About JumpStart Inc.

JumpStart is a non-profit venture development organization whose mission is to unlock the full potential of entrepreneurship to transform entire communities. Our vision is to collaborate with partners to generate dramatically improved and inclusive economic outcomes by supporting diverse entrepreneurs, optimizing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and accelerating innovation.

Key to JumpStart’s success is its ability to leverage the skills, experience, and creativity of its inspired team to transform entrepreneurial aspirations into actions with measurable impact. JumpStart associates take great pride in making JumpStart a highly demanding yet incredibly fun place to work.

Position Summary

The Chief of Staff is a critical role within JumpStart, to support executive leadership (CEO/President and Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer) by catalzying strategy through the alignment of operations, programming and external partnerships to maximize the impact of JumpStart and position it as a highly effective organization and influential leader in the economic development, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

The Chief of Staff is a vital point of contact between executive leadership and the entire organization. Oversight of various aspects of executive leaderships day to day, including logistics, presentations, representing leadership in internal and external meetings and filtering information to appropriate leadership in a timely manner for decisioning and leading the organization to success.

The ideal candidate imagines themselves in an executive leadership role, such as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President or similar for a midsize dynamic high-performing organization/business in the next 3-5 years. To be successful in this position, the individual must be deeply invested in the mission of JumpStart and committed to helping the organization achieve its highest potential. The Chief of Staff must be highly organized, can communicate continuously, delegate effectively, is data curious with an eye towards performance and is committed to promote a values-driven organizational culture.

Essential Job Functions

· 70% - Executive Support & Project Management

o Plan and manage administrative, financial and operational activities for executive leadership.

o Collaborate with Executive Administrator to manage Executive leadership’s schedule to align strategic priorities, internal needs and optimize leaderships ability to drive strategy, make timely decisions and execute within deadlines.

o Liaise with department leaders, and collaborates with Data/Systems team to glean data insights to provide recommendations and consultation to improve teamwork and performance across the organization.

o Assist executive leadership to determine and prioritize business strategies based on their schedules.

o Inform key performance indicators and determine how to measure team performance.

o Planning for meetings led by executive leadership, including agenda setting, creating or acquiring key data and content to inform meeting discussions and decisions; keep contents of meeting focused, actionable and results-driven.

o Serve as bridge and point of contact to external stakeholders and filter, ensuring effective and timely communication between external stakeholders and executive leadership.

o Provide direct support to strategic initiatives, including JumpStart Strategic Plan, MidTown Innovation Building Partnership and JumpStart 20th Anniversary; assist with ensuring projects reach completion by deadlines and on budget.

o Maintain accurate pulse on industry trends, ecosystem and environmental factors which may impact the business.

o Assist executive leadership in maintaining awareness of ongoing company initiatives, promotions and marketing activities.

· 15% - Government Affairs & Public Policy

o Supports the policy agenda of the organization through coordination with government affairs team.

o Monitor and assess policy impacts on the business.

o Build and support professional relationships with staff and members of federal, state and local government.

o Facilitate access, visibility and relationship-building between executive leadership and government agencies to support the success of the business.

· 15% - Special Events

o Collaborate with Marketing & Communications Department on key business events requiring engagement of executive leadership.

o Plan events as needed to support business development, relationship-building and brand visibility in support of the effectiveness and positioning of JumpStart and the economic development, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem.

Decision Making Responsibility

This role has medium scale autonomy for decision making and consults with the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer and other senior level leaders on a regular basis. Occasionally consults or informs the Board of Directors. Routinely makes decisions that may influence the entire organization related to strategic alignment and prioritization of emergent opportunities, partnerships and special projects. Has extensive responsibility for facilitating groups internally and externally to achieve decisions, and for raising issues that need to be further considered and decided upon by senior management and executive leadership in the organization. This role makes day-to-day work decisions regarding prioritization and execution of projects and other tasks and provides routine guidance, across 7+ departments. The decisioning authority in this role has influence and direct impact across the entire organization. (e.g., strategic planning, operational improvements, organizational performance, engagement and communications).

Direct Reports

The (Position) directly supervises:

• Executive Administrator
• Data Analytics Manager

Physical Demands/Working Conditions

• Travel
  • When required attend local and out of state meetings, conferences, workshops and special events.
• Modest physical activity required for lifting and moving office supplies, equipment, and furniture on occasion

· Normal professional office environment

· Eligible for remote work agreement

Required Qualifications

· Willingness to live and work in Greater Cleveland.

· Hybrid work environment, essential in office presence with remote work options

Education, Training and/or Experience

• Bachelor’s degree, in business management, nonprofit management, entrepreneurship and or human resources or equivalent experience required
• MBA preferred but not required
• 3+ years experience as chief of staff, project manager or executive assistant in a mid-size business or nonprofit.
• 3+ years of direct management responsibility

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Personal Characteristics

• Extensive spreadsheet skills required, as well as a firm understanding of Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Must be proficient in a Windows environment and computerized accounting software.
• Proficient in social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, IG, Facebook)
• Strong ability to use and analyze data to drive decision-making
• Strong writing and interpersonal skills required
• Ability to build consensus, promote teamwork and drive results
• Ability to capture data, information and insights, synthesize and analyze to inform strategy and decision making.
• Strong organizational skills, supported by technology based tools and resources.

Preferred Qualifications

Certifications, Licenses, Registrations

• N/A

JumpStart’s Core Values and Key Cultural Behaviors

· Accountability: Act to deliver on commitments and generate results, and if expectations aren’t clear, ask

· Entrepreneurial: Embrace opportunity, continuous improvement, and change, and contribute to the solution as we evolve

· Equity: Committed to corrective action regarding historically underserved and underrepresented populations through entrepreneurship and innovation

· Energy: Address our work with focus, grit and enthusiasm

· Collaboration: Collaborate with others to play our most helpful role(s) and to increase effectiveness

· Humility: Balance self-assurance with listening to understand, having an open mind, and demonstrating patience

JumpStart’s Definitions for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity

· Diversity: A measure of psychological, demographic, physical, and social differences occurring among any and all individuals in a specific group; including but not limited to racial identity, ethnicity, nationality, religion, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, age, gender identification, sexual orientation, culture, developmental ability, and learning styles.

· Inclusion: The act of promoting and maintaining an environment in which diverse groups of individuals are welcomed, respected, supported, valued, and empowered. An environment prioritizing differences and offers respect and acceptance in the words/actions/thoughts of all people.

· Equity: An acknowledgment and understanding there are historically underserved and underrepresented populations, and corrective action regarding these unbalanced conditions is needed to eliminate barriers and guarantee equality in the provision of fair treatment, access opportunity, and advancement in the provision of effective opportunities to all groups.

· Emphasis Statement: Historically, African Americans, Latinx people, and women have been economically disenfranchised and disconnected from innovation and entrepreneurship. For these reasons, we place an emphasis on these populations as we work to diversify our culture and be inclusive in our daily interactions and decisions.

JumpStart’s Operating Style: JumpStart team members are expected to be:

· Honest: We speak the truth, plainly and simply, kindly and considerately. We will challenge you as we seek to accomplish great things. And we hope you will do the same with us.

· Responsive: We respond rapidly to your inquiries and actively communicate so we are all on the same page.

· Resourceful: We will be creative and efficient in helping you to access relationships, contacts and other resources to help you succeed.

· Insightful: We will provide the knowledge and insight about entrepreneurship and innovation you aren’t able to easily get from others.

This position description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of JumpStart. Since no position description can detail all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time in the performance of a job, duties and responsibilities that may be inherent in a job, reasonably required for its performance, or required due to the changing nature of the job shall also be considered part of the jobholder’s responsibility.