Chief Operations Officer
Position Summary: Director of Business Operations or Chief Operating Officer
Serves as the business planning, operations, and administration generalist for this growing non-profit startup. Provides a vital leadership and support function, running the business side of the organization and freeing up co-founder time so they can focus on the front end of the organization. Must be highly organized, comfortable creating structures and processes where they do not yet exist, managing time across a large constellation of tasks, and learning to fulfill multiple roles through a combination of self-teaching and consultation with leadership. Reports to the Executive Director or the Chief of Staff. If hired at the Director level, there is opportunity to grow into becoming the organization's Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Compensation and General Expectations
- Member of a small, growing, good-natured, mutually-caring, hard-working team
- Compensation:
- $80k-$110k +benefits for Director of Business Operations (3-8 years experience)
- $115-$150k +benefits for Chief Operating Officer (6+ years of relevant experience, with at least 2 of those years at a senior level)
- Anticipated work schedule: Monday - Thursday (optional Fridays off); 32 hours per week
- Paid time off (for whatever reason - sick, vacation, etc.): 20 days per year
- Paid parental leave: 12 weeks; 11 U.S federal holidays are also observed
- Location: Remote, anywhere in the continental United States, aligning hours with Eastern time zone, expected to be visible on-camera for most Zoom meetings
- Location preference (optional, to align with current staff locations): Pittsburgh PA, New York City NY, Colorado Springs CO
Duties
Facilitating Member of the Leadership Team: Curates the agenda for, attends, participates, and keeps notes at DBP leadership meetings with the Executive Director, Chief of Staff, and Program Directors. Helps turn agreed-upon business strategies into reality for the organization by turning them into realistic timelines with owners for specific tasks. Adjusts these timelines and taskings as needed.
If at the COO level, serves as a Senior member of the Leadership team, along with the Executive Director and Chief of Staff. Will report to the Executive Director and work as a peer to the Chief of Staff. Expected to contribute more value more quickly and with less support from other team members than the Director level. Expected to assume responsibility for the business health of the organization, and to author, maintain, and update the vision and plan for its sustainable growth trajectory.
If at the Director level, serves as a participating member of the Leadership team, along with the Program Director(s). Expected to strongly support the business health of the organization and to contribute to the vision and plan for its sustainable growth trajectory.
Constellation of Administrative Responsibilities: The job will require a combination of many practical tasks across the following functional arenas. As the organization grows, additional team members will be hired to fill and support functional areas. It would be the responsibility of this position to supervise and manage any team members working in operations.
Primary Functions (will be asked to perform regularly or supervise the performance of:)
- Business process development: Supports the rest of the team by understanding everyone else’s work and developing, suggesting, and co-producing processes, tools, and norms that make it easier to consistently and efficiently do that work well and collaborate across the team
- Client Project Payroll, Invoicing, and Time Keeping: Leads the timely submission of payroll (ADP) data entry and monthly invoices to clients. Supports project managers with oversight and coordination of timekeeping data entry processes and tracking of expected versus actual hours for independent contractors.
- Finance and taxes: Manages accounts receivable, receipts and reimbursements, cash flow, budget and financial modeling (if at COO level), banking, record keeping, federal and local taxes; supervises contracting with an accountant or financial auditor when needed
- Business registration and insurance: Maintains the organization’s 501c3 status in good standing, registers the business in states we do business in, maintains our insurance coverage as needed, completes administrative paperwork with prospective and new clients
- Planning, Status updates, and Presentations: Plans and prioritizes the activities above. Creates a dashboard to track admin tasks and activity status. Raises trade-offs to supervisor in a timely fashion. Prepares presentations for internal status updates, as well as board meetings.
Additional Support Functions (may be asked to perform or supervise the performance of:)
- HR: In collaboration with the Chief of Staff, maintain job descriptions, contracts for salaried and independent contractors (IC), non-disclosure agreements, handle the administrative side of onboarding and offboarding staff and ICs, answer staff and IC questions, manage or support hiring campaigns and processes
- Compliance and Legal: Monitor and support the organization’s compliance with federal and state regulations, and the organization’s own written policies. Conduct basic online legal research to support operations; manage consultation with legal professionals when needed
- IT: Maintain our software subscriptions, research and purchase new software as needed, support team access to Email, Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, MS Office, Adobe, and other productivity tools, manage team permissions in shared folders, perform basic website updates
- Other administrative: Receives and processes physical mail, manages vendors (currently none), tracks equipment (currently minimal), other special projects as requested
Qualifications
Required:
- At least 3 years full-time work experience administratively supporting a team, involving at least one of the “Primary Functions” listed above
- Passionate about helping to build and support well-running teams and institutions
- Experienced and comfortable with: Microsoft Word, Excel, Google Workspace
- Organized, enjoys detail-oriented work; Enjoys enabling others in doing their work well
- Effective at managing own tasks and time;
- Self-teaching, practical researcher, and problem solver
- Professional quality verbal and written communication
Preferred:
- If applying for the Chief Operating Officer level role, at least 6 years of relevant experience, with at least 2 years at a senior level
- Knowledge of creating systems and processes to support a growing non-profit
- Experienced with administratively supporting a non-profit in its early years
- MBA or partial equivalent in self-directed reading and business experience
- Impact-oriented and shares our values: “We believe in honoring the dignity of vulnerable populations by creating systems that work for everyone.”
- Experience working in a relevant field (community social work, public policy, public safety, mental health, alternative response)
- Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) candidates are encouraged
To apply for this job, please submit a one-page cover letter and one- or two-page resume to: Samantha.bunecke@dignitybestpractices.org [1]
Application Guidance
Cover letter: Your cover letter should include why you are interested in working with Dignity Best Practices, why you are interested in serving in this specific role, and why you believe you would be a good fit for the position. Please also specify whether and why you believe you are a good fit for the Director or COO version of this position. You can expect to hear back from us about scheduling an interview, or declining to interview, within two weeks.
References: If we invite you to interview, we will request references at that time.
Questions: Feel free to contact us with questions about our organization and the position. However, depending on the volume of interest we receive, we may or may not be able to respond prior to interview invitations.
Independent Contractor Option: If you would rather start this position as a part-time contractor receiving hourly pay rather than a full-time employee receiving a salary and benefits, that arrangement could be mutually beneficial as a path to learn about how good of a fit we are with each other. We would need to restructure some aspects of the position to match contractor-style work arrangements (project-based rather than employment-based). If that is your preference or you are interested in exploring this option, please specify that in your cover letter.