Senior Director, Chief of Staff

Vail Resorts • Broomfield, CO

2d • $181,500 - $200,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Our mission is to create the Experience of a Lifetime for our employees, so they can, in turn, create the Experience of a Lifetime for our guests. We own and operate the most renowned destination resorts in the world as well as regional and local ski areas outside major cities, and connect them all through one unrivaled network. We are looking for ambitious leaders, innovators and creators to join our talented team. If you’re ready to pursue your fullest potential, we want to get to know you!

Candidates for year-round positions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications will be accepted up to 90 days after the posting date, or until the position is filled (whichever is first).

Job Summary:
This role is responsible for partnering with the President of the Mountain Division in planning, overseeing and delivering Vail Resorts Mountain Division goals, priorities, initiatives and meetings, leveraging and continuously improving the management systems and tools. This role will be instrumental in ensuring executional excellence of the President’s top priorities by driving the Mountain Division Senior Leadership Team (SLT) effectiveness, to deliver enterprise and functional priorities.

This facilitative leadership role requires a combination of personal drive and initiative, focus, and flexibility. The role has a particular focus on cross-functional leadership and collaboration, providing proactive planning, time management, processes and coordination/communications with internal/external stakeholders necessary to deliver on company-wide goals.

The ideal candidate will be a high-potential leader with a passion to learn and develop and grow their career in Mountain Operations. They will have a proven track record of demonstrating drive, ambition, learning agility, business acumen, and emotional intelligence. The Chief of Staff will showcase an ability to partner effectively with SLT members, other chiefs of staff, and leaders inside and outside of the Mountain Division in order to drive the agenda. The role requires leadership skills to manage complexity and ambiguity, influence/operate at the most senior executive levels, drive process, build trusted relationships across stakeholder groups, leverage outstanding communication skills, and influence effectively to mobilize the organization against an aligned agenda and priorities. This is a role designed for leaders who want the exposure, accountability, and responsibility associated with being involved in the most important issues facing the Mountain Division and Vail Resorts.

Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant work experience including proven ability to successfully lead and oversee critical projects and multi-faceted efforts, including in operations.
• Experience supporting and working with C-level executives in a business environment.
• Experience leading large teams and experience with matrixed environments, leading thru influence.
• Strong business and financial acumen including experience owning a P&L and driving incremental business growth.
• Project/program management and analytical skills with the ability to identify and understand complex problems, make decisions, create plans and solutions, and take action.
• Passion for guest and employee experience.
• Possesses strong interpersonal and relationship building skills with adaptability to work with people from various cultures and areas of the business; builds and maintains highly effective working relationships; has a comprehensive and well-developed network.
• Strong learning agility who enjoys and excels in environments where he/she must tackle and solve new and increasingly complex strategic business challenges and issues—incorporating the newest ideas, technologies, and approaches to business.
• A polished communicator and listener who is comfortable in a visible role; highly effective in both 1:1 settings and with large groups.
• Strong coordination capabilities; able to manage resources across the organization, and implement systems for tracking multiple priorities and deadlines (e.g., board meeting preparation and materials, quarterly business reviews, all-hands meetings, senior management retreats, etc.)
• Bachelor’s degree.

Nice To Haves

• Degree in business or related field preferred
• MBA or other advanced business learning or coursework preferred

Responsibilities

• Gain a deep understanding of the Company’s strategy and drive it by analyzing and understanding the Division’s business strategy and high priority goals, and helping to align and prioritize resources to the most critical business priorities.
• Deliver high-impact solutions to the President by filtering information, identifying key issues, defining appropriate work structure, and driving workable recommendations that create value.
• Partner closely with the President to support key areas of work to provide the President leverage to focus on the highest priorities.
• Lead and organize efforts to plan and develop key President-led events to achieve desired outcomes (e.g., management and leadership meetings, off-sites, etc.), ensuring that that all meeting goals and agendas are clear and identified in advance, and that decisions and critical follow-ups are clear and understood.
• Understand and evolve the Mountain Division management system.
• Anticipate the needs of the President and other stakeholders and focus on the most critical objectives to drive progress.
• Think through and prepare President ahead of meetings, interviews, or other external or internal engagements.
• Work closely with Executive Assistant to understand logistical needs and constraints and get out front of potential resource challenges and/or risks and proposed mitigations.
• Develop and manage the plans to ensure we deliver measurable results on-time.
• Ensure timely and consistent communication on all projects to facilitate a clear understanding of ongoing projects and their prioritization.
• Lead production of all board materials for the Division.
• Inspire trust and build strong, positive, productive relationships with key stakeholders across a highly matrixed organization.
• Instill a very high level of trust from the President and the Mountain Division SLT in confidentiality and discretion and act as a sounding board, providing an independent perspective.
• Create an environment of continual improvement both inside and outside of direct team.
• Demonstrate the desire and passion to learn and develop, particularly showing an ability to lead through influence versus role authority.
• Unlock the potential of the Mountain Division leadership teams by designing engagements and ways of working that enable differences to coexist and thrive.
• Help identify and challenge systemic barriers to equity and integrate the work to change those policies and practices into the agenda, to have a lasting and enterprise impact.
• Bring new ideas, methods, and approaches to Vail Resorts and this role.
• Leverage own expertise to challenge the status quo and drive decisions and actions necessary to improve our business processes.
• Prioritize and adapt in a constantly changing business setting and be relentless in a quest for continuous improvement.
• Demonstrate an unyielding passion for the guest experience, culture, mission and vision. Lead by example and aligned to our values and inspire others to follow.

Benefits

• Ski/Mountain Perks! Free passes for employees, employee discounted lift tickets for friends and family AND free ski lessons
• MORE employee discounts on lodging, food, gear, and mountain shuttles
• 401(k) Retirement Plan
• Employee Assistance Program
• Excellent training and professional development
• Health Insurance; Medical Insurance, Dental Insurance, and Vision Insurance plans (for eligible seasonal employees after working 500 hours)
• Free ski passes for dependents
• Critical Illness and Accident plans

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior