Chief Operating Officer

Title: Chief Operating Officer

Salary: $144,000 per year

Classification: Exempt, Full Time

Location: Virtual within the U.S. with roots in/connections to any of the following states: AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, OK, TN, TX, VA, WV

Travel: About once a quarter up to 25%

Supervision Responsibility: This position will supervise 4 direct reports

WHO WE ARE

At NDS, we are building a coalition across the South that centers the needs and daily experiences of disabled people. Our mission is to improve the lives of disabled people and cultivate strong disability rights and disability justice frameworks in the South. We do this by:

• Organizing our communities around the most critical issues we face
• Tracking legislation and policy that directly affects disabled people and educating our communities on its impacts
• Advancing legislative priorities that center our wellbeing and liberation
• Leading research on key issues
• Changing media and social narratives about disabled people

Through this work, we impact the allocation of resources in our states, increase our collective power, and make this country a better place for us to live. We do this all with the lives and experiences of disabled people at the center (nothing about us without us).

Per our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, we are centering 4 strategic priorities to advance our mission: Poverty, Criminalization, Democracy, and Technology.

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for an experienced Operations and Organizational Design leader to replace our outgoing Co-Founder and COO. The successful candidate brings good vibes, a presence that encourages peace under pressure, the ability to hold multiple perspectives and truths at the same time, high emotional intelligence, and grounding energy that disarms and engages. Our ideal candidate has an approach to the work of disability justice that is rooted in a collective liberation philosophy, centers the voices and experiences of the multiply marginalized (BIPOC, LGBTQ+, native/indigenous, immigrant, etc.), and understands the importance of an intersectional lens and approach. They are able to hold the big picture and affirm and support the vision of our CEO while holding the realities of capacity constraints and implementation against the backdrop of our commitment to sustainability, collective care, and scaling responsibly. The ideal candidate must have a keen attention to detail; a proven track record in motivating and unifying teams; and solid conflict management, problem-solving, and clear decision-making skills. The COO will be comfortable with and committed to fostering the development of staff, identify opportunities and challenges, and work across departments and teams to anticipate needs and generate highly innovative solutions to complex problems.

Reporting to the CEO, the COO ensures that all operational aspects of NDS and NDSR (our c4) operate in the best interests of our community stakeholders, staff, and the disability community broadly. The COO supervises and works closely with departmental leadership to ensure the operational effectiveness, sustainability, and resiliency of the organization as someone who is highly experienced in building healthy, sustainable organizational cultures in a fully remote, startup environment. The COO will partner with our Executive Team to support NDS through its current strategic plan and into its next iteration. They will be responsible for holding high level planning and strategy for the organization; supervising the day-to-day operational and HR activities of all entities under the New Disabled South umbrella, including our C4 (NDSR), and New Disabled Media; supervising our Department Heads; and closely supporting our CEO. Our ideal candidate will be the grounding implementor to our CEO’s visionary ideator, the internal drumbeat around capacity and sustainability, the go-to resource on best practices, the expert on how to scale responsibly and sustainably, and the model as it relates to demonstrating our organizational values.

THE WORK

The Chief Operating Officer will be responsible for the following priorities:

Strategy, Vision, Organizational Design and Infrastructure: 50%

• Serve as strategic thought partner with 1. Co-founder/CEO, 2. The Executive Team, and 3. Department heads/directors to continue visioning and planning around our strategic priorities.
• Develop and implement plans for org-wide processes, including annual org-wide and departmental work plans and the annual budgeting process across all of our entities.
• Ensure that NDS(R) is adhering to its strategic plan, delivering status reports to the board, and pivoting and adjusting appropriately to new data, information, and sociocultural realities.
• Serve as the final decision maker in partnership with the HR & Operations Director on all matters related to our vendors, subscriptions, and benefits infrastructure, including the relationship with our accounting firm, PEO, accounts payable, and purchasing.
• Support a culture of data driven decision making and assessment to support the innovative ideas and measure impacts across departments.
• Provide high-level input to inform decisions the organization makes around both legal and financial risks, such as contracts and insurance policies.
• Assist in improving and monitoring the organization’s performance reporting systems (including program and fundraising data); ensure successful adoption of databases and other tools across the organization.
• Serve as a thought leader and face of NDS within the Disability Justice, Social Justice and nonprofit ecosystem. Share in knowledge dissemination, reporting, and communications.

Operations and HR Leadership: 50%

• Supervises or Co-supervises 4 direct reports (HR & Operations Director, Data and Research Director, Chief Communications Officer, Organizing Director).
• Participates in a 3-person leadership team with the CEO and Deputy Executive Director, utilizing a mutual supervision model.
• Serve as the Chief Human Resources Officer of the organization, directly managing the HR & Operations Director.
• Work with the Operations team to launch other projects under the NDS(R) umbrella.
• Identify best practices and improve internal systems with an eye toward future needs and budget realities.
• Champion a culture of sustainability, self care, and proactive capacity management.
• Manage all policies for contracts and payments with vendors, contractors.
• Establish relationships and ensure equity in vendor selection.
• Develop and manage relationships with legal advisors, accounting firms, pro bono attorneys, and consultants.
• Lead on updating and maintaining all required licenses and certifications, ensuring that all entities are in good standing, with the support of the HR & Operations Director.
• Serve as the organizational leader on issues of IT and cybersecurity, creating, reviewing, and implementing plans to ensure the short- and long-term safety and alignment with best practice.
• Oversee the development and management of all org policies, including Employee Handbook, Operations manuals, Mission/Vision/Values, policies/procedures, etc.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

The ideal COO candidate will possess the following experience, knowledge and attributes:

• Model and embody NDS’s Core Values
• Minimum of 10 years of leadership experience in organizational leadership, operations, HR, or related work with demonstrated success facilitating progressive organizational change and development within a growing 30+ person organization.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience leading and managing fully remote teams, supervising direct reports, implementing best practices for staff development, performance management, and culture.
• Minimum of 5 years of HR Generalist or equivalent HR experience with demonstrated past experience managing human resources functions, including hiring, compensation, and performance.
• Experience with startup organizations and startup culture strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of strategic financial management, business strategy, strategic planning; experience creating/managing/overseeing budgets.
• Skilled communicator and conflict manager, adept at leading and managing difficult conversations and supporting organizational leadership and staff through conflict and periods of high levels of change and transition; skilled in best practices for transition management.
• Exceptional writing, public speaking, and presentation skills.
• Excellent judgment and creative problem solving skills; experience navigating complex issues and making difficult decisions, often in high-pressure situations.
• Entrepreneurial team player who is adept at managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously.
• Ability to speak to specific examples of having led organizational transformation projects and provide thought partnership on program feasibility and implementation.
• Personal commitment to continuous learning and development: remains up to date on best practices and approaches to the work; a student of the movement, actively seeking out ways to level up skills and knowledge base with the goal of applying them in new and innovative ways for maximum impact.

DO YOU THINK THIS MIGHT BE YOU?

If you see yourself in this job description but don’t feel like you meet every single criteria, we encourage you to apply anyway! Research shows that individuals from historically marginalized groups tend to self-select out of opportunities at higher rates. We take a holistic approach to all of our hiring practices and want to hire those who best align with our mission and goals.

New Disabled South is an equal opportunity employer to all regardless of race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, actual or perceived gender identity, age or sexual orientation. We encourage those who identify as disabled to apply.

OUR NON-NEGOTIATION POLICY

New Disabled South is committed to paying competitive wages and upholding sustainable equity practices. Due to the ways in which salary negotiations perpetuate existing structural inequities, NDS as a practice does not participate in a salary negotiation process for any candidate. We will make our best offer, and it will be the same regardless of the candidate.