Chief Operating Officer Jobs

The Role:

Location: New York, NY

Reports to: Executive Director (ED)

Overview: The Chief Operating Officer (COO) will serve as a key partner to the new Executive Director and will be an organizational leader responsible for setting, articulating, and implementing a compelling operational strategy. Broad areas of responsibility will include - but are not limited to - finance, operations, talent, and technology.

Team: The COO supervises and supports an Operations Manager, with potential to add staff in future years.

Key Responsibilities:

Organizational and Strategic Leadership:

• In partnership with the Executive Director, create and support the organizational and operational vision of The Carmel Hill Fund (CHF) by reimagining how CHF can become an innovative, state-of-the-art operation that maximizes its financial and talent resources, in alignment with the organization’s mission and goals, to help develop voracious readers and support adolescent mental health.
• Ensure that budgets and long-term financial plans and operations are aligned to the organizations’ strategic plan, values and priorities.
• In partnership with Operations Manager, oversee general office management and facilities.
• Assess and identify areas for infrastructure improvement that anticipate the future needs of a best-practice organization. Identify any gaps and proactively propose creative and innovative solutions.
• Design and oversee the “nonprofit access” program, providing local organizations with access to meeting/convening space in CHF’s new offices.
• Manage relationships with legal, insurance, real estate, technology and other administrative vendors.
• Help build and develop a lean, nimble, and effective team of staff and/or vendors/consultants, while cultivating and promoting a culture of collaboration, transparency, accountability, empowerment, joy and wellbeing.

Financial Management:

• Lead the annual budget and planning process in close collaboration with the Executive Director and other members of the leadership team. Prepare and present all Finance & Operations materials for Board meetings.
• Take a hand-on approach to best-practice financial management while supervising and supporting an Operations Manager.
• Ensure the accuracy and compliance of day-to-day financial accounting functions and processes.
• Oversee the annual 990 process, including financial statement and notes preparation; act as primary liaison with the tax preparers.
• Manage the timely month-close process, working together with the Operations Manager and the external accountant to make sure all transactions are recorded and all journal entries are appropriately reviewed.
• Coordinate with investment and banking partners to ensure adequate cash flow needs.
• Oversee and lead all aspects of the Finance & Accounting function of the organization, including grants administration.
• Review and upgrade financial management systems, potentially including a potential technology migration to new enterprise accounting software; review and update the finance policies and procedures manual to ensure compliance and efficiency in all aspects of financial management.
• Promote the organization’s financial health by providing financial updates and respond to requests from the Executive Director and Trustees.
• Develop, implement, and document sound fiscal policies and internal controls on the organization’s behalf.

Technology:

• Oversee technology solutions including hardware, software, website hosting, and network services.
• Manage the relationship with current IT support vendors to maintain smooth technology operations for the entire organization.
• In partnership with internal team members and consultants, identify, implement, and utilize software programs and databases to streamline internal operations.

Human Resources & Administration:

• Ensure the continued promotion of a culture that is centered on equity, intersectionality and inclusion.
• Ensure that the organization develops clear roles, responsibilities, and reporting structures for staff and consultants to maintain a strong, high performing organizational culture.
• Along with the Operations Manager, oversee the human resources function and external vendor, ensuring the execution of payroll, benefits, total rewards, talent acquisition, onboarding/offboarding, professional development opportunities, and performance management processes that foster positive staff experiences and individual growth.
• Ensure Human Resources policies and procedures are regularly updated and implemented to ensure equity and compliance; serve as a go-to resource for employee relations challenges and opportunities.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Responsibilities

• Consistently give both positive and developmental feedback to support learning, excellence, and personal growth.
• Communicate clearly and directly with colleagues, working to match intent and impact in interactions, and be proactive to resolve conflicts and misunderstandings, especially across lines of difference.
• Proactively build and sustain robust, authentic, productive working relationships with colleagues across race and other group identities, including staff and external partners.
• Demonstrate awareness of multiple group identities and their attendant dynamics. Consistently bring a high level of self-awareness, empathy, and social skills to work and interpersonal interactions.

Chief of Staff Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain a close working relationship with the ED and Board, to understand their strategic goals and aspirations for the organization and to deliver as effectively, creatively and innovatively as possible against these goals.
• Manage internal team meetings, balancing day-to-day/weekly discussions with long-term strategic management and planning.

Qualifications & Experience:

The successful candidate will be a cross-functional, systems thinker and culture champion, capable of managing multiple internal workstreams simultaneously. Strong candidates for this role will possess a majority of the following professional and personal attributes and competencies:

Experience in nonprofit organizations.

• At least 10 years of senior-level financial, operations, systems and project management experience, preferably gained in a philanthropic foundation setting.
• Prior financial management and accounting supervision experience.
• Experienced in leadership of audit/tax preparation, compliance, contracts, and budget management.
• Extensive management experience, and the ability to provide advice on strategic HR decisions, especially in a time of transition or organizational evolution.
• Demonstrated history of leading an effective project management process, including those that require change management.
• Experience overseeing the technology needs of an organization, with an affinity for forward-thinking creative solutions. Prior experience successfully leading financial system re-engineering and workflow improvements, including selecting and overseeing accounting and reporting software installations that optimize actionable financial forecasting and strong data analysis, would be beneficial.

Desired Competencies:

• A highly competent, confident self-starter who is responsive, proactive, and eager to both make decisions and act as a decision-making sounding board, where needed.
• Strong communicator, verbal and written.
• Strong attention to detail, intellectual curiosity, and receptivity to feedback.
• Excellent relationship-building skills; able to work with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• A growth-mindset with robust analysis and creative problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organizational, time, and project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities, short-term needs, and long-term planning. Able to effectively set and manage priorities and deadlines and to coach others to do the same.
• A proven commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and passion for social justice and the organization’s greater mission.
• Approachable, effective and inspirational manager with experience managing a broad array of functional areas and stakeholders both internally and externally.
• Demonstrated track record of partnering with organizational leader(s) to design and implement innovative and inventive operational strategies that address both short-term needs and long-term goals/vision.

Hybrid-Work Policy:

Carmel Hill Fund’s headquarters are NYC and this leadership role is based in that office. While team members can be effective working partly-remote, based on the responsibilities of their role, the COO is expected to work a minimum of two days per week from CHF’s headquarters location in NYC and will support the development of a longer-term organizational hybrid-work policy.