Chief of Staff, EEP at The Aspen Institute – Washington, District of Columbia

ABOUT US

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM

The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program (EEP) explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. In addition to energy and environmental policy, which the program has been addressing for several decades, EEP is now actively and purposefully engaging in climate change policy – mitigating the effects of climate change, adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, and the international cooperation needed to achieve these goals.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Chief of Staff (COS) serves as a strategic partner to the Executive Director of the Energy and Environment Program and a force multiplier for the organization by managing up, down, and across to translate vision into execution and to strengthen alignment, communication, and performance across a complex and growing portfolio of work. The role sits at the intersection of strategy and implementation.

The COS supports the Executive Director to operate at the highest level by managing priorities, surfacing tradeoffs, anticipating challenges, and ensuring that the organization is focused on the right work at the right time. They will operate as an extension of the Executive Director and a connective tissue across teams, strengthening alignment and overall leadership impact. This role requires comfort operating with ambiguity, strong judgment and discretion, as well as the ability to move fluidly between big picture thinking and detailed follow-through. The Chief of Staff will also work across the program to advance strategic partnerships and development, helping ensure the program meets its goals while coordinating outreach with key stakeholders.

This position reports to the Executive Director. The salary range for this position is $190,000 - $210,000. This position is based in the Aspen Institute’s Washington, D.C. office and is expected to work from the office or in-person at meetings frequently, as needed, and must be able to travel frequently as the role requires.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Strategy and Planning

• Support development, refinement, and execution of EEP strategy in partnership with the Executive Director and senior leadership.
• Translate long term strategy into tactical priorities with clear ownership, milestones, and success metrics.
• Stress test ideas, surface risks and opportunities, and support preparation for key decisions.
• Monitor progress against goals and proactively flag tradeoffs, capacity constraints, and resource needs.
• Support preparation for key moments such as major convenings, retreats, board interactions, and strategic inflection points.

Execution and Operations

• Manage information flow to and from the Executive Director by synthesizing inputs, ensuring organized agendas, and maintaining clear follow up.
• Organize, track, and communicate action item decisions and ensure follow through.
• Identify gaps, inefficiencies, or recurring challenges and propose practical improvements.
• Advance strategic partnerships and development efforts across the program to support goal attainment and coordinate outreach with key stakeholders.
• Support coordination on high priority initiatives that cut across teams or require senior attention.

Leadership, Culture, and Talent

• Support the Executive Director in building a strong, aligned, and high performing collaborative leadership team.
• Help senior leaders translate strategy into executable plans and reinforce accountability across teams.
• Establish and reinforce operating rhythms such as leadership meetings, goal tracking, and cross team coordination.
• Serve as a sounding board and coach TO team leaders on process, communication, and execution challenges.
• Work with team on onboarding, team transitions, and development as needed.
• Model and reinforce EEP values, including trust, collaboration, nonpartisanship, and intellectual rigor.

Communications and Synthesis

• Synthesize complex information into clear, concise materials for leadership use.
• Draft or edit briefing memos, presentations, and internal communications, including for Senior Aspen Leadership and Board of Trustees, as needed.
• Ensure consistent messaging and clarity around priorities, decisions, and direction.
  Serve as a trusted point of contact for internal partners on issues related to priorities, process, and execution.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVE

• Demonstrated Experience: Minimum 15 years’ experience in a relevant field.
• Judgment, Authority, and Partnership - You are a strategic, low ego leader with strong judgment who serves as a trusted partner to the Executive Director. You can challenge ideas constructively, surface risks early, deliver hard messages with clarity and care, and exercise authority on behalf of the Executive Director when needed. You bring strong subject matter fluency across core program areas and can quickly learn new complex topics in service of better decisions.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset - You embody the team’s “Yes, and” ethos. You look for opportunities, experiment thoughtfully, and help the organization move from ideas to action. You are comfortable operating in ambiguity and helping the organization test and refine new approaches.
• Operating Discipline - You bring a flexible operational and systems mindset that strengthens smart processes, establishes clear decision rhythms, and reinforces execution standards. You help a growing organization scale with focus and quality while actively minimizing unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Integration and Alignment - You build trust across teams and help leaders and staff understand how priorities connect across the larger enterprise, improving coordination and shared ownership.
• Stewardship and Continuity - You operate with discretion, emotional intelligence, and institutional awareness. You are comfortable working behind the scenes and are motivated by sustaining and scaling the mission and values of the Aspen Institute, including trust, collaboration, nonpartisanship, and intellectual rigor.
• You must be able to travel regularly, with some peak periods requiring frequent travel.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

The Aspen Institute welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs, including the interview process. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about accessibility, please email hrsupport@aspeninstitute.org or call 202-736-2127 in advance of your visit. Requests for ASL or CART services should be made at least two weeks in advance when possible. We will make every effort to fulfill requests, subject to availability.