What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chief of Staff to CEO position at Karp Strategies?
Description
The Chief of Staff serves as a trusted partner to the CEO & Founding Principal. In this role, the CoS ensures efficient operations for the CEO and the firm, enabling the CEO to deliver on the organization’s mission and partnering with the CEO to ensure the firm’s success. The Chief of Staff will provide comprehensive support to the fast-paced CEO, is able to anticipate needs for the CEO and across the business, think critically, and offer solutions to problems with a high level of professionalism and confidentiality. This role will work alongside the CEO and support critical decision making, leveraging your administrative expertise alongside the firm’s content expertise needed to achieve our ambitious goals. The ideal candidate will thrive in ambiguity and a dynamic environment, be highly organized, demonstrate a high level of accountability, possess excellent judgement and diplomacy, be an excellent communicator, and maintain a focus on key priorities against business objectives.
The CoS will successfully oversee complex scheduling for the CEO, manage key projects that will have significant impact on the business, prepare documents, attend meetings, and support internal and external communications. It is expected that the Chief of Staff will collaborate with Senior Leadership in the firm, clients, partners, and other key stakeholders on day-to-day-business and other matters at the discretion of the CEO. The CoS will provide management oversight to administrative staff and any external vendors providing administrative support functions for senior leadership within the firm. Emotional intelligence, ability to work with people at all levels within and external to the organization, and ability to garner trust of the CEO are essential in this role.
The CoS will partner with the CEO to understand their disability, and to support success in their role. The CoS will be adaptable, empathetic, and able to communicate effectively, ensuring a productive and inclusive working relationship and upholding Karp Strategies’ core values.
This role will directly support the CEO and report to the Managing Principal, Strategy & Operations.
Key Responsibilities
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Provide sophisticated calendar management for the CEO to optimize time management.
- Prioritize conflicting needs and requests while troubleshooting conflicts; make judgements and recommendations to ensure smooth day-to-day engagements.
- Work closely with the CEO to keep her well informed of and prepared for upcoming commitments and responsibilities.
- Research, prioritize, and follow up on incoming issues and concerns addressed to the CEO, including those of a sensitive, highly confidential, and critical nature.
- Determine appropriate course of action, referral, or response, exercising judgement to reflect CEO’s style and organizational policy/philosophy/culture.
- Complete a broad variety of work that facilitates the CEO’s ability to effectively lead the organization, including:
- Ensuring CEO is prepared for upcoming meeting by collecting, prioritizing and preparing information/materials for upcoming meetings; ensure follow up activities are assigned (where additional team support is required) and manage through completion;
- Managing CEO's mail, signature requests, answering CEO phone line in her absence, and responding to internal and external inquiries (triaging and drafting responses);
- Managing special and priority projects with and for the CEO, ranging from internal initiatives, client engagement research, attending external meetings and conferences, determining key areas of business, and more
- Serve as a key point of contact for internal and external constituencies on matters pertaining to the CEO for efficient, comprehensive support.
- Scheduling and confirming attendance, preparing, and distributing materials, recording meeting minutes, and coordinating documents for signature, as required.
- Assessing priority and alignment with CEO and firm goals
- Handle matters expeditiously, proactively, and follow-through on projects to successful completion, often with deadline pressures.
- Designing and producing complex documents, reports, and presentations;
- Composing and preparing correspondence;
- Creating and maintaining contact lists;
- Collaborate with internal (Business Development, Marketing & Communications, Senior Leadership) and external teams (PR and other vendors, partners, clients) to prepare talking points, presentations, decks, and other materials as required for events & engagements.
- Making travel arrangements and completing expense reports;
- Utilizing knowledge of the organization to resolve questions and issues;
- Assist with meeting agendas and manage logistics for high-level meetings and events.
- Comfortably handle highly confidential and time sensitive information with necessary care and prioritization.
- Collaborate with the Senior Leadership Team to coordinate the CEO’s outreach activities.
- Participate and lead special projects and strategic initiatives as needed.
- Provide event management support as needed.
- Proactively identify process improvements and opportunities to enhance support of the CEO.
People Management
- Oversee administrative support functions, including junior staff and any related vendors (Virtual EAs, etc)
- Provide coaching and professional development to direct reports through 1:1s, performance reviews, and other conversations
Culture & Operations
- Serve as a culture carrier for the organization, modeling core values and commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in all interactions and integrate DEIB into all day-to-day work and into all supported internal initiatives
- Participate in annual, quarterly, monthly, and weekly meetings critical to company business (strategy, marketing, business development) and develop schedule plans for C-Suite in response; work with CEO to set agendas and priorities for these meetings
- Providing support as-needed around key team-wide initiatives and activities that foster our firm values.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
- 5 years professional experience, with experience managing complex scheduling and administration in a growing and entrepreneurial organization, preference for a candidate with at least 3 years experience supporting CEO or other C-suite executive(s) in a growing organization.
- Strong commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, including racial justice and environmental justice, with a track record of contributing to a high-performing, diverse, and inclusive culture; ability to apply an equity lens to planning challenges
- Ability to bring flexibility and care in supporting leaders with disabilities; ability to quickly adapt and problem solve while embodying a high level of patience and empathy.
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize workload, multi-task, and deliver against deadlines in a timely manner
- Exceptional attention to detail orientation and follow-through paired with excellent time and task management skills
- Experience handling highly confidential and time sensitive information with necessary care and prioritization; a high level of integrity, initiative, discretion, and judgment
- Exceptional interpersonal skills and customer service orientation, with the ability to develop and manage strong relationships across a diverse spectrum of internal and external stakeholders, inspiring trust and confidence, and navigating a high level of nuance and complexity
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including a high level of diplomacy and discretion; track record of effective communication with executive leaders
- Ability to anticipate challenges, analyze situations, and develop effective solutions
- Ability to thrive in a goal-oriented, fast-paced, and entrepreneurial environment, with the ability to be flexible in project execution, effectively adapt to shifting priorities, and be comfortable navigating ambiguity
- Advanced proficiency with software applications including Microsoft Office, Google Suite, Adobe, internal databases, etc. Preference for a candidate with experience using CRM software (Salesforce, etc).
- Growth Mindset with an ability to climb learning curves and a desire to operate outside of your comfort zone
Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter detailing why this role is right for you. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Benefits
Karp Strategies offers a comprehensive benefits package that prioritizes the health and wellness of the team and investment in each team member’s professional growth.
- Professional Development: Employees are encouraged to meet their professional goals by participating in membership organizations, attending conferences, and pursuing skills and management training. We offer and support regular training for team members - investing in the team is a central value in our firm..
- Wellness: Employees have access to remote and in-person wellness services, including fitness classes, meditation, a workout studio and exercise bikes, that are offered by Primary.
- Health: We offer medical, vision, and dental benefits and membership to One Medical. Medical costs are shared by Karp Strategies.
- Rest: 20 days of PTO; in addition, staff receive 7 sick / safe days, 9 holidays and support team members to choose flexible hours and remote work.
- Savings: We offer 401k retirement plan match, and access to HSA, FSA, and commuter benefits programs.
About Karp Strategies
Karp Strategies is an equity-driven, WBE/DBE/SBE-certified urban strategy consultancy founded in 2015 that has become one of the Northeast’s go-to firms for community and economic development planning, stakeholder engagement, and real estate and urban planning. We work to build stronger communities, cities, and economies where people are proud to live and work, and where they can access the means to do so. Our core values underpin all we do.
Our firm is based in NYC and works on projects around the country, with a focus in the Northeast. We help our clients to make better decisions, avoid project delays, and create shared value for people, businesses, and institutions. We work at the intersection of data, people, and place, understanding that there are multiple ways to approach a problem or opportunity.
We value and celebrate diversity and inclusion in our team, and share a commitment to social, racial, and economic equity within our organization and within our practice. We prioritize professional development for all of our team members, including providing stipends to support learning and participation in membership organizations.
Since the firm’s launch in 2015, we have achieved significant growth in revenue, impact, and team size – and are poised to continue this growth over the next several years. Since our founding, our team has engaged tens of thousands of stakeholders across the region and advised on projects with future impact in the billions. The team has approximately 30 transdisciplinary members working across urban planning, resiliency, economic development, real estate, renewable energy, community development, infrastructure, and more. As we continue to focus on firm growth and serving our existing clients and partners, we are seeking a dynamic, mission-driven Principal to provide executive leadership, oversee and deliver on projects, and drive business development efforts.
