Chief of Staff

The Chief of Staff serves as a trusted strategic partner to the President, helping to ensure adherence and execution of the mission, strategic plan, and day to day strategic goals. This role helps support strong organizational alignment, key communications of the President among stakeholders, and focuses on the organization's priorities. This role bridges high-level strategy with day-to-day execution, managing cross-departmental coordination, board engagement, and special projects that advance Next Door's mission.

The ideal candidate is a systems thinker with exceptional organizational, communication, and relationship-management skills. They thrive in dynamic environments, can anticipate needs, and bring clarity to complex or fast-moving initiative.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic and Executive Support

• Partner with the President to set and drive organizational priorities, track progress, and ensure accountability across teams.
• Prepare and manage executive-level communications, including board materials, presentations, and stakeholder updates.
• Serve as a thought partner and sounding board for the President on key decisions, opportunities, and organizational challenges.
• Help translate strategic plan objectives into actionable work streams with measurable outcomes.

Project and Initiative Management

• Lead or coordinate special projects that cut across departments - particularly those tied to the strategic plan, operational improvements, and executive initiatives.
• Monitor organizational goals and timelines, ensuring milestones are met and obstacles are addressed proactively.
• Develop dashboards or tools to track progress and communicate updates to leadership and the Board.

Board and Stakeholder Coordination

• Support the President in managing relationships with the Board of Directors, including communications and meeting content development preparation.
• Assist in developing materials and talking points for Board committees and key partners.
• Coordinate follow-up actions from Board and executive meetings to ensure timely implementation.

Internal Alignment and Communications

• Strengthen internal communication and collaboration between the President and department leaders.
• Ensure consistent messaging and information flow across leadership and staff regarding organizational priorities.
• Act as a liaison for staff who need access, input, or guidance from the President's office.
• Assist with managing the President's schedule and follow-up on communications.

All staff members are accountable for knowing and performing the responsibilities associated with their individual position in an efficient and effective manner, understanding that each of us plays an integral role in the success of our mission. All staff will support the agency mission, vision, standards of conduct/code of ethics and strategic directions and support administrative decisions. This must demonstrated by maintaining a positive work environment, and by behaving and communicating in an appropriate manner with children, families, coworkers, supervisors and the public while achieving performance expectations.

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree or equivalent experience in nonprofit management, or business administration preferred.
• Minimum 7-10 years of professional experience, ideally in nonprofit, education, or mission-driven organizations.
• Demonstrated experience in strategy execution, project management, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; strong attention to detail.
• Proven ability to maintain confidentiality and exercise sound judgment.
• Adept at building trust and credibility with senior leaders, staff, and external partners.
• Comfort working in a hybrid environment and managing multiple priorities with grace under pressure.
• The incumbent must have access to a personal vehicle to use on a daily basis, maintain a valid driver's license and automobile insurance with liability limits of $300,000 (bodily injury) and $25,000 (property damage for each occurrence.

Skills and Abilities

• Strategic mindset with operational discipline.
• Relationship-centered and emotionally intelligent.
• Skilled at distilling complexity into clarity.
• Adaptable, proactive, and flexible under shifting priorities.
• Deep commitment to equity, education, and Next Door's mission.

Safety and Health

Next Door is committed to providing a safe work environment and to fostering the well-being and health of its employees. An essential part of each employees' job is the development of safe working practices and the observance of safety rules, including:

• Following safety warnings and directions at all times.
• Using personal safety devices when required.
• Reporting any unsafe conditions to supervisor.
• Following process for reporting suspected child abuse and neglect.
• Reporting unsupervised children, after ensuring child's safety.

• Implement active supervision practices at all times, including transition times.

Physical Demands

• Primarily active work; occasionally lifting, holding or moving up to 50 lbs.
• Initial physical exam, drug screen and TB test are required as a condition of initial employment and as recommended by a physician for continued employment.

Physical Activity

• Bending, stooping, kneeling, walking/transporting, handling, reaching, balancing, crouching, talking and speaking clearly, hearing conversation level, smelling, and seeing

Work Environment

• Mainly office and external setting and travel to various sites for meetings and/or trainings, and etc.

Personal/Physiological

• Ability to make frequent, significant decisions to understand and react to the employees, vendors, board members, community and etc.
• Ability to respond quickly and competently to an emergency or crisis situation in order to keep children and staff safe.