Chief of Staff to the CEO

Role Summary

Ark is a fast-growing philanthropic advisory organization, and we're looking for a Chief of Staff to support us in a period of rapid growth. This is a high-ownership role for someone who can manage cross-team coordination, lead communications projects, run hiring rounds and onboarding, and act as a trusted partner to the CEO. You'll work with the CEO to help prioritize the most important work, pick up priorities the CEO can’t get to themselves, ensure excellent execution is maintained across the organization, and you'll move fluidly across projects to work on whatever is needed most.

About Ark

We are a philanthropic institution that sits at the intersection of advisory, grantmaking, and incubation. Working across the most important problems of our time, we identify the most promising people, evaluate the most catalytic solutions, and build grantmaking infrastructure to support effective philanthropy at scale.

We are a high-agency, low-ego team united by the ambition to do as much good as possible. We prioritize rigorously, seek truth independently, move quickly, and take ownership—while collaborating with care, acting with integrity, and learning from every bet. We look for exceptional people who combine ambition and sound judgment with humility, warmth, and a sense of humor. Click here for more on our culture.

Over the next two years, we aim to scale our grantmaking to well over $100M per year, and grow our team by 6 to 10x. We believe that the best work happens by a small team of super stars, and we are searching for those people now. If you think you might be the right person to help us solve the problems of our time, please apply for a role.

Key Responsibilities

Support our CEO on strategy and execution

• Serve as a strategic partner to the CEO, weighing in on major decisions

• Manage up and advise the CEO, helping her prioritize which projects to take on, delegate, or drop, and which meetings or events to attend

• Serve as a proxy for the CEO in high priority meetings

• Take high-priority projects off her plate and own them end to end.

• Prepare for and follow up on key meetings, and help translate strategy into execution.

Program & team coordination

• Lead project manager across the organization, supporting coordination across programs and workstreams, keeping projects on track, and teammates aligned.

• Track priorities and follow-ups so commitments don't get dropped.

• Foster team cohesion and healthy internal culture through a period of fast change.

Communications projects

• Lead on internal and external communications projects end to end and advise team and partners on communications and strategy. 

• Draft and edit copy, and coordinate outside contractors (designers, editors) on deadlines.

Hiring & onboarding

• Own the end-to-end hiring process: sourcing, pipeline management, scheduling, work trials, candidate communications, and offers.

• Design and run onboarding so new hires ramp quickly and feel oriented.

• Help build the systems (org structure, roles, documentation) that support a growing team.

Who We're Looking For

Required

• Strong operational and organizational judgment. You keep many projects moving forward, have excellent attention to detail, spot what matters, and don’t drop the ball.

• Proven ability to build and run systems from scratch or in ambiguous, early-stage environments.

• A low-ego, get-it-done attitude. You take on whatever is blocking the team, large or small.

• Excellent written communication, including comfort drafting on behalf of others.

• Excellent interpersonal skills.

• Discretion with sensitive and confidential information.

• Comfort with ambiguity in a fast-changing organization.

• Are excited about Ark Philanthropy's mission and its cause areas. You are enthusiastic about working in an organization that navigates difficult tradeoffs between cause areas (especially our work on navigating transformative AI, animal welfare, gender equity, and democracy).

• 3 years of professional work experience with real ownership.

Nice to have

• Experience in a chief of staff, communications, project management, or founding-team role at an early-stage organization.

• Philanthropic advisory experience, or experience in leadership, fundraising, or sales

• Experience running hiring and onboarding.

• Experiences with written comms and strategy.

Experience with high-impact philanthropy, nonprofits, or social enterprises

Compensation and location

This role may be based in either the San Francisco Bay Area or London and requires regular travel between the two locations.

The annual salary ranges are:

• San Francisco Bay Area: $115,000–$165,000

• London: £76,500–£108,000

*with flexibility for highly experienced senior candidates

Benefits

• An unconditional 8% employer 401(k) contribution

• 100% of employee premiums and 50% of dependent premiums for health, dental, and vision

• 30 days of vacation plus public holidays, with separate paid sick leave

• 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all new parents

• A $1,000/month budget for therapy, coaching, and professional development

• Employer-paid disability and life insurance, a $1,000 first-year home-office allowance and a co-working membership.

• Bi-annual all-staff retreats