LOCATION: Remote
About
Edge Collaborative is looking for an entrepreneurial Chief of Staff (CoS) who is excited to step into a dynamic organization and help architect its growth alongside the Founder/CEO. During 2021 and 2022, our team has grown from 3 people to a now-10 person team, with further growth anticipated. The overarching goals for the Chief of Staff are to enable strategic focus for the CEO, and to ensure that the organization’s objectives are understood, supported, and advanced.
As a civic incubator, Edge partners with public, private, and nonprofit organizations to tackle systemic economic challenges in Stockton. With a focus on three key areas – jobs and workforce, climate, and community wealth – Edge seeds and supports partner-led initiatives with a range of tools. These tools include access to capital, talent, policy support, and coalition-building.
Position Overview
Reporting to the CEO, the COS will be responsible for building out a wide-ranging portfolio – including both the strategic (development of special projects) as well as the tactical (operations/processes). The ideal candidate should combine a track record of strong execution (see GYSHIDO), a deep desire to serve the community, and exemplary executive-level advising and collaboration chops. Our team comes from all types of backgrounds – and we expect that you might also. This will be an incredibly exciting and challenging role, and we expect to compensate it commensurate to the challenge.
As an independent contractor role, the CoS position is expected to grow and evolve with the organization – starting with a 1 year contract. Given the critical importance of the role, the suitability of the position will be formally reviewed at the 3 month mark to ensure mutual fit between the candidate and team. The CoS can and should expect to work closely with the Founder/CEO, and also develop both lateral and supervisorial relationships with a cross-section of the broader Edge team.
This ideal candidate should be comfortable operating in a start-up environment. The nature of this role, and of this work, is highly iterative – as we aspire to serve the needs of the community and be responsive to funders. As a result, high standards for creativity, patience and communication will be required to balance the needs of a diverse set of stakeholders. From week to week, the candidate should be adept at toggling between a range of assignments that could require retooling the organization’s strategic objectives, building out budget projections, preparing the CEO for conference presentations, tracking annual team deliverables, mentoring younger teammates, and identifying outside talent for special projects. Exceptional attention to detail is an absolute must.
Responsibilities:
- In partnership with the CEO, spearhead the development of special projects and initiatives – across the Edge portfolio, and oversee the analysis and decision making where appropriate.
- With direction from CEO, scope strategic partnership opportunities with prospective organizations operating across the areas of inclusive economy, civic engagement and/or climate
- Drive strategic alignment of multi-million dollar philanthropic and public funding opportunities, alongside a small team of 2-3 individuals
- Lead the identification and acquisition of high-leverage public sector opportunities (state and federal grants) – to support the work of multi-stakeholder coalitions
- Support the CEO’s workload and prioritization of time by managing the information flow, resolving issues, providing analysis and advice on key issues.
- Establish efficient processes for timely and efficient flow of information across the Edge team, as well as with internal and external stakeholders.
- Prepare CEO for external meetings and speaking engagements. Coordinate requisite support resources. Capture follow-up items for response and/or closure.
About Edge Collaborative’s Structure
Based in California, the Edge CEO brings 15+ years of diverse experience across international development, various technology startups and most recently, local government. Our team is uniquely structured; we tackle public sector challenges, but with the audacity and innovation of the private sector. Our work is structured around the 3 primary portfolio areas – with teams that run fairly autonomously. Think of us as part R&D lab and part nonprofit. Increasingly, a key component of our civic incubation work involves seed investing into community-led initiatives across the region.
Team Values
Beginner’s mindset – we love asking the ‘stupid questions’ to understand what is possible. Our greatest asset is our curiosity as beginners (not experts). We want to discover how and why particular systems and people have been historically neglected by the public and private sectors.
Undaunted – we believe that bold solutions emerge from the margins (or edges, as we might say). The first answer is usually never right, but we’re not afraid of being wrong. We bring a passionate persistence to breaking through the stalemates and road blocks.
Boundless creativity – we thrive as a team. We take inspiration from “keystone species” in ecology – modeling our work after the resourcefulness of penguins and the vibrancy of bees. We cross-pollinate ideas, sectors, and institutions to help manifest the untapped potential of the people we serve.
Humility in service of community – we care deeply about the communities in which we work, and endeavor to put their needs at the center of how we design and incubate new initiatives. We strive to balance the boldness of our imagination with the recognition that slow, sustained trust building with partners is critical to the long-term viability of the work.