Chief of Staff

Motivate•New York, NY

About The Position

Motivate seeks a Chief of Staff who operates as a senior extension of the executive leadership team, bringing deep operational experience and the ability to drive complex, cross-functional work to resolution. This role is an opportunity for someone who has real-world experience as a field-tested, multi-site operator with a deep understanding of field service operations and the ability to drive strategic initiatives across an organization to resolution while avoiding drift. You are a trusted partner to the executive leadership team, addressing high-priority projects, following through with critical initiatives, and fostering alignment across the organization. This role carries both operating and financial accountability. You are expected to understand how decisions impact performance at the market level, including labor, cost structure, and service delivery. You regularly work with operating and financial data, helping leaders make decisions that improve both operational performance and P&L outcomes. In this role, you play a pivotal role in ensuring Motivate’s operational standards are executed seamlessly across markets. Acting as an extension of the President, you work directly with leadership teams to align daily operations with strategic objectives, optimize performance, and tackle systemic challenges. The focus for this role is to reduce the President’s involvement in daily operational escalations, strengthen execution across the organization, and ensure high-priority initiatives are completed.

Requirements

You bring the right experience to the table: bachelor's in business, operations management, logistics, or related degree with substantial experience successfully leading and driving a people-centric, multi-site, labor-intensive operations environment at the executive leadership level.
You drive results through working with others: proven success driving initiatives through dispersed operational leadership teams; focusing on their alignment, engagement, and performance to deliver desired outcomes, including but not limited to productivity, service delivery, and cost performance
You are a team player: working effectively across departments within Motivate, as well as with external stakeholders, building strong interpersonal, professional relationships built on proven competence, effectively communicating with both internal and external stakeholders, adapting across various audiences
You use data to drive decisions: strong analytical abilities with experience in complex data analysis, including the ability to interpret and use the insights provided to drive operational improvements and financial results
You are results oriented: strong decision-making skills and see initiatives through to successful completion, with an ability to solve complex problems with creative solutions, quickly identifying and addressing root causes
You have strong organizational skills: execute efficiently with the ability to successfully direct and manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment within established deadlines
You utilize sound judgement: understand the importance of keeping confidential information; seek out and consider multiple data points and opinions before making decisions; remain calm and steady under pressure and when conflict arises
You are technology proficient: well-versed in Microsoft Office, Tableau, and operations software with the ability to quickly learn and utilize various systems and programs
You are invested: understand that this role will require working various hours and in a variety of work conditions to support 24/7 operations, with regular travel to various operational sites, spending a substantial percentage of one’s time with field operations teams to both observe and support operational improvements

Nice To Haves

Experience with field service teams, fleet-based operations, facilities and utilities services, construction services, or similar distributed operations, as well as with a unionized workforce, is highly desired

Responsibilities

Supporting and Extending the Reach of the President’s Office
Act as a trusted thought partner
Determine what requires President involvement vs. resolution within leadership lanes
Translate direction into clear execution plans and provide follow-through
Driving Cross-Functional Execution
Identify where barriers exist and work is stalling, digging into root causes – not merely treating symptoms
Bring leaders together to facilitate communication, resolve breakdowns, clarify decision-making, and ownership
Generate clear options for solutions; work with leadership to determine which to implement, and continue involvement through full resolution
Leading High-Impact Company Initiatives
Take ownership of enterprise-level initiatives
Define the scope, success measures, and execution milestones
Partner with leaders across functional areas, influencing for results accountability
Strengthening Operating Discipline
Maintain visibility into key operating metrics, including labor productivity, service performance, and cost drivers
Partner with finance to ensure operational decisions reflect financial impact
Reinforce consistent standards across and through leadership layers, driving decisions and accountability
Stepping Into Real Operating Issues
Conduct assessments of markets, projects, and initiatives for performance
Partner closely with Finance to ensure operational decisions align with P&L performance, cost targets, and operating plan assumptions.
Drive decisions that improve overall economic performance, develop practical action plans and support implementation where needed to stabilize performance
Driving Financial Performance
Understand and influence market-level P&L performance, including labor, productivity, and cost drivers
Build and evaluate business cases, pricing models, and operational trade-offs
Ensure initiatives deliver measurable financial and operational outcomes