Chief of Staff

What You'll Do

The Chief of Staff plays a critical leadership role at LIFT, guiding organizational strategy as a trusted thought partner, strategic advisor, and highly effective operator. Partnering with the Executive Team and regional Executive Directors, the Chief of Staff is responsible for fostering alignment across LIFT's leadership, facilitating executive-level decision-making, and helping to scale LIFT's impact through operational effectiveness. The Chief of Staff will lead strategic planning and strengthen processes and practices to promote integration, alignment, and cross-team collaboration, supporting the organization in meeting its multi-year growth and impact targets.

The Chief of Staff will serve as a proxy manager and coach for the regional Executive Directors, ensuring local impact aligns with national metrics, LIFT's strategic plan, and organizational goals.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Strategic Planning and Operational Effectiveness

• Lead the creation and operationalization of LIFT's multi-year strategic plan in partnership with an external consultant, ensuring annual metrics, project management, and team structures are designed to support staff to do their most impactful work.
• Manage annual goal setting, organizational planning, and performance measurement within and across teams, with direct oversight for ensuring strategic alignment across departments.
• Work at multiple vantage points, zooming out to set high-level strategic direction and priorities, and zooming in to prioritize, coordinate, and execute on tasks and lead teams through detailed action plans.
• Enhance systems, processes, and detailed project management plans that drive organizational goals, leverage relevant data, define expectations, and intentionally reduce departmental silos.
• Create structured channels to gather team input on major decisions (utilizing the RAPID framework) and share the final outcomes and takeaways with the broader team.
• Work with the National REI Advisor and Talent & Culture Team to champion REI initiatives and implement strategies that strengthen culture and hold leadership accountable for integrating equity benchmarks into programming, internal communications, professional learning, and board management.

Executive Director Team Management and Coaching

• Manage the regional Executive Directors on behalf of the CEO, establish accountability metrics and support to advance organizational effectiveness, while strategically engaging the CEO at key inflection points.
  
• Serve as connective tissue for the Executive Director team, creating a community of practice and ensuring a clear understanding of organizational priorities.
• Strengthen communication and connection between the regional Executive Directors and the Executive Team.
• Operate as a consultant with Executive Directors to navigate internal relationships and support organizational change efforts, building deep credibility with national and regional LIFT staff and fostering trust across all levels.

Strategic Partner to Executive Leadership

• Serve as a close advisor to the CEO on critical issues, including organizational strategy and design, internal communications, professional development, and institutional learning.
• Manage executive and leadership team meetings, including creating strategic agendas, thoughtful preparation, guiding structured decision-making, and ensuring follow-through.
• Drive alignment across executive team workstreams, systematically gathering information, analyzing data, developing insights, and ensuring institutional follow-through.
• Support the CEO in increasing collaboration across the LIFT National Board of Directors and Regional Advisory Boards, ensuring they are appropriately engaged, coordinated, and have the line of sight needed to advance the work.
• Advise with a learning and listening orientation, filtering priorities effectively so the CEO can focus on macro-strategy, external presence and relationship building, high-level governance, and national growth.
• Supervise, mentor, and support the Senior Executive Office Manager to maximize the CEO's and executive team's time and efforts.

Who You'll Work With

• You will report to the CEO.
• You will supervise the Senior Executive Office Manager and manage the Regional Executive Directors as a proxy to the CEO.
• You will frequently collaborate with the executive team and department heads across the organization. This is a high-touch role that interacts with team members throughout the organization.

• 15+ years of organizational leadership experience in a dynamic nonprofit.
• Possesses an authentic passion for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty and a belief that parents know what's best for their families; leads with love, humility, and rigor.
• Proven track record of designing, iterating, and executing complex, multi-year projects while managing external consultants and leading concurrent, cross-functional initiatives.
• Sophisticated project management capabilities with prior experience effectively facilitating executive decision-making and communication in complex, matrixed environments.
• Advanced data analysis and synthesizing skills, distilling key questions, and presenting information in easily digestible formats.
• Proven experience serving as an executive-level thought partner, advisor, or proxy, with the ability to filter priorities and handle sensitive organizational matters effectively.
• Brings experience supporting, coaching, and motivating experienced professionals through strategic thought partnership and accountability metrics.
• Deep experience integrating and championing diversity, equity, and inclusion within internal systems and team culture.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills to establish trust and push back thoughtfully across all levels.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills with the ability to adapt to diverse audiences, serve as an executive voice, and increase organizational transparency.
• Experience working in direct service, policy, and/or technical assistance is a plus; direct lived experience with LIFT issue areas is a plus.

Location and Work Environment

LIFT has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC, and strongly prefers candidates for this role based in Los Angeles (where the CEO is based). We are also considering candidates based in one of the locations LIFT has offices, but the role is open to candidates based anywhere in the U.S. Typically, LIFT has a hybrid culture with an expectation to work in the office about 2 days per week. Folks not based in cities with LIFT offices may have to travel more to meet role expectations.

Compensation

$200,000- $225,000. LIFT's compensation philosophy is to pay competitively for the non-profit sector and ensure equity across the organization. Compensation for the role will depend on several factors, including qualifications, skills, competencies, experience, and geography. 

To Learn More About Benefits

LIFT provides an attractive benefits package that includes employer-paid health care coverage (100% for employees, 75% for dependents), a 403(b) retirement plan including an employer match contribution (up to 5% after year 1), 12 weeks paid parental leave, partial cell phone coverage, and pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and dependent care benefits. LIFT also provides a generous paid-time-off policy, including one-week company-wide vacation over the winter holidays and a one-week company-wide vacation over the summer fiscal year transition. Please see here for a more in-depth overview of LIFT's Benefits and Culture.

Don't think you have everything for this role, but are still interested? Please don't hesitate to apply. We'd love to hear from you! LIFT believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants. LIFT's goal is for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve and to ensure representation of people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities in our organization.