Chief Operating Officer
RepresentUs

About RepresentUs

RepresentUs brings together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass powerful state and local laws that fix our broken elections and stop political bribery. Their strategy is central to ending political corruption, extremism and gridlock.

RepresentUs is the largest grassroots anti-corruption campaign. Together, we're stopping political bribery, ending secret money, and fixing our broken elections. We are the nation’s leading right-left anti-corruption organization. Every day we are hard at work to secure crucial victories that are defending our Republic and fixing America’s corrupt political system. And we’re already winning. In 2018, we helped pass 23 anti-corruption measures—a historic year for the movement.

RepresentUs is a carefully curated mix of seasoned political campaigners, policy wonks, advertising experts, designers, and engineers. We're not a startup, but we've got startup DNA: we're nimble, constantly learning and iterating, and we push ourselves to push the envelope—to ignore "industry standards" and set a new standard.

RepresentUs is headquartered in Northampton, MA. For more information on RepresentUs, please visit https://represent.us/.

The Opportunity

RepresentUs is seeking a seasoned, experienced executive to be its Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to the CEO, the COO will drive the execution of the mission and strategy and is responsible for the day-to-day operations and culture of the organization. The COO will be involved in leading all aspects of RepresentUs’ operations and will serve as the key thought partner for the CEO and President. In addition to the overall management of the organization, the COO has principal oversight and strategic leadership (development and execution of CEO’s vision and stated strategy) for RepresentUs’ operating system (culture, SOPs, norms, policies, and internal best practices) financial management, legal matters, regulatory compliance, procurement, contracts, and information technology, exerting an influential and expert presence with senior management, the Board, and key partners.

The COO will expand and manage a team to lead these functions ensuring fiduciary responsibility to serve as business partners for staff across the organization. The successful candidate will have demonstrated success in driving excellence by recruiting, building, and developing individuals who perform as a results-driven team. The COO will be a creative, effective systems thinker to ensure the organization can scale and continue to operate as an impactful, results-oriented enterprise.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience building an operating system/culture, driving the management and operation of organizations, drawing on senior management experience in any number of sectors, including for-profit, nonprofit and/or philanthropy. The organization values a mix of skills in its leaders: strategic and tactical expertise combined with creating effective operating models that harmonize best practices, policies, and procedures for effective organizational management.

COO responsibilities include the following:

Operational and People Management:

• Build the organizational operating system, define management systems and expectations, define SOPs and oversee HR best practices
• Align the organization’s organizational resources to the prioritized outcomes in the strategic plan, policies, structures, and metric-driven accountability practices to meet agreed-upon goals, including leading operational planning, prioritization, and performance assessment to ensure the organization continues to execute effectively against its Mission
• Develop HR initiatives and company policies, implementing equitable best practices and systems around organizational structure, compensation and benefits, performance evaluation, training, recruiting, hiring, and onboarding
• Oversee organization governance practices, including governing documents, structures, transparency, and conflicts of interest
• Oversee annual budget, finance, and accounting methods
• Provide mentorship and leadership for the professional growth of the finance and operations teams; design and recruit positions; manage, develop, evaluate, and reward performance and contributions of individuals and teams
• Contribute actively to the creation of the organization’s values-based culture, and in close partnership with leadership team, build and manage people operations, workforce planning, culture, and employee engagement

Strategy and Leadership:

• In collaboration with the CEO, President and leadership team, establish multi-year strategic plans
• Lead organization wide annual planning that aligns with resources and ensures coordination across teams
• Provide timely, accurate, and complete reports on the operating condition of the organization
• Ensure operational excellence for all programs; provide coordinate across programs to ensure lessons are shared and that programs are collaborating strategically and effectively across the organization
• Work closely with leadership and the Board to maintain and improve operations organizationally
• Drive projects to meet deadlines and deliverables that are sufficiently resourced

Qualifications

The Chief Operating Office of RepresentUs will possess the following attributes and competencies:

• Minimum of 10 years at the senior executive level, with deep expertise in operations, finance, management and IT
• Possess exceptional people management and communication skills, a good listener who can be both empathetic and pragmatic
• An ability to execute effectively under the pressure of an election cycle and balance multiple, time-sensitive priorities
• Demonstrated success leading end-to-end projects
• A commitment to RepresentUs’ values, mission and vision – evidenced, in part, by exhibiting a high level of personal and professional integrity and humility
• A record of significant accomplishment in building and managing effective operating models, with a focus on planning and execution, with measurable outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with colleagues, encouraging team members and support of others in the performance of their responsibilities
• Willingness and ability to challenge the status quo creatively and productively. Strong internal service orientation background, with experience building an inclusive intercultural environment
• Possess the highest level of personal and professional integrity and quality standards
• Excellent strategic thinking and execution skills; ability to meet goals within a complex and sophisticated landscape. Passion for RepresentUs' mission to make America work for everyone, not just the powerful and well-connected

Compensation & Benefits

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience.

RepresentUs offers competitive salaries and awesome benefits, including health and dental insurance, a health reimbursement account, wellness perks, a dependent care account, a health concierge benefit, and a retirement benefit. Plus, disability, life insurance, and generous paid time off.

Contact

Liz Lombard and Angie Sessoms of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please submit your materials here. All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.

RepresentUs is an equal opportunity employer and committed to recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting at all levels the most qualified applicants without regard for race, ethnicity, color, age, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, transgender/transsexual identity, HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, matriculation, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran (collectively known as “Status Factors”).

About Koya Partners

Koya Partners, a part of the Diversified Search Group, is a leading executive search and strategic advising firm dedicated to connecting exceptionally talented people with mission-driven clients. Our founding philosophy—The Right Person in the Right Place Can Change the World—guides our work as we partner with nonprofits & NGOs, institutions of higher education, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.

For more information about Koya Partners, visit www.koyapartners.com.