its mission and strategic goals.

Benefits

Shared medical and dental premiums for employees and eligible dependents
100% employer-paid benefits: vision, life and AD&D, STD, LTD and employee assistance program
Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
Reimbursement towards gym fees and/or wellness program and mental health care
9-80 schedule with synchronized off days
Hybrid work schedule available for most positions
11 paid holidays + paid winter holiday closure
Generous paid time off (PTO)
401k plan with generous employer match and contributions
Matching gifts program
Paid parking or public transportation subsidy
Professional development and training opportunities
Tuition Reimbursement Program
Monthly BYOD stipend