Chief of Staff to the Chief Academic Officer (24-25)

Chief of Staff to the Chief Academic Officer (24-25)

School Year:

2024-2025
Location:

Austin Regional Office
Region:

Greater Austin, TX
Category:

Headquarters
Job Type:

Full-Time

Chief of Staff to the Chief Academic

Officer
Position Overview
The Chief of Staff

is

an executive-level role responsible for facilitating and overseeing the functions of the Chief’s senior team to ensure that the Chief

is able to

maximize their focus and productivity to achieve their organizational goals.
The Chief of Staff has the skills, knowledge, and leadership presence to design, lead, execute, and evaluate the impact of strategic initiatives within their department’s scope in response to a topic-specific directive from their Chief. The Chief of Staff

is able to

effectively manage complex situations and multiple responsibilities simultaneously, balancing long-term priorities with urgent demands.
The Chief of Staff serves the Chief as a strategic and trusted advisor, including on confidential matters; as a collaborator in identifying and solving problems to achieve outcomes; and as a credible voice/proxy. The Chief of Staff is responsible for ensuring that the Chief’s functional team operates with a high level of efficiency and discipline through organizing functional team systems; ensuring that the Chief’s time is focused on their stated priorities and on functional areas with gaps in progress towa

rd goals; and ensuring that the Chief has relevant, timely, and comprehensive data to make informed decisions.
From the outset, the Chief of Staff must build trust with colleagues within their department and in all other HQ departments

and collaborate with and achieve results through influencing others. The Chief of Staff must be able to effectively manage highly confidential information

and must be viewed as credible and reliable among the staff and key external partners. The Chief of Staff must have strong verbal and written communication skills to effectively and efficiently convey information with clarity to stakeholders within their department, in other departments, including at the school level, and externally.
The Chief of Staff should directly manage members of the Chief’s team, including the Executive Assistant and Project Manager; manage specific scopes of work or time bound projects; and support effective preparation and follow-through on items for consideration by the Board of Directors.
The Chief of Staff is the Chief’s partner in prioritizing the most important work– both now and in the future– and creating time and space to ensure it gets done.
The Chief of Staff will:
●

Design and lead

strategic initiatives and objectives of the department and/or

organization, along with processes and projects in accordance with the directives of the Chief and senior leadership.
●

Act as a strategic thought partner, confidante, and sounding board for the Chief by helping them shape and advance their vision, providing them with the most relevant information, data analysis and decision support through synthesizing, funneling and filtering advice and perspective.
●

Act as a strategic thought partner, confidante, and sounding board for leaders within the Chief’s line of management, including Vice Presidents/Managing

Directors, as well as other Chiefs of Staff in the organization.
●

Inform the Chief of timely and relevant information, including department-specific data and diverse perspectives, during deliberation and decision-making. Support the Chief and department VPs to be accountable to feedback data from staff and to make improvements as needed.
●

Develop over time the in-depth knowledge, communication, and leadership skills to represent the Chief internally. The exceptional proxy represents the Chief when needed to gather and cascade information, seek input, or provide guidance.
●

Coordinate and interact with senior leaders and external partners as needed on a diverse range of strategic, operational, and organizational matters.
●

Design and implement systems of organization for repeated procedures, including setting responsibilities, coordinating functions among departments, and providing accountability for adherence.
●

Prepare and/or contribute to the preparation of reports, proposals, briefings, presentations, and responses on functional or organizational data/outcomes.
●

Communicate with a variety of audiences, primarily internal, and within a variety of contexts, including but not limited to functional progress toward goals, organizational priorities, and functional scopes of work that are in turnaround or other improvement modes.
The Chief of Staff will possess the following executive-level leadership qualities:
●

Ability to engage in analytical, critical, conceptual thinking, and problem-solving, along with the ability to coach and develop these skills in others.
●

Anticipate problems and whenever possible resolve those by taking

initiative

independently or bringing options and recommendations to the Chief for engagement.
●

Emotional intelligence to engage in the complex, sensitive, and high-impact challenges that must be resolved at the Chief level.
●

Fluid ability to build trust with others to create and sustain effective working relationships.
●

Fluid ability to activate trust to influence others and/or manage conflict.
●

Act with empathy and diplomacy as warranted, maintaining direct and honest communication with the Chief and colleagues.
●

Act with integrity, including making and supporting honest and ethical decision-making, exercising sound judgment, and maintaining confidentiality.
●

Ability to organize, prioritize, follow through, and attend to detail using a variety of project and performance management tools and techniques.
●

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including identifying and replicating the Chief’s “voice” to ensure consistency and clarity of expectations in departmental and cross-functional spaces.
●

Taking initiative

to self-assign responsibilities or challenges, with exceptional independence and requiring minimal supervision, including sharing opinions and setting direction.
●

Owning follow-through and being trusted throughout the organization as dependable and consistent.
●

Orientation toward achievement and effort

by establishing and maintaining individually challenging achievement goals that serve the organization’s mission.
Required experience:
●

Minimum experience:

A minimum 8 years (10 preferred) of successful experience in Education
●

Must have extensive

experience in strategy, analysis, project management, and interacting/influencing senior leaders.
●

Certifications: PMP preferred, but not required
●

High level of proficiency with the Office 365 suite.
●

Proven experience translating data and metrics to action.
●

Demonstrable experience managing high-profile projects.
●

Robust written and verbal communication portfolio.
Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position will have supervisory responsibilities to be determined in partnership with the Chief.
Location:

This is a full-time (remote/on-site) position based in Texas with preference given to candidates who live in Austin, El Paso, Houston, Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa), Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and Tarrant County (Fort Worth), or who are willing to relocate.
Travel Expectations

are up to 25% at the busiest times of the year.
Compensation & Benefits:

Salaries for people entering this role typically fall between $108,136 to $128,682, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for a performance bonus based on team and organizational performance and goal attainment.
Additionally, we offer medical, dental, vision, and supplemental benefits as well as retirement plans and a generous vacation package. You can find more information about our benefits at

https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/

.
IDEA Public Schools National Board Members: Collin Sewell – Chair, Ed Rivera – Vice-Chair & Secretary, Erich Holmsten – Treasurer, Michael Adams, Gary Lindgren, Theresa Barrera-Shaw, Dr. Nanette Cocero.

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