Position SummaryThe Director, Corporate Operations & Executive Affairs is the operational right hand to the President & CEO and the connective tissue between the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), the corporate office, and SSI's external community. This is not an administrative support role in the traditional sense. It is a senior, take-charge position accountable for making the CEO's intent happen - converting direction into tracked commitments, closing loops across the ELT, running the corporate business rhythm, and owning corporate relations and community engagement, including SSI's support to the Ventura Defense Industry Forum (VDIF).
The person in this seat is expected to identify what should come off the CEO's plate, take it, and run it - then tell the CEO how the role should be structured and supported going forward. Success looks like an executive office where nothing is dropped, nothing waits on the CEO unnecessarily, and every commitment made in a meeting has an owner, a date, and a status.
Core Accountabilities1. Executive Throughput & Decision Support- Own the CEO's operating day: calendar strategy, meeting prioritization, travel, briefing packets, and pre-reads - gate-keeping with judgment, not just scheduling.
- Prepare the CEO for every meeting that matters: agenda, background, prior commitments, open items, and the decision required.
- Capture decisions and action items in real time; publish them; drive them to closure without further CEO involvement.
- Draft, edit, and issue correspondence, memoranda, and internal communications on behalf of the CEO.
- Screen and triage inbound requests, escalating only what genuinely requires the CEO, and resolving or reassigning the rest.
- Proactively surface conflicts, risks, and slipping commitments before they become problems.
2. Deliverable & Commitment Tracking- Maintain the single authoritative tracker of executive-level commitments, action items, and deliverables across all ELT members and business units.
- Run the follow-up cadence: chase owners, confirm status, verify completion, and report exceptions to the CEO with specifics - who, what, when, and how late.
- Administer SSI's recurring accountability structures (weekly plans and closeouts, monthly reviews, quarterly and semiannual executive reviews), including data calls, templates, consolidation, and distribution.
- Build and maintain the corporate calendar of recurring obligations - reviews, board and leadership meetings, certification audits, reporting deadlines, and annual planning milestones.
- Escalate with candor. This role is expected to hold senior leaders to their commitments on the CEO's behalf and to do so professionally, persistently, and without needing permission each time.
3. Corporate Operations & Business Rhythm- Plan and execute corporate-level events and forums: ELT meetings, executive reviews, strategic planning sessions, all-hands meetings, leadership workshops, and company functions - end to end, including logistics, materials, facilitation support, and after-action follow-up.
- Coordinate cross-functional corporate initiatives that do not sit cleanly inside one department, keeping owners aligned and schedules honest.
- Serve as the corporate point of coordination for the Camarillo headquarters: executive-level visits, customer and government tours, VIP protocol, visitor coordination, and facility presentation standards.
- Support governance and documentation discipline - corporate policies, organizational charts, position descriptions, meeting records, and executive-level document control - in coordination with People & Culture and Contracts.
- Assist with the preparation and quality control of executive-facing deliverables and briefings, ensuring SSI's work product is polished, on-brand, and on time.
4. Corporate Relations & External Engagement- Serve as a professional, senior-level point of contact for customers, government stakeholders, prime contractors, teaming partners, industry associations, and community organizations.
- Manage relationship cadence on the CEO's behalf: touchpoint tracking, follow-up correspondence, thank-yous, introductions, and scheduling of key stakeholder engagements.
- Coordinate SSI's presence at conferences, trade shows, industry days, and community events - registrations, booth logistics, materials, briefings, and attendee preparation.
- Support corporate communications and brand consistency across external-facing materials, announcements, and community engagement.
- Coordinate corporate sponsorships, charitable and veteran-focused community involvement, and executive-level customer hospitality.
Required Qualifications- Bachelor's degree in business administration, management, communications, or a related field; equivalent professional experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Minimum eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience supporting C-suite or general officer/flag-level executives, or in a business operations, program coordination, or executive operations role.
- Demonstrated experience managing complex calendars, competing executive priorities, and multi-stakeholder coordination in a fast-moving environment.
- Proven track record of independently owning and closing deliverables - not merely tracking them.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft executive-level correspondence and briefing material with minimal direction.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint).
- Absolute discretion with confidential and sensitive business, personnel, and financial information.
- U.S. Citizenship; ability to obtain and maintain a DoD SECRET security clearance.
- Ability to work on-site at SSI's Camarillo, California headquarters.
Preferred Qualifications- Experience in the defense industrial base, aerospace, or a government contracting environment.
- Familiarity with DoD customer protocol, Navy organizations, or the Ventura County defense ecosystem (NBVC, NSWC Port Hueneme, NAWCWD).
- Experience supporting a nonprofit board, industry association, or professional membership organization.
- Event planning and management experience at the corporate or association level.
- Prior military service or experience working alongside military organizations.
- Active or previously held security clearance.
