Chief of Staff to Chief Operating Officer

About The Susan T. Buffett Foundation

The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (STBF) is a private grant-making foundation with a U.S. home office in Omaha, NE and a global home office in Kigali, Rwanda. The Foundation’s staff is comprised of almost 90 individuals across two continents. With annual spending in excess of $1 billion, STBF is one of the largest private foundations in the U.S.

The Foundation is unusual for donors of such size as they have only two main areas of grantmaking: (1) supporting efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy and ensure access to safe abortion for women in the U.S. and around the world and (2) to enable low-income students in Nebraska to attend and succeed in college. Unlike most foundations, STBF will not exist in perpetuity. After Mr. Buffett passes away (he is currently 94 years old), the Foundation’s grantmaking will grow substantially, then eventually sunset after approximately 10-15 years.

The Opportunity

The Chief of Staff to the Chief Operating Officer is a strategic partner, advisor, and force-multiplier to the COO. This role will be the first of its kind to exist on the COO team, so there is room for shaping and growing the role for the right candidate.

The Chief of Staff acts as a connector across functions, a manager of complex and sensitive initiatives, and a champion of operational excellence across a global, distributed team. This is a unique opportunity for a seasoned leader with exceptional judgment, communication skills, and organizational acumen to help shape the strategy, culture, and performance of a high-impact foundation. In addition to strategic work, they must be comfortable with administrative work and ready to jump in and roll their sleeves up on the day to day. 

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Partner to the COO

• Serve as a strategic thought partner to the COO, helping drive alignment, clarity, and execution across the COO leadership team.
• Act as an extension of the COO when appropriate, ensuring priorities are communicated, tracked, and actioned across the organization.
• Provide day-to-day operational support to the COO by filtering and prioritizing issues, streamlining communications, and facilitating decision-making. 
• Anticipate issues and emerging needs; prepare the COO with the necessary information, framing, and recommendations to act decisively.
• Solve ambiguous problems that require high-level analytical thinking and organizational insight.

Operational Leadership & Execution

• Lead operational cadences (team meetings, offsites, quarterly reviews), keeping agendas focused, actionable, and aligned with strategic goals.
• Drive cross-functional initiatives and ensure timely follow-through on key deliverables, escalating roadblocks as needed.
• Manage executive-level projects that require coordination across multiple functions and stakeholders.
• Build strong relationships with senior leaders and their teams, fostering collaboration, transparency, and execution excellence.

Administrative Leadership & People Management

• Directly manage the Executive Assistant to the COO and administrative team within the COO organization, ensuring high-functioning support for leaders.
• Oversee workflow, performance management, and professional development for the administrative team.
• Uphold strong internal service standards and coordination across multiple leadership teams.

Cross-Functional Coordination & Communication

• Partner with other Chiefs of Staff across the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to ensure alignment, coordination, and clarity on organization-wide initiatives.
• Facilitate smooth and effective communication across the global COO organization, reinforcing priorities, decisions, and accountability.
• Represent the COO in key internal meetings and decision-making forums when delegated.

Confidential & Complex Decision Support

• Handle high-stakes, confidential issues such as legal, financial, or organizational change initiatives with discretion and maturity.
• Operate with a high degree of autonomy and responsibility in ambiguous and fast-changing contexts.

*These responsibilities may change or expand over time consistent with the Foundation’s needs and initiatives.

Background and Experience

Required:

• At least 8 years of progressive leadership experience in business operations, HR/people operations, technology operations, or organizational development.
• At least 4 years supporting C-suite executives in operational roles, ideally as Chief of Staff, strategic advisor, or similar capacity.
• Demonstrated success managing complex, cross-functional initiatives, ideally across HR, technology, and administrative functions.
• Track record of managing sensitive organizational issues including executive communications, strategic change efforts, and confidential matters.
• Experience working in a distributed organization.

Strongly Preferred:

• Experience working and leading a distributed global team with an understanding of global south contexts.
• Experience in philanthropic, nonprofit, or mission-driven organizations with global operations.
• Background in HR/people operations, technology management, or business operations improvement.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, public administration, organizational leadership, or a related field is preferred.
• Advanced degree (MBA, MPA, or similar) is a plus.
• While a degree is preferred, candidates with 10+ years of highly relevant experience will be considered in lieu of formal educational credentials.

Attributes for Success

• Connector: Aligns leadership dots across teams and functions for seamless execution, with strong analytical and systems-thinking skills to connect initiatives across the organization and identify risks and opportunities.
• Operational Anchor: Keeps priorities and strategies on track across dynamic and fast-paced environments, with proven experience in designing and managing organizational processes, meeting cadences, and accountability systems that keep strategy and execution aligned.
• Proactive Powerhouse: Anticipates needs and takes initiative before issues surface, demonstrating the ability to manage multiple high-stakes initiatives simultaneously while solving problems proactively and guiding teams through organizational change.
• Judicious Operator: Exercises impeccable judgment in managing sensitive and confidential matters, with discretion and maturity in handling high-stakes organizational issues and high-consequence decision-making.
• Trusted Advisor: Sharpens the COO’s decision-making with data, context, and strategic counsel, serving as a unifying force among executive teams while leading through influence in matrixed organizations.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and communicate clearly across all levels of the organization, including C-suite, staff, and external stakeholders.
• Global Perspective: Experience working in globally distributed organizations with cultural fluency and sensitivity to Global South contexts, effectively navigating diverse geographic and organizational environments.

Shared Values

A genuine understanding of, and appreciation for, the significance of our values: Mission, Respect for Donor Intent, Appetite for Risk and Tolerance for Failure, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Humility, Passion Tempered by Objectivity and Evidence, Compassion and Love of Humanity, Honesty and Integrity, Kindness and Respect, and Shared Accountability.

An alignment with the Foundation’s progressive values, including unambiguous support for individual reproductive freedom.

Location and Travel

This role is based in the United States, with a strong preference for candidates located in or near Omaha, Nebraska. Ideal candidates will either be currently based in Omaha, within reasonable driving distance, or located in the Midwest with the ability to travel to Omaha quickly, regularly, and easily. The Foundation is open to candidates who are willing to relocate to Omaha, and relocation support will be provided.

In addition to frequent travel to Omaha, this role will also require quarterly travel to Kigali, Rwanda and occasional international travel as needed.

Benefits and Compensation

The salary range for this role is $300,000 – $330,000 USD with most candidates starting at the beginning of our competitive scale. Compensation is determined by a variety of factors including candidate’s individual qualifications, experience relative to the requirements of the role, and internal equity. STBF offers a robust and generous benefits package.

To Be Considered

Please submit your resume expressing your interest in the position and fit for the role via the “Become a Candidate” button.

Candidate Experience Brief

The application form will prompt you to also upload a Cover Letter, in lieu of a Cover Letter, please instead submit a Candidate Experience Brief document which contains your responses to the following questions.

Applications without a completed Candidate Experience Brief will not be considered final. Submissions may be addressed to Jailan Adly.

Please answer each question separately and include them all in one document.

1. Mission Alignment: What draws you to the Foundation’s mission, and how does it align with your values, interests, and professional experiences?

2. Executive Partnership: Describe your experience serving as a strategic partner and extension of C-suite executives. Provide specific examples of how you supported executive decision-making, managed their priorities, and acted with autonomy on their behalf. Include measurable outcomes that demonstrate your impact on executive effectiveness.

3. Operational Leadership: Detail your experience leading operational processes, managing administrative teams, and coordinating complex initiatives. Include examples of systems you designed, teams you developed, and how you ensured execution across multiple priorities and stakeholders.

4. Global Operations: Describe your experience working across distributed global teams, particularly in Global South contexts. Detail the geographic scope, your approach to cross-cultural management, and specific challenges you navigated in coordinating across time zones and cultural contexts. Include any experience with teams across Africa.

5. Location: The foundation seeks candidates either currently based in Omaha, within reasonable driving distance, or located in the Midwest with the ability to travel to Omaha quickly, regularly, and easily. Do you meet this geographic requirement? If not, would you be willing to relocate to Omaha, Nebraska at the start of the role?

Applicants applying before August 18, 2025 will be given priority consideration.