Chief of Staff at Harvard Hillel

About this role

Chief of Staff

Harvard Hillel

Location : On-Site, Harvard Hillel, Cambridge, MA

Employment Status: Exempt salaried team members

Reporting: Executive Director

Salary Range: $100,000 - $110,000 plus generous benefits

Role Overview

The mission of Harvard Hillel is to be a Jewish home, both physical and virtual, on the Harvard University campus. Harvard Hillel welcomes all students to experience the variety of Jewish identity, tradition, practice, values, culture, and community and to inspire and enable connections on campus and beyond. Harvard Hillel students find meaningful connections and friendship while engaging in unique opportunities to make Jewish thought and culture integral in the life of the University.

The Chief of Staff (COS) is a newly created role, reporting to the Harvard Hillel executive director who has been in the role less than two years. As a team, they engage effectively with the many constituent groups and priorities associated with the Harvard Hillel executive office. The COS is adept at moving between strategic team decision-making, governance requirements of the Board of directors, the public profile of the executive director, and the everyday tactical implementation of planning, coordination, and projects with colleagues across the organization. The COS is also a highly empathetic and positive contributor to a collaborative and engaging organizational culture.

The COS role has been established to ensure the organization’s strategy, culture, and executive operations is planned, coordinated, and tracked with and for the executive office and in close collaboration with Havard Hillel colleagues. The successful ownership of the COS role will add capacity to the executive director and make space for the director to focus on leadership, vision and goal setting, and working with the Board and stakeholders to build the organization’s future.

A primary accountability for the COS is to serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the executive director on organizational priorities, strategic goal setting, and effective project coordination. Key to the success of the COS is also their ability to translate strategic goals into operational plan, timelines, and accountability structures.

Anticipated responsibilities for the COS are outlined below. In year one, the COS will add capacity to a range of key projects and outputs in the design phase of the director’s executive office. Over time, the role of the COS will evolve in collaboration with the executive director as they work with the Harvard Hillel team to reshape the Harvard Hillel building and its operations to move the organization forward.

What You'll Do

Board of Directors Operations

• Working closely with the executive director, Board Chair, and Committees, plan and coordinate virtual and in-person Board and Committee meetings. Serve as the liaison with the Board of directors as needed.

• Support development of calendars, invites, agendas, material document coordination and production; record Board meeting minutes and manage post-meeting follow up.

• Support Committee development, structures, and governance principles and processes using the organization’s Bylaws to support and drive governance timelines and support decision-making.

• Ensure strong compliance, documentation, and institutional records.

Annual Planning & Planning Management

• Lead annual planning and cross-departmental coordination processes.

• Establish dashboards and ways of learning to engage colleagues around annual and project planning, implementation, and tracking.

• Develop systems, tools, and schedules to operationalize and track annual work plans, and quarterly and monthly activities against annual plans.

• Facilitate team progress reviews with department heads and wider teams.

• Ensure organizational priorities remain visible and actionable.

• Lead and directly manage internal communications related to institutional planning and coordination, working closely with colleagues across the institution to ensure alignment between the Board, leadership, and staff.

• Serve as a trusted colleague and coach across the institution around execution and accountability.

Operations of the Executive Office

• Oversee financial and administrative functions of the executive director’s office.

• Manage workflows, priorities, and communications on behalf of the executive director.

• Manage discretionary budgets, fiscal sponsorship operations, and executive office expenditures.

• Prepare briefings, reports, and presentations for internal and external engagements of the executive director. Support positioning and materials for executive director’s public-facing activities.

• Ensure timely follow-through of executive director’s commitments. Build and maintain systems and tools for information flow and decision-tracking.

• Partner with colleagues across the organization to build and manage budget process, forecasting, and reporting in relation to the executive office budgets, ensuring responsible stewardship of the organization’s resources.

• Directly manage cross-functional initiatives and special projects.

• Work closely with director of operations and colleagues to design, write, and coordinate business processes for finance and compliance obligations implemented through the executive office.

Development & Community Engagement

• Serve as an active participant in the executive director’s community and student-facing work. Directly coordinate and participate in internal and external engagements of Harvard Hillel’s communities, as agreed with the executive director.

• Work closely with the director of development and executive director on Board-related fundraising strategies.

• Support planning and presence around High Holidays and key moments in the Jewish calendar.

• Work closely with the director of development and executive director to support donor stewardship and engagement related to the Board of directors.

• Lead planni

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