Chief of Staff / Associate

About Incandescent Incandescent is a strategy consulting and venture development firm; we advise leaders, conduct research, and work with founders to build companies. We serve CEOs of Fortune 500 companies across a range of industries (similar to a traditional management consulting firm), founders of early- and growth-stage ventures (often compensated with equity in our client’s venture), and visionary leaders in social sector organizations (such as The Rockefeller Foundation and Acumen). Across these different types of engagements, our focus is often on collaborating with leaders to drive solutions at the intersection of strategy and organization.. Founded in 2013, we’ve been building a small team, slowly and carefully. Each team member plays an integral part in developing Incandescent as a firm that discovers better ways to create, build and run organizations. About the position You will work as the right hand to our partner Shanti Nayak, helping her serve clients, deepen her relationships in the market, and expand the footprint of her platform. Shanti’s work spans both our corporate advisory and social impact practices, and is broad by design: the engagements she has led range from advising the executive team of a leading hedge fund to designing the strategy for a new funder collaborative focused on strengthening social cohesion. With our corporate clients, Shanti is often (but not exclusively) focused on organizational design, culture, and talent. With social sector clients, her work focuses on shaping strategies for systems change. Within the firm, she also serves as Incandescent’s Head of People and is a member of the firm management team. You will partner with Shanti in two ways: developing and managing the systems that underpin her business development and client delivery platform as her Chief of Staff, and working alongside her in select client engagements as an Associate Consultant. Responsibilities will include: 1. Project management: You will own the infrastructure that enables Shanti’s work, acting as a chief of staff as you refine and run the systems that enable her effectiveness and which build momentum across her program. Examples include acting as internal owner of our Systems Change practice under Shanti’s sponsorship (agenda-setting; goal- tracking, etc.), designing and executing Shanti’s business development machines, and playing a role in the effectiveness of our People function. Alongside the design of these systems, you will also manage Shanti’s logistics, getting above the administrative work to think at a more strategic level as you negotiate the demands on her time and the diverse priorities of our business. 2. Client advisory support: You will work with Shanti as she advises a diverse portfolio of clients, acting as a thought partner, supporting the development of client materials, and providing research that helps to power our work. 3. Building Incandescent! On a small team like ours, every member is an important part of building the culture, systems, and practices of this place. Your contributions to firm-building will help shape the future of Incandescent. Experience/Background We are looking for individuals with 2 to 4 years of relevant job experience—most likely in business, but we are open to sectors where experience will rapidly translate into impact in our business setting. We seek candidates who are excited to put their fingerprints on this role and who see how this role can provide experience that will serve as a springboard to the next chapter in their career. Key Attributes ● You are highly empathetic. You enjoy enabling others, are strong at understanding how the work you set into motion will unfold, and at appreciating the way others will experience that work ● You are entrepreneurial, taking initiative and ownership to visualize the next step in any given process, and are thoughtful and design-minded about pulling work towards you and driving progress. ● You are a conceptual and systematic thinker: you can relate abstract ideas to concrete examples and actions, and you can also digest and distill complex projects in ways that balance detail-orientation with landing the right altitude. ● You are self-directed and can thrive in ambiguity. You work well independently, and know when and how to seek help from others. You have an action-orientation and drive results without tight monitoring. ● You are disciplined and intentional. You consistently follow through, translating intentions and decisions into sustained effort and results. ● You have excellent communication skills. You write clearly and compellingly. The ability to communicate visually (e.g., through simple visual frameworks) is a strong plus. ● You are passionate about learning. You seek out direct feedback and are invested in your professional development. You’re intellectually curious, eager to work across sectors, to learn more about how organizations work, and how they can function more effectively. You are resilient in the face of a challenge. Why the Role is Compelling Working directly with extraordinary business thinkers, you will experience first-hand what it means to be a part of a well-run, growing startup, and what it means to succeed as an advisor. Through exposure to all aspects of a partner’s work, this position offers a uniquely well-rounded view into our business, and can serve as a powerful launchpad for candidates interested in both business and social change. We’re exceptionally focused on how work gets done, and are deeply committed to excellence in our results, bringing a high degree of intentionality to our daily work. You’ll be part of an accomplished, diverse, and close-knit team in which each individual is committed to rapid development -- theirs and their colleagues’. Our work touches a wide variety of sectors, including social impact, corporate environments and venture.You will be exposed to a broad range of leaders and issues, to the internal infrastructure and operations of a growing professional services firm, and to a body of innovative thinking and research.