Chief of Staff

Overview

You work directly with the CEO and executive leadership team at Tides, handling strategic projects, operational improvements, and high-stakes initiatives. You're the person who gets called when something important needs to get done that doesn't fit into anyone else's job description. You spend your time in executive meetings, running cross-functional projects, and translating leadership vision into actionable plans.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Established nonprofit (323 employees suggests mature org)

Sector: Civic and Social Organizations

Structure: Likely complex with multiple programs/initiatives

Stakeholders: Board of Directors, funders/donors, program staff, external partners

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

Executive Meetings (30%) | Strategic Projects (40%) | Internal Coordination (20%) | Admin/Prep (10%)

Key Activities

• Executive Meeting Prep: You prepare briefing materials, agendas, and decision memos for C-suite meetings. You're synthesizing information from across departments into digestible formats. Expect to spend several hours before each major meeting pulling together slides and backgrounders.
• Project Management: You run 2-4 major strategic initiatives at any time - things like org restructures, new program launches, system implementations, or board-mandated reviews. You're coordinating timelines, chasing stakeholders for updates, and reporting progress to leadership.
• Board Support: You help prepare materials for quarterly board meetings - financial reports, program updates, strategic planning documents. You may attend board meetings and follow up on action items afterward.
• Problem Solving: Executives hand you problems that don't have an obvious owner - "figure out why our retention numbers are down" or "evaluate whether we should open a West Coast office." You investigate, interview people, analyze data, and present recommendations.
• Internal Communications: You often write or edit executive communications - all-hands announcements, donor updates, strategic memos. You're the person who translates leadership thinking into clear language.
• Stakeholder Management: You interface with board members, major donors, and external partners on behalf of the executive team. This means taking calls, scheduling meetings, and managing relationships.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Ambiguity: Projects often have unclear scope and success criteria. You're expected to figure out what needs to happen without detailed instructions. If you need step-by-step direction, this isn't for you.
• Context Switching: You jump between wildly different topics - HR policy one hour, budget analysis the next, then a donor relationship issue. Hard to get into flow state.
• Influence Without Authority: You don't manage most of the people whose cooperation you need. You're constantly persuading, negotiating, and escalating to get things done.
• Meeting Overload: You're in back-to-back executive meetings, many of which run over. Your own project work happens early morning, evenings, or weekends.
• Nonprofit Constraints: Slower decision-making than private sector, limited budgets, lots of stakeholder consensus-building. If you're used to fast-moving tech companies, the pace will frustrate you.
• Variable Priorities: The CEO's urgent priority today will change tomorrow based on a board call or external event. Projects get deprioritized mid-stream regularly.

What Success Looks Like

• Executive team says things get done faster and more smoothly since you joined
• Major initiatives (acquisitions, launches, restructures) complete on time with minimal drama
• CEO shows up to board meetings fully prepared and confident in the materials
• You've built enough trust that executives hand you sensitive projects

Who You're Working With

Primary Stakeholders:

• CEO/President (your direct manager - you're in daily contact)
• C-suite executives (CFO, COO, Chief Program Officer, etc.)
• Board of Directors (quarterly interactions, more during strategic initiatives)
• Senior Directors (you coordinate their work on cross-functional projects)

What They Need From You:

• CEO needs someone who can execute on strategic priorities without handholding
• Executives need project management bandwidth they don't have
• Board needs confidence that leadership has operational control
• Staff need clarity on strategic direction and decisions

Requirements

• 7-10+ years experience in strategic operations, management consulting, or similar roles
• Track record of managing complex, cross-functional projects with multiple stakeholders
• Executive presence - comfortable in rooms with C-suite and board members
• Strong analytical skills - can dig into financial models, program data, operational metrics
• Excellent written communication - you'll be drafting memos, presentations, and strategic documents
• Experience in nonprofit sector strongly preferred (different dynamics than corporate)
• Ability to handle confidential/sensitive information with discretion
• Comfortable with ambiguity and changing priorities
• Located where you can attend in-person meetings when needed (remote policy unclear)

Compensation Reality

Likely Range: $120-180K base (nonprofit COS roles pay less than tech but more than program roles)

Benefits: Typically strong in nonprofits - good healthcare, retirement match, generous PTO, mission-driven culture

Upside: Direct access to executive decision-making, broad scope, resume-building role

Tradeoff: No equity, lower cash comp than corporate equivalent, potentially long hours during board cycles or crisis moments