Chief of Staff, Advocacy, Communications and External Affairs

### Arnold Ventures Overview

Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy whose core objective is to maximize opportunity and minimize injustice. We are dedicated to tackling some of the most pressing problems in the United States. We invest in sustainable change, building it from the ground up based on research, deep thinking, and a strong foundation of evidence. We drive public conversation, craft policy, and inspire action through education and advocacy.

### Position Overview

Arnold Venture’s advocacy, communications, and external affairs team (ACE) aims to effectively position the Foundation as a trusted champion for evidence-based, nonpartisan policy solutions to America’s toughest challenges. This includes both communications through original content creation and distribution of our policy priorities, and direct engagement and relationship building with targeted policy stakeholders.

We are seeking a Chief of Staff to play a key role in setting the team’s annual and multi-year strategies, interacting with key internal and external stakeholders, measuring key performance metrics of the organization, and executing special projects. This individual will be the Executive Vice President of Advocacy, Communications & External Affairs’ (EVP) right-hand, participating in high level meetings, traveling frequently, preparing briefings, conducting research, and owning targeted initiatives. In addition, the Chief of Staff will interface with the AV Executive team to integrate work across teams and functions. This position will be located in our Washington, DC office and report to the EVP.

### Core Responsibilities

– Work collaboratively with the EVP to determine and prioritize decisions, manage time, prepare materials, and brainstorm strategic objectives
– Provide high-level, quick, and in-depth analysis of policy, politics and industry trends
– Serve as surrogate for EVP at meetings and presentations as needed
– Manage the team’s operations to maximize the team’s impact, efficiency, and alignment
– Support the EVP in creating external and internal facing content including presentations materials, background briefs, talking points, op-eds, articles, speeches, and memos
– Maintain post-meeting debriefs and communicate to relevant stakeholders
– Produce consolidated reporting to EVP, including tracking, reporting of internal documents that require coordinating data and information from around the organization
– Help to run team meetings, team building, culture creation
– Plan and execute leadership development of ACE leadership team
– Manage near and long-term meeting agendas for EVP, screen requests for time/opportunities, gather backgrounds on meeting attendees, ensure needed support from team in attendance and meeting materials
– Strategize, develop, and track key performance metrics for the organization to inform status and future opportunities
– Implement programs, systems, workflows, or processes that strengthen political knowledge and impact, improve tracking and performance evaluation, or reduce redundancies. Examples include designing and maintaining databases with member profiles, historical giving analysis, and political engagement activity
– Respond to a variety of special projects
– Manage relationships cross-functionally within AV teams
– Work with Finance to manage the annual department budget for ACE. Coordinate with AV Legal, Finance, and Accounting teams for necessary information, compliance disclosures and reports

### Required Qualifications

– 10 years of relevant work experience, preferably in policy, campaigns or government
– Strong leadership, people management and relationship building skills
– Meaningful and demonstrated history of operational efficiency and optimization
– Exceptional project manager with extraordinary organization skills
– Outstanding data mining skills, particularly in policy analysis and political insights
– Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate key takeaways to diverse audiences

### Our Culture and Core Values

Our culture seeks to inspire and empower our people to innovate and develop bold ideas that will help Arnold Ventures achieve lasting impact. Our culture, and the core values that support it, should create an environment that spurs our team to think outside the box, feel comfortable pushing the boundaries of what is possible, and signal confidence in our team’s ability to make change happen through our philanthropic efforts. Although not an exhaustive list, below you’ll find examples of Arnold Ventures’ work culture.

– We have a proven commitment to and passion for racial and social justice.
– We are adaptable and comfortable with ambiguity.
– We are intellectually curious, open-minded, objective, humble, collegial, and receptive to feedback.
– We are action-oriented with strong self-direction and self-motivation skills with the ability to work simultaneously on multiple projects.
– We are able to interact confidently and collaboratively with team members and navigate relationships with external experts, government leaders, advocates, and individuals.

Arnold Ventures’ values reflect who we are as an organization, help us accelerate our strategic goals, strengthen our resolve, anchor us to our mission, and guide our decision-making. The successful candidate will also demonstrate the following core values that inspire the Arnold Ventures team to make a difference.

– Respect for Ourselves & Others
– Audacious Action
– Collaborative Engagement
– Depth of Thought
– Clear Communication

Arnold Ventures is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, military/veteran status, or any basis prohibited by applicable law.

Acknowledging the importance of diverse perspectives, Arnold Ventures is committed to employing individuals from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of experiences. Members of historically marginalized communities and candidates who have been impacted by the systems we are seeking to change are strongly encouraged to apply.

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