Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Chief Operating Officer (Apply here by June 7)

Purpose: Our purpose is to build collective power for young people to create the safer, happier, healthier world they want to live in. To do this, we organize and increase civic engagement. Since launching with 90 Co-Founders nearly five years ago, we’ve established deep foundations and grown quickly. We are building operational systems to sustain growth of our organizing work and enable lasting impact and sustainability across the organization. The purpose of this role is to scale our impact, develop and implement operations strategies aligned with our values, and enable Rhizome to operate smoothly and sustainably long-term.

Mission and Vision: Our mission is to activate young people’s identities into action and help youth treat civic service as the work of a lifetime. We know that people’s deeper desires - what we want to want, who we want to become - can be shaped with conscious care and attention. We envision a future world where everyone has the time and resources needed to prioritize love over survival.

Summary: The Chief Operating Officer (COO) serves as the strategic and operational leader responsible for strengthening Rhizome’s organizational infrastructure, improving operational efficacy, and supporting long-term impact and sustainability. Working closely with the Co-CEOs and partnering with the leadership team and the Board of Directors, the COO will oversee organizational operations, compliance, technology strategy, data analytics, optimization, and process improvement. This position requires a forward-thinking, mission-driven and analytical operations professional who can integrate data, artificial intelligence (AI), and systems-thinking into decision-making. The ideal candidate is execution-oriented, strategic, and adept at simplifying - capable of building scalable systems while fostering collaboration, accountability, and deep alignment. The COO will play a key role in organizing information to ensure operational excellence across the organization. They’ll help modernize Rhizome’s operational infrastructure, improve workflows, support staff effectiveness, and ensure we remain compliant, sustainable, and positioned to achieve our purpose.

Highlights:

• $120,000 starting salary, including annual raises (Salary Structure outlined here)
• 12 weeks of PTO (3 May, 3 Dec, 10 Summer Fridays, 10 Holidays, 2 flex weeks)
  • 3 months of paid parental leave, plus a 2 month sabbatical every 3 years
  • Flexible hours: common hours 12-5 ET Monday through Friday, then flex
  • Geoflexible: staff can be located anywhere within the United States
  • Remote, with 2-3 weeklong staff gatherings throughout the year
• Comprehensive insurance for medical, dental, vision
  • 100% Premium coverage to up to $500/month, 25% for dependents
• 401K (100% match on the first 1% of compensation + 50% match on the next 5% of compensation up to $3,000).
• $1,500 annual stipends for professional development, equipment, tech, etc
• 2 additional weeks of Personal Care Time as needed (mental health, etc)

Rhizome Overview: Rhizome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit co-founded by 90 young people in 2021. We all come from different backgrounds, yet we share the desire to build a country that lives up to its values. More about our origins and impact can be found on our website.

Our flagship program is the Civic Service Fellowship, a leadership development program for emerging leaders in high school who learn how to organize and increase civic engagement. Our local Fellowship Chapters are led by paid Youth Organizers, who support and empower teams of Fellows to take action.

Civic Infrastructure: This Spring, Youth Organizers and full time staff used democratic decision-making systems to build the infrastructure needed for moral, strategic, and visionary clarity. This includes:

• Power Analysis: the levers of power we are focused on to create change
• What Authoritarianism Does: our midterm action and narrative campaign
• Visionary Platform: the issues Organizers and Fellows are most focused on

This Role: The COO will work with the Co-CEO of Power-Building and Fellowship Impact (PFI) and Co-CEO of Sustainability and Shared Vision (SSV) to lead operations. They will also work closely with the Board to guide our long-term governance, and staff across the organization to build cohesive operations systems. More specifically, they will focus on:

• People: How we support our staff and spend time toward sustainability and impact. This includes understanding and improving how time is spent across all of Rhizome.
• Systems & Processes: developing clear workflows and lines of communication across Rhizome operations systems, with continuous improvement processes built in at each layer. Building, maintaining, and facilitating org-wide use of our data systems
• Tools and Tech: Integrating our tech stack and exploring purposeful tech adoption.
• Compliance and Finance: Work with Gusto and Jitasa to ensure everyone is paid, we have clean accounting, and employment is documented.

The COO will be co-managed by the Co-CEOs to ensure power and responsibility sharing across Rhizome. They will manage a Strategic Coordinator who works 10 hours/week to carry out work the COO delegates. We intend to hire a full-time Operations Associate in 1-2 years, based on the needs outlined by the COO.

Qualifications: Three years of nonprofit leadership experience as a requirement, with a strong preference for candidates with experience in a COO or Operations Director role. The candidate will have experience in organizing or social justice spaces, have deep understanding of operations, compliance and tech, and be a clear communicator with experience managing Gen Z and a keen eye for details. Strong candidates may:

• Show 5–10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in operations, administration, nonprofit management, strategy, or organizational leadership roles
• Bring experience evaluating, implementing, and optimizing operational technology systems
• Demonstrate strong analytical, strategic thinking, and systems-management expertise
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and relationship-building skills
• Demonstrate a passion for civic life, organizing, or pro-democracy movements
• Demonstrate escalating leadership experience in building impactful systems
• Bring intentional practices to facilitating dynamic spaces in virtual settings
• Bring relevant experience in youth organizing or youth leadership

Our Ideal Candidate: If you see yourself reflected in these ideals, we invite you to apply!

• Is Focused on Implementation: Rhizome is a network of people with so many great ideas. We need a leader who can build and execute on clear implementation plans.
• Is a Simplifier: Can simplify complex information into clear plans, communications processes, and operations systems that are accessible and bring order to complexity.
• Is An Experienced Nonprofit Leader: Has depth of experience navigating compliance systems across many employees, preferably with national or regional ops experience.
• Aligns to Strategy and Values Student Safety: Can work closely with others from the leadership team to translate organizational strategy into systems that meaningfully empower and serve our youth leaders, while balancing impact with student safety.
• Is an Excellent, Intentional Communicator: Is able to engage in principled struggle, seek to deepen mutual understanding, and practice honest, direct, and kind speech. Has experience communicating internally within large teams of justice-minded staff.
• Knows How to Scale and Sustain Impact: Has hands-on experience as a leader who has built, scaled, and sustained systems. Preferably someone who has worked with youth organizers, who has held programmatic leadership responsibilities before, and who has experience winning change within multicultural and minority-led spaces.
• Is a Team Player: Is ready to step into a collaborative environment and listen deeply, model emotional maturity in relationship to youth leaders and staff, and organize information to enable clearer workflows and deep alignment across teams.
• Brings Expertise: Knowledge of nonprofit operations, compliance requirements, organizational governance, and multi-state operational considerations preferred.
• Is Tech Savvy: Familiarity with AI tools, operational analytics, automation tools, and process improvement methodologies strongly preferred.
• Is Flexible and Ready to Learn: This role will go to someone who is hungry to make the world a better place. We’re poised for growth, learning a lot, and need someone to lead us forward. This person is attentive to detail, service-oriented, and dynamic.

Key Responsibilities: Key responsibilities Rhizome’s the Chief Operating Officer include:

• Operations Strategy: Over the course of the COO’s first 120 days, they’ll maintain current operational processes while developing a forward-facing operations strategy.
  • Partner with the Co-CEOs and leadership team to develop and implement an operational strategy aligned with impact, growth, and sustainability goals.
  • Lead cross-functional operational planning and implementation across teams.
  • Build and maintain a data-driven operations culture using analytics, forecasting, and performance measurement tools.
  • Streamline operational processes and establish clear lines of communication across teams and departments.
  • Identify opportunities for efficiencies, cost savings, and process optimization.
• People: How we support our staff and spend time toward sustainability and impact. This includes understanding and improving how time is spent across all of Rhizome. The COO will report to the Co-CEO of Power Building and Fellowship Impact here.
  • Managing our youth organizer action reporting (time sheet) system, ensuring timely and accurate submissions from all organizers
  • Work alongside Co-CEO and HR Consultant to manage employee relations processes and execute onboarding and offboarding processes
• Systems and Processes: developing clear workflows and lines of communication across Rhizome operations systems, with continuous improvement processes built in at each layer. Building, maintaining, and facilitating org-wide use of data systems. The COO will report to the Co-CEO of Power Building and Fellowship Impact here.
  • Assess organizational systems, workflows, communications, and infrastructure to improve efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness.
  • Networked learning with full-time staff and part-time Organizers to identify pain points and build durable systems.
  • Training adult and youth staff in strategic and consistent use of data platforms
  • Generate regular reports reflecting trends in our work, as grounded in data
  • Regularly evaluating the efficacy of data systems and making improvements
• Tools and Tech: Integrating our tech stack and exploring purposeful tech adoption. The COO will report to the Co-CEO of Sustainability and Shared Vision here.
  • Maintaining and improving Monday.com onboarding & event tracking systems.
  • Exploring what additions to our tech stack could enable greater staff support.
  • Socializing org-wide best practices for using key operational technologies.
  • Exploring tools and rituals to increase understanding of interdependencies across the organization, and to support project management across teams.
  • Explore, evaluate, and potentially implement AI and emerging technologies to improve organizational effectiveness and operational efficiency.
  • Oversee organizational website strategy, functionality, and user experience.
• Compliance and Finance: Work with Gusto on compliance and Jitasa on finances to ensure everyone is paid, we have clean accounting, and employment is documented. The COO will report to the Co-CEO of Sustainability and Shared Vision here.
  • Jitasa: project manage payroll systems, completion of taxes, and continued partnership with Jitasa.
  • Gusto: project manage state-to-state compliance, staff PTO, expense coding, HR training and onboarding processes provided through Gusto, etc.
  • Working with our Co-CEOs and HR Consultant to monitor and ensure best practices for compliance across each state with a Rhizome presence.

COO Onboarding Process: This is a significant addition to our leadership team, so we’ve laid out the foundation for a thorough 120 day onboarding process. This process is built to be flexible and will also include other immediate opportunities to begin gaining momentum. The onboarding process includes:

• Step in to lead existing operation workflows and existing systems in the first 30 days
  • Attend our in-person gathering with All-Organizers, staff, partners in August!
• Thorough support, relationships, and integration in our culture in the first 60 days
• Check-in to assess needs, expectations, and emerging ideas in the first 90 days
• Report to map where you want to take our operations systems after 120 days
• After 120 days, implement your vision for a deeply integrated ops system

Application Process: Review this timeline & plan accordingly. Dates may change slightly. Rhizome is an equal opportunity employer and encourages all interested applicants to apply. Screeners will be conducted on a rolling basis beginning in early June, and the timeline may shift 1-2 weeks to accommodate the needs of the organization and/or of the COO candidates.

Stage 1: Application

Due Date - Sunday, June 7, 12pm ET. Submit your resume, essays, and info here.

• 1-2 page resume (remove name before submitting).
• Experiential info, where you live, how you heard about this application, why you want this role, why you think this role would fit this phase of your life. (100 words each).

Stage 2: Phone Screener

Applicants Contacted: Tuesday, June 9 - Friday, June 12

• After screeners, applicants contacted for next steps by Monday, June 15

Stage 3: Panel Interviews and Performance Task

Panel Interviews — Monday, June 15 - Friday, June 26

• Panel Interview #1, with CO-CEOs
• Panel Interview #2, with Hiring Committee
  1. Hiring committee includes Organizers and FT Staff
• Performance tasks: The expected time commitment is 180 minutes and we provide a $300 stipend for time spent on performance tasks.
  1. Please note: time accommodations are provided for those who request them.

Stage 4: Final Interview and References

• Final Interview, with the Co-CEOs, HR staff, and Board Members
• References for those who make it to the final interview
  1. Reference checks will be made by phone call.

Scheduling Note: We will have an in-person Organizers Leadership Summit August 5-10! During the final rounds of the interviews, we will check for your availability.

Final Decisions Released Friday, July 3 -> Target start date Monday, July 20.

Highlights:

• 12 weeks of PTO (3 May, 3 Dec, 10 Summer Fridays, 10 Holidays, 2 flex weeks)
  • 3 months of paid parental leave, plus a 2 month sabbatical every 3 years
  • Flexible hours: common hours 12-5 ET Monday through Friday, then flex
  • Geoflexible: staff can be located anywhere within the United States
  • Remote, with 2-3 weeklong staff gatherings throughout the year
• Comprehensive insurance for medical, dental, vision
  • 100% Premium coverage to up to $500/month, 25% for dependents
• 401K (100% match on the first 1% of compensation + 50% match on the next 5% of compensation up to $3,000).
• $1,500 annual stipends for professional development, equipment, tech, etc
• 2 additional weeks of Personal Care Time as needed (mental health, etc)