Significant senior leadership experience in a mission-driven organization, ideally as Chief of Staff or COO.
Proven ability to manage up and partner closely with senior executives, demonstrating sound judgment.
Experience leading organizational development, including internal communications and staff engagement.
Strong people-management skills with a track record of fostering high-performing teams.
Ability to facilitate leadership meetings and navigate group dynamics effectively.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of drafting in senior leadership's voice.
Strong project management skills, adept at handling multiple priorities and workstreams.
Discretion and integrity in handling sensitive organizational information.
Familiarity with nonprofit or unionized environments, particularly national nonprofits.
Alignment with NDWA's mission and understanding of issues facing low-wage workers.
Responsibilities
Serve as a thought partner to the Executive Director on organizational priorities and leadership challenges.
Represent the Executive Director in meetings, making decisions within agreed parameters.
Facilitate coordination and communication between the Executive Director and the President.
Act as a bridge between the Executive Director and the organization, elevating issues needing attention.
Oversee systems managing the Executive Director's time and commitments, ensuring alignment with priorities.
Supervise the Executive Assistant and Deputy Director, ensuring a high-performing Executive Office team.
Design and steward the operating rhythm and decision-making practices of leadership teams.
Own the internal communications strategy and manage staff engagement initiatives.
Support Board engagement strategy and ensure effective governance and alignment with executive leaders.
Benefits
Remote work flexibility with occasional in-person attendance required.
Opportunity to influence organizational culture and leadership dynamics.
Engagement in strategic planning and organizational development initiatives.
Direct involvement in high-level decision-making processes.
Collaboration with senior leadership and board members on impactful projects.
Full Job Description
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Priority consideration will be given to applications submitted by November 20, 2026. Applications received after this date may be considered until the position is filled.
Job Title: Chief of Staff & Director of the Executive Office
Position: Full-Time
Reports To: Executive Director
Direct Reports:
Executive Assistant Deputy Director of the Executive Office
Job Family: Confidential Employee Bargaining Unit: No FLSA Status: Exempt Salary: $150K - $160K Work Location: Remote (U.S.-based); flexible, with in-person attendance as required Target Start Date: February/March 2027
POSITION SUMMARY
The National Domestic Workers Alliance seeks a seasoned, strategic Chief of Staff & Director of the Executive Office to serve as a senior leader within NDWA and a trusted thought partner to the Executive Director. Reporting to the ED, this role shapes how the organization's senior leadership sets priorities, makes decisions, and drives execution, and holds direct ownership of the ED's time, priorities, and communications. The Chief of Staff also stands in for the ED when needed, representing her in meetings and decisions with the judgment and credibility to speak on her behalf. And the role is the connective tissue between the ED and the President, ensuring the organization's two principals stay coordinated and aligned.
The Chief of Staff thinks like the ED, not just in support of her, and exercises organizational judgment across a broad, enterprise-wide portfolio. The role stewards NDWA's leadership teams, building the cohesion, rhythm, and decision-making practices that allow senior leaders to work as a team. It also stewards the organization's relationship with its boards, setting the strategy for board engagement and ensuring the ED and board leadership stay aligned. It holds strategic ownership of organizational development and effectiveness, including internal communications, staff engagement, organizational structure and design, change management, and annual planning. As Director of the Executive Office, the Chief of Staff leads the Executive Office team, supervising the Executive Assistant and Deputy Director of the Executive Office, and carries significant influence over leadership dynamics and organizational culture across NDWA.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
Executive Partnership
Serve as a thought partner to the ED on organizational priorities, decisions, and leadership challenges, offering candid advice and perspective.
Represent the ED in meetings and with internal partners, with authority to make decisions within agreed parameters.
Facilitate coordination, alignment, and communication between the Executive Director and the President.
Act as a bridge between the ED and the organization, ensuring appropriate visibility and elevating issues that require ED attention.
Oversee the systems that manage the ED's time, commitments, and communications, ensuring priorities match the schedule and follow-through happens across the organization.
Own special projects for the ED and the organization that don't have an existing organizational home.
Executive Office Leadership
Supervise the Executive Assistant and Deputy Director of the Executive Office, ensuring the Executive Office functions as a high-performing, coordinated team.
Fill interim staffing or leadership gaps across the organization as needed.
Leadership Team Stewardship
Design and steward the operating rhythm, agendas, and decision-making practices of the organization's leadership teams, ensuring decisions are made, documented, and followed through
Hold responsibility for overall leadership team alignment and cohesion.
Own hiring processes for direct reports to the ED.
Organizational Development & Effectiveness
Hold strategic ownership of internal communications, developing and managing the organization's internal communications strategy.
Hold strategic ownership of staff engagement, alignment, and cohesion, including staff meetings, retreats, and special events.
In partnership with the ED, own organizational structure and design, ensuring structure aligns with organizational strategy.
Manage organizational change, guiding the organization through structural and strategic transitions.
Lead the strategic planning process and own the practice of annual planning, with regular review of progress to goals.
Board Stewardship
Support overall strategy for Board engagement, in collaboration with ED, ensuring the Board is positioned to effectively govern and support the organization's mission.
Own the content of Board and committee meetings, ensuring the Board's time is focused on the organization's highest-priority questions and decisions.
Serve as a key point of contact between the Executive Director and Board leadership, helping ensure alignment between the Board and executive leaders.
Oversee the organization's overall approach to Board communication, ensuring the board has the information it needs to govern effectively between meetings.
Oversee board operations, including meeting calendars, materials, minutes, and member terms, recruitment, and onboarding, in partnership with the Deputy Director.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required
Significant senior leadership experience, ideally as a Chief of Staff, COO, or in another senior operating or executive support role within a mission-driven organization.
Demonstrated experience managing up and partnering closely with a senior executive, with sound judgment about priorities, time, and organizational needs.
Demonstrated experience leading organizational development work- internal communications strategy, staff engagement and cohesion efforts, and organizational design- and managing organizational change.
Strong people-management skills, with experience supervising staff and fostering high-performing teams.
Demonstrated ability to facilitate leadership team meetings and retreats, and to attend to group dynamics with skill and discretion.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft on behalf of senior leadership in their voice.
Strong project management skills, with the ability to hold multiple concurrent workstreams and competing priorities.
Discretion and integrity, given regular access to sensitive organizational, personnel, and strategic information.
Experience in a nonprofit and/or unionized environment; familiarity with national nonprofits.
Alignment with NDWA's mission, vision, and values, and an understanding of the issues facing low-wage workers, immigrant communities, and women of color.
Preferred
Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience.
Experience with multi-entity nonprofit structures.
Experience supporting coordination between two or more senior principals or executive offices.
How to Apply: Please apply directly to the job posting and send a resume and cover letter tailored to the job. Your resume and cover letter must clearly describe your senior leadership experience, including your experience supporting senior executives and holding organization-wide strategic portfolios, the organizations, your role, and the years in that role. Applications, reviewed on a rolling basis, will only be accepted electronically, and solicitations to individual staff are unlikely to be responded to.
