Chief of Staff

Full-time •  Competitive Pay • Excellent Benefits • Work from Anywhere in the Contiguous U.S. 

Application deadline: May 15th, 2026

MoveOn is a people-powered force for progress. We wield independent political power by bringing millions together to take action to create a country with a place of honor and dignity for everyone—where all are welcome, we take care of one another, and where everyone is set up to thrive.

For more than a generation, MoveOn has been a bulwark against the radical right and has channeled millions of voices to end wars, protect democracy, and advance justice for all. We've built political power for progressive change through mobilizing the left to Democrats so that we can advance our vision of an America for all.

MoveOn is the largest multi-issue digital first political campaigning organization in the country. We drive rapid-response campaigns at scale on a multitude of key issues at high-impact moments while building sustainable campaigns that resonate and grow over time. Whether its democracy, health care, foreign policy, economic justice, immigration or otherwise, MoveOn provides our members with timely ways to take action for change.

Reporting to the Executive Director and serving as a key member of the Senior Management Team, the Chief of Staff is a force multiplier who grows MoveOn’s impact by enabling excellence at the highest levels of our organization and, by extension, across our entire operation.  

The Chief of Staff enters an organization with much to be proud of and much to do. Our staff is ambitious, caring, and driven by a profound sense of equity and fairness. We believe in the power of the grassroots as an essential, in fact, sometimes the only force for building the country that we all know is possible. 

Standout candidates for this role will lead from a place of clarity, compassion, vision, and operational excellence. You are high impact and low ego, curious, outcomes-oriented, and driven by a desire to bring people together to do the best work of our lives - making a sum greater than its parts that changes our country for the better. 

Responsibilities:

Organizational Leadership

• Support the Executive Director in setting organizational vision, strategy, and priorities; and manage the organization to achieve the organization’s mission.
• Lead the organization’s strategic and annual planning process.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of the Executive Department, including providing high-level support to the Executive Director and ensuring their portfolios and special projects are carried out successfully.
• Lead the Senior Management Team in driving performance, accountability, and excellence across the organization, ensuring that people, budget, processes, and programs are working in sync with one another. 
• Work with the Senior Management Team to ensure strong collaboration among departments, teams, and staff to drive our program and maximize our impact. 

Internal Communications:

• Create a clear and consistent strategy for internal communications across all channels that promotes employee understanding, collaboration, engagement, and alignment with organizational priorities. 
• Refine and maintain transparent internal communication processes, systems, and norms to ensure that staff have the information they need, including ways of providing feedback to leadership, to get their work done. 
• Organize convenings of and communications among senior leadership, cross-organizational bodies, and staff to ensure strong internal coordination and alignment. Surface questions and concerns, when necessary, and ensure the right makeup of cross-organizational bodies, with an eye toward equity and accessibility.

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Support the achievement of our mission by monitoring and reporting the organization’s priorities and its progress toward goals. 
• Support organizational learning by ensuring consistent debrief session implementation and follow-up to learn from our work and the movement. 

Leadership and Staff Support:

• Work with the Managing Director of People and Chief Operating officer on organizational development interventions, including change management, culture-building, organizational and team building, and other interventions to engage staff.
• Create and support spaces and practices within the organization that improve collaboration, and move through roadblocks to achieve objectives. 
• Serve as a thought partner and sounding board to the Executive Director, other senior leaders, and a resource for all staff to voice ideas, suggestions, and/or concerns.
• Oversee the planning and implementation of in-person gatherings. 

Executive Director Support :

• Act as a surrogate for the ED both internally and externally as needed with key external stakeholders (e.g. partners, the press, donors, etc).
• Partner closely with the Executive Director and the Executive Assistant to the ED to ensure that the ED’s time and priorities are aligned. 
• Manage other special projects assigned by the Executive Director. 

What success in this role looks like:

• The Chief of Staff is a trusted, highly valued source of truth, calm, support, and direction across the organization. 
• Organizational processes, systems, and meetings, including in-person and online gatherings, are clearly defined, well-executed, and right-sized to organizational capacity and strategy.
• The Senior Management Team is a humming, vibrant, “first team” for all of its members - a place for connection, support, problem-solving, and driving toward our shared long-term vision. 
• Organizational decision-making is clear, driven by straightforward and transparent processes, and informed by appropriate and timely data and insight. 
• The executive director’s portfolio is organized, prioritized, and adapted to real-time changes in service of portfolio and organizational goals. 
• The executive director is supported and prepared for meetings and external engagements with an appropriate background, stakeholder engagement, and asks, as well as other strategic insights. And, in particular, internal staff are supported and prepared for meetings with the executive director. 
• The distance between the executive office and staff is made smaller, with the chief of staff supporting the executive director as a positive cultural presence throughout the organization – thoughtfully tuned in to important moments of team engagement for celebration, collaboration, and growth
• The executive assistant and other direct support staff for the executive director are supported and effectively deployed in service of organizational and portfolio goals and needs
• The executive director and chief of staff are in “mind meld” - the chief of staff is able to anticipate needs and understand ED perspective in order to best support and represent her as needed, including when she is on vacation. 
• There is a clear internal communication strategy that improves employee understanding, engagement, and alignment with organizational priorities by delivering clear, consistent, and timely internal communications across all channels. 

Minimum Requirements:

• At least 10 years of professional experience, including in an advocacy, campaigning, and/or electoral context.  
• A proven track record of setting, supporting, and leading teams or an organization in achieving priorities, and at least 2 years of experience as an executive in similar organizations.  
• Deep understanding of and commitment to organizational equity, experience managing to implement equitable practices and culture, and demonstrated track record of success in this area. 
• Strong systems thinking skills - someone who has a strong grasp of how to align people, budget, processes, and programs.
• Strong internal communication skills that drive organizational-wide understanding, engagement, and alignment. 
• Acts with high integrity, professionalism, low ego, and camaraderie.
• Significant experience working across an organization to achieve complex goals.
• Deep commitment to MoveOn’s vision, mission, values, and goals. 
• Strong people, project, and change management experience.
• Inclusive, consultative decision-maker with demonstrated commitment to listening to team members and changing course when needed based on feedback.
• Has a substantial and nuanced understanding of power as it relates to the United States political process and systems, as well as the progressive movement.
• Is an organized systems thinker who brings an organizational architecture lens. 
• Detail-oriented -- ability to get into the minutiae of the work to problem solve
• A relational manager with high emotional intelligence and experience in being emotionally supportive to staff during stressful or difficult periods
• Willingness to travel within the United States.

Reports to: Executive Director

Location: Position may be based anywhere in the contiguous United States. May require travel.  

Classification, Salary and Benefits: At MoveOn, we commit to equity in our compensation philosophy and practices. We are committed to equal pay for equal work. To counter systemic compensation issues in this country and pay inequality, we have a nonnegotiable compensation practice. We utilize benchmarking and peer organization data to ensure we provide competitive nonprofit compensation and benefits. The annual salary for this position is $209,731.69. In addition to the base salary, we offer a monthly home office subsidy.  We also offer an internet and phone subsidy of $2,100 annually and a health and wellness subsidy of $900 annually. All of these cash benefits are added to your bimonthly paycheck. We offer strong medical, dental, and vision benefits, which are free to employees and children of employees (spouses or domestic partners can be added at a subsidized rate). We offer employer-paid premiums for life insurance; four weeks accrued paid vacation time per year, prorated for the period that you work; 18 weeks of paid parental leave (birth, adoption, foster care placement of a child), 10 days accrued paid sick time prorated for the period that you work; paid family medical leave; and 8 staff holidays and 6 floating holidays. We contribute 5% to your 401(k) after six months of employment. We also offer a $1000 in professional development budget each year for each staff member.