Interim Executive Operations

Climate Lead empowers philanthropic leaders everywhere to take immediate and far-reaching climate action. Climate Lead equips new climate philanthropists with the information and insights they need to drive transformative solutions by serving as an impartial guide. We cut through the complexity by curating roadmaps in partnership with a diverse network of experts to help philanthropists make a bold impact on climate from day one.

This interim position provides coverage for the parental leave of our Associate Director, Executive Operations and will provide critical administrative leadership to the President’s office, ensuring continuity. The coverage period is from August 2026 - March 2027. This role reports directly to the President.

This role manages one direct report:

• →Executive Assistant to the President’s Office and People

Administrative Support to the President (50%)

• →Ensure that the President is fully briefed and prepared for meetings, events, and trips by proactively providing or obtaining background information for these commitments and preparing next steps. 
• →Prepare, research, and compile materials for meetings and presentations. 
• →Draft communications for the President and/or review communications and documents for accuracy, completeness, format, and grammar. 
• →Ensure that files, both electronic and paper, are organized and up to date using Climate Lead systems. 
• →Coordinate non-donor projects within established timeframes; assist the President in tracking deadlines and follow-ups.
• →Generate and implement ideas for systems, program, and operational improvement to support the team and the President’s work. 
• →Lead special projects or assignments from the President.
• →Maintain collaborative relationships with peers and colleagues, contributing to a positive working environment aligned with the Climate Lead’s mission and values, and serving as a representative of the President.
• →With assistance from the President, create your individual learning and development plan and identify and pursue professional development opportunities, including networking, informational interviews, training, and projects.

Leadership Team Meetings and Retreats (15%)

• →Proactively plan Leadership Team meetings, ensuring prep, timing, optimized agendas, and preparation for smooth flow and excellent follow-up in partnership with the President.
• →Staff the Leadership Team in ongoing conversations between strategic planning processes, as needed.
• →Plan regular leadership team retreats, including developing objectives, agendas, and pre-read materials, to review progress against Climate Lead’s current strategic plan or other key objectives for the LT (e.g., team formation or board formation) and iterate as needed. 
• →Craft memos and agendas that crisply tee up key discussions and decisions.
• →Synthesize key takeaways from Leadership Team meetings/retreats to move decisions forward and promote ongoing accountability.
• →Draft presentation decks for cascading decisions/updates to the broader team, structuring and helping to deliver organization-wide communication. Proactively support the Leadership Team to cascade appropriately. Hardwire this communication for each meeting and Leadership Team event. 
• →Propose budget needs for Leadership Team meetings and retreats to the President as part of the budget cycle and track. 
• →Support the creation of focused priorities for the Leadership Team each year and their tracking.

Plan and Manage Climate Lead Bi-Monthly All Staff Meetings (10%)

• →Proactively plan the All Staff meetings.
• →Oversee and project manage the work required to schedule, prepare, and execute all staff meetings.
• →Proactively gather and prepare topics that are a beneficial use of all staff time, highlight teams and their work, and connect us to our Org-Wide Objectives and core values.
• →Preparing agendas, prepping facilitators and presenters, and managing the meeting flow to ensure smooth execution. 
• →Ongoing communication and collaboration with each team to stay updated on organizational activities, workstreams, and events to prompt topics.
• →Collecting materials to share with all staff after each meeting, managing our staff check-in folder for all staff access to materials. 
• →Managing communication on our team check-in Slack channel with updated information and materials.

Climate Lead’s Board & Committees Annual Schedule (5%)

• →Until COO joins, manage Climate Lead board and committee meetings' yearly schedule. This includes 5 board meetings, and Executive, (2) Audit, (4) Governance & Nominations, (4) Personnel, and (1) Finance committee meetings. Involves an ongoing partnership with board members and their teams for tracking availability, resolving conflicts, rescheduling, and scheduling additional meetings as needed. This includes coordinating with presenters, ensuring materials are prepared and sent according to timelines, coordinating complex calendars of board members, preparing succinct and professional minutes, tracking materials systemically, proactively innovating, and offering process improvements as needed. Supporting the President in sharing outcomes with the full staff.  In some cases, this role will also help create materials and presentations.

President’s Office Objectives and Special Projects (5%)

• →Oversee the proposal of the President’s Office budget each year and track thereafter.
• →Tee up decision frameworks and recommendations on key issues for which the President seeks support.
• →Support OKR design and tracking for President’s Office.
• →Partner with GCS, People, PT and the President to build an “impact calendar” so we are tracking how we connect our staff to examples of Climate Lead impact thoughtfully throughout the year (e.g., newsletters, all staff meetings, retreat, 5-year moment, etc.).

Executive Assistant Working Group (5%)

• →Lead Weekly EA Coordination meetings to provide additional support on complex scheduling.
• →Help identify and resolve conflicts that would impact multiple teams or org-level planning.
• →Support best practices, lead the adaptation of best practices as they evolve, and communicate to all staff.

Manage Direct Report (5-10%)

• →Directly manage the EA, the President’s Office, and People, with particular support for the management of the President’s calendar.

• Exceptional Workflow and Time Management: Proactively initiates action, efficiently manages complex calendars and events, and resourcefully provides creative, proactive solutions to problems.
• Solution Orientation & Judgment: Comfortably navigates constraints by clearly communicating tradeoffs and proposing viable alternatives when ideal scenarios aren’t possible. Proactively problem-solves in service of the EVP’s priorities, bringing options forward rather than deferring solutioning.
• Prioritization and Flexibility: Expertly multitasks and prioritizes conflicting demands from all stakeholders, maintaining composure and flexibility while working effectively under pressure.
• Quality and Detail Orientation: Maintains exceptional attention to detail and accuracy across all responsibilities, with equal commitment to both administrative and strategic tasks.
• Collaborative Communication: Thrives in a fast-paced team environment, communicates confidently and professionally with a wide variety of individuals, and able to clearly articulate if and when a rebalance is needed.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• 7+ years of administrative work experience and 4+ years in a senior administrator/executive assistant role or equivalent.
• Past experience interacting with high-level leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrates patience, flexibility, a keen sense of tact and discretion, and a high level of professionalism.
• Highly proficient in Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides), Microsoft Office (PowerPoint, Excel, Docs, etc.) and Asana project management software.
• Ability to work and adapt in a fast-paced, sometimes ambiguous environment, taking high-level direction and running with it independently.
• Strong ability to prioritize and manage others at all levels of the organization.
• Highly organized and forward-thinking (i.e., looking ahead to deadlines and conflicts). 
• Ability to handle sensitive matters with discretion, highest integrity, and confidentiality.
• Experience coordinating and creating collaborative environments among organizations is preferred.
• Experience working in a startup or fast-growth environment is a plus.
• International work experience or past experience supporting leaders working internationally is a plus.

The Climate Lead is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. This position operates in a hybrid environment and is based in our San Francisco, CA, office. Staff in the San Francisco Bay Area currently work in the office Tuesday through Thursday each week and typically work from a home location on the other days.

At the Climate Lead, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. We do not discriminate on the basis of or traits historically associated with race, color, religion, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status), domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law.