Chief of Staff

The Opportunity

As a key member of SmartStart’s executive leadership team, the Chief
of Staff will serve as a senior strategic extension of the CEO - increasing the
CEO’s effectiveness, leverage and capacity while providing accountable
leadership for institutional capabilities that protect, enable and extend
SmartStart.

The role will enable the CEO to focus increasingly on vision,
strategic direction, major strategic bets, Board leadership, highest-level
government and funder relationships, external influence and SmartStart’s future
positioning, while ensuring the CEO’s strategic agenda is structured,
supported, translated and followed through.

The Chief of Staff will lead the Office of the CEO and provide
executive oversight of CEO leverage and strategic agenda; Legal and Governance;
Enterprise Operations and Administration; and Global Expansion exploration and
readiness. The role creates leverage rather than dependency and must not become
a parallel centre of execution.

For a high-judgement, low-ego executive leader, this is an
opportunity to work at the centre of a mission-led organisation navigating
significant growth and transformation - helping turn complexity into clarity
while protecting the space for others to lead.

Chief of Staff - Job
Specification

 
To serve as a senior strategic extension of the CEO, increasing the
CEO’s effectiveness, leverage and capacity while providing accountable
leadership for the institutional capabilities that protect, enable and extend
SmartStart. The Chief of Staff will strengthen the CEO’s ability to lead from
her distinctive strengths in vision, systems leadership, external influence,
relationships and strategic direction by bringing exceptional internal
structure, synthesis, prioritisation, decision discipline and follow-through.

• 
  Increase CEO leverage and strategic effectiveness - helping the CEO focus attention on the work only the CEO can do
  while translating emerging thinking into structured options and organisational
  implications.
• Create disciplined strategic follow-through - ensuring CEO decisions and commitments translate into clear
  ownership, routing, sequencing and closure without absorbing accountability
  that belongs elsewhere.
  
• Strengthen executive governance and institutional integrity - improving clarity on decision authorities, delegated authority,
  reserved matters, escalation and executive forum effectiveness.
  
• Steward Legal, Governance and Enterprise Operations - ensuring fit-for-purpose institutional capability, strong risk
  escalation and efficient, well-governed corporate support.
  
• Enable the Board and executive agenda - ensuring
  decision-ready preparation, strong coordination and clear connection between
  Board priorities and accountable executives.
  
• Explore future growth responsibly - leading
  global expansion exploration and readiness while ensuring major market-entry
  decisions remain with the CEO and Board.
  
• Protect organisational accountability - working
  closely with the MD, CFO, People & Organisational Capability and functional
  leaders without becoming a gatekeeper, proxy CEO or catch-all owner of
  unassigned work.
  

• We are looking for an
  exceptional executive partner with the judgement, discretion and organisational
  maturity to operate in close  proximity to the CEO without making that proximity
  a source of status or power.
  
• You will be a structured
  thinker who can turn ambiguity and complexity into clear choices, sequencing
  and ownership - bringing analysis, options and recommendations rather than
  repeatedly escalating unprocessed problems.
  
• You will have the constructive
  courage to challenge privately when required, the discipline to align behind
  decisions once made, and the relational intelligence to retain credibility
  across EXCO, the Board and the wider organisation.
  
• You will be comfortable
  operating across strategy, governance, legal and institutional operations, with
  enough range to connect disciplines while respecting specialist judgement and
  clear role boundaries.
  
• Most importantly, you will
  bring high agency, low ego, non-defensiveness and a deep commitment to
  SmartStart’s mission - creating calm, structure and closure when pace,
  complexity or tension increases.
  

•  Act as a trusted strategic
  partner, adviser and extension of the CEO, helping prioritise strategic
  attention, engagements, interventions and decisions.
  
• Translate emerging CEO thinking
  into structured options and test strategic ideas for operational implications,
  dependencies, sequencing and organisational readiness without taking over
  execution.
  
• Surface competing priorities,
  alternative perspectives, material risks and inconvenient information in a
  clear, evidence-based and solution-oriented form.
  
• Create disciplined feedback
  loops so the CEO can see whether strategic decisions have landed as intended,
  including when the pace or volume of change risks exceeding absorptive
  capacity.
  
• Lead a highly effective Office
  of the CEO and coordinate the CEO’s strategic agenda, including high-quality
  preparation for critical internal, Board and external engagements.
  
• Translate CEO decisions and
  commitments into clear ownership, routing and follow-through, ensuring matters
  are appropriately triaged between CEO, MD, CFO and functional leadership.
  
• Coordinate a small number of
  CEO-sponsored, time-bound strategic initiatives and transition sustained
  execution to the appropriate owner.
  
•  Help institutionalise CEO
  insight and relationships into organisational systems and capability rather
  than allowing SmartStart to rely excessively on individual leadership.
  

• Support the design and
  effectiveness of SmartStart’s executive governance architecture, including
  clarity on decision authorities, delegated authority, reserved matters and
  escalation.
  
• Ensure executive forums are
  appropriately constituted, focused on the right level of questions and
  disciplined in tracking material decisions and commitments to closure.
  
• Maintain clear boundaries
  between CEO, MD, CFO, Chief of Staff and functional leadership
  accountabilities.
  
• Provide executive stewardship
  of SmartStart’s legal, regulatory and corporate governance capability, ensuring
  access to appropriate specialist legal advice and protecting independent
  professional judgement.
  
• Oversee the organisational
  approach to legal risk, material contracts, regulatory compliance and
  governance frameworks, ensuring significant risks are identified, escalated and
  managed.
  
• Coordinate Legal with People
  & Organisational Capability on employment-law and people-policy interfaces,
  and with Finance on commercial, procurement and financial-risk interfaces.
  

Enterprise Operations,
Board Enablement & Future Readiness

• 
  Provide executive ownership of
  core institutional administration and corporate operational support, setting
  fit-for-purpose standards, systems and service expectations.
• Ensure corporate operational
  processes are efficient, appropriately governed, simplified and fit for scale,
  with relevant procurement governance coordinated while financial controls
  remain with Finance.
  
• Coordinate the CEO’s Board
  agenda and decision-ready preparation of strategic Board materials, connecting
  Board priorities, decisions and actions to accountable executives.
  
• Coordinate with the CFO on
  financial, Audit & Risk and funder-assurance matters and help ensure Board
  engagement remains appropriately strategic rather than unnecessarily
  operational.
  
• Lead exploration and
  institutional readiness for potential expansion beyond South Africa, including
  early market, institutional, legal, governance and operating-model assessments.
  
• Coordinate cross-functional
  expertise and produce decision-quality information for CEO and Board
  consideration, developing appropriate replication, partnership and market-entry
  guardrails.
  
• Own exploration and readiness
  rather than unilateral market entry; major entry decisions remain CEO/Board
  reserved decisions and sustained execution transfers to appropriate operating
  leadership.
  
• Act as a strategic thought
  partner to the CEO on SmartStart’s continued operating-model and institutional
  evolution, surfacing structural barriers and supporting major changes requiring
  CEO sponsorship.
  
• Work closely with the MD and
  People & Organisational Capability leadership while respecting their
  execution and specialist accountabilities.
  

Executive Partnership
& Leadership Standard

• Challenge the CEO
  constructively when required, and align behind decisions once made.
  
• Bring analysis, options and
  recommendations; maintain appropriate alignment without excessive
  permission-seeking.
  
• Use proximity to the CEO as a
  responsibility, not as organisational status or power, and maintain credibility
  across EXCO and the organisation.
  
• Exercise significant influence
  without becoming territorial, factional, bureaucratic or a gatekeeper.
  
• Lead portfolio resources and
  senior professionals with clear accountability, discretion and strong
  judgment.
  
• Create calm, structure and
  closure when pace, complexity or tension increases
  
• Model high agency,
  simplification, adaptive pace and disciplined follow-through.
  
• ​Protect clear accountability:
  the MD owns enterprise execution; the CFO owns financial stewardship; People
  & Organisational Capability owns people strategy and organisational
  capability; functional leaders retain specialist mandates.
  

Requirements

Qualifications
& Experience

•  Relevant postgraduate qualification or equivalent senior
  professional experience in strategy, business, law, governance, public policy,
  organisational leadership or a related field.
  
• Significant senior leadership experience in a complex, mission-led,
  public-interest or multi-stakeholder environment.
  
• Demonstrated experience advising and working closely with CEOs or
  senior executives, with strong experience in strategy, executive decision
  support and institutional governance.
  
• Demonstrated ability to lead across functions and disciplines
  without unnecessarily centralising authority, including experience working with
  Boards and/or senior governance structures.
  
• Strong understanding of organisational risk, governance and
  institutional accountability, with experience managing highly sensitive and
  confidential matters at executive level.
  
• Experience leading senior professionals and/or specialist
  portfolios. Exposure to legal/regulatory environments, government,
  philanthropy, development, social-impact ecosystems, international expansion or
  networked operating models is highly advantageous.
  

• Strong understanding of executive governance, decision rights,
  delegated authority and institutional accountability.
  
• Strong strategic and organisational judgement, including the ability
  to assess dependencies, sequencing, risk and organisational readiness.
  
• Sufficient legal and governance literacy to steward specialist legal
  capability while respecting independent professional judgment.
  
• Understanding of Board governance, executive decision support and
  high-level stakeholder environments.
  
• Understanding of enterprise operations, administrative
  infrastructure and fit-for-scale institutional systems.
  
• Understanding of organisational transformation, operating-model
  evolution and the dynamics of complex change.
  
• Knowledge of multi-stakeholder, partnership-based or networked
  operating environments.
  
• Exposure to international expansion, market entry or multi-country
  organisations is advantageous.
  
• Experience within ECD, education, public systems or another
  social-impact environment is advantageous.
  

 Skills
and Competencies

• Exceptional executive judgement, discretion and ability to handle
  sensitive information.
  
• High agency and structured thinking, with the ability to move from
  issue to analysis to recommendation to action.
  
• Constructive courage and the ability to challenge senior leaders
  while retaining trust.
  
• Excellent communication, synthesis and interpersonal skills.
  
• Strong relational intelligence across CEO, EXCO, Board, partners and
  organisational contexts.
  
• Low ego, low territoriality and strong organisational neutrality.
  
• Excellent execution discipline, prioritisation and follow-through.
  
• Ability to simplify complexity and create structure without
  unnecessary bureaucracy.
  
• Non-defensiveness, learning agility and willingness to change
  position when evidence requires it.
  
•  Ability to influence without formal authority and route work to the
  right accountable owner.
  
• Adaptive pace - able to move quickly while recognising when
  sense-making, alignment or absorption time is needed.
  
• ​Deep commitment to SmartStart’s mission and to
  increasing enterprise capacity.
  

Employment Equity

SmartStart is committed to employment equity, diversity and
inclusion. Preference may be given to suitably qualified candidates from
designated groups, in line with SmartStart's Employment Equity commitments and
applicable legislation.

Benefits