Chief of Staff / Managing Director

About the role

We're hiring a Chief of Staff / Managing Director to work closely with our Executive Director on HIP's highest-priority work as HIP grows from 5 to around 14 people. This is a role with real ownership from day one, on a small, high-trust team.

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We're considering two levels for this role:

• Chief of Staff: you'll be the Executive Director's closest collaborator and, over time, one of the people with the fullest picture of the organization. You'll be hands-on and execution-focused, taking on an important piece of work, getting it done, and moving straight on to the next.

• Managing Director: you'll join our leadership team as the internal-facing counterpart to our Executive Director and lead the internal side of HIP. You'll adapt our team culture as we scale, take ownership of our internal systems so we can maximize our impact, and lead our main hiring rounds, while our Executive Director focuses on collaborations, partnerships and scaling our direct impact.

Let us know in your application which level you're aiming for. We'll also discuss this with you during the process.

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What you'll do

As Chief of Staff

Working closely with our Executive Director, you'll:

• Execute on top priorities: own high-priority projects end to end, for example a large chunk of one of our hiring rounds, HIP's presence at a conference, an analysis to inform a decision, or supporting a colleague who is taking on a big piece of work, and then move on to the next one.

• Support HIP's external work: as the Executive Director's role becomes more external (talks, podcasts, events, and relationships with partner organizations), you'll provide the research, briefs, drafts and logistics behind it.

• Turn decisions into action: prepare the Executive Director for key meetings, triage incoming requests, and make sure agreed next steps actually happen.

• Build shared context: document what you learn along the way, so that knowledge about HIP's strategy, relationships and decisions doesn't sit with one person.

As Managing Director

• Run HIP day to day: run HIP internally day to day, as the person the team goes to first.

• How we work: own how we work together as we grow from 5 to around 14 people, from our team culture to our internal systems (tools, documentation, knowledge management and processes), so they help us maximize our impact.

• Strategy and priorities: lead the implementation of our scaling plan together with our Executive Director, adjust it as we learn, and own how we prioritize and resource our work across teams.

• Governance and risk: lead the formalization of HIP's board, prepare board materials, and make sure our key risks are identified, owned and mitigated.

• Hiring: lead our main hiring rounds at a high level (what roles we hire for, how we run each round, and final decisions), working with the hiring managers, with our Recruitment Manager supporting the execution.

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What success looks like

In your first month

• You'll get up to speed on HIP's programs, strategy, funders and partners, and get to know the team.

• As Chief of Staff, you'll have taken over your first projects from the Executive Director.

• As Managing Director, you'll have shared first ideas on how we can improve how we work together.

By month three

• As Chief of Staff, you'll have delivered several projects independently, focusing your effort where it makes the most difference, and taken large pieces of work off the Executive Director's plate.

• As Managing Director, you'll have put the first improvements to how we work together in place, and become the person the team goes to first on internal questions.

By month six

• As Chief of Staff, you'll be trusted to take a project from brief to done with minimal steer, and you'll be spotting where your help would make the biggest difference and proposing your next projects yourself.

• As Managing Director, you'll have led our OKR setting and our team retreat and scoped our next main hiring round, and you'll keep adjusting how we work together and our internal systems so they help us maximize our impact as we grow.

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About you

We think you'll thrive in this role if you:

• Get things done: you're highly organized and reliable, and deliver at pace, with a good sense of where good enough is enough and where it needs to be excellent.

• Are an excellent communicator, both in writing and verbally.

• Have good judgment about what matters most, and flag problems early.

• Are discreet and trustworthy with sensitive information.

• Are comfortable using (or excited to learn) AI tools like Claude Code.

• Are excited about helping experienced professionals move into high-impact careers.

• Work well in a remote, fast-paced, small team setting.

• Are fluent in English.

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For the Chief of Staff level, we're also looking for:

• Someone who enjoys switching between very different projects and is happy to jump into things they haven't done before.

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For the Managing Director level, we're also looking for:

• Experience leading a team or organization internally, ideally through a period of growth.

• A track record of setting priorities across teams.

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These aren't required, but would be highly beneficial:

• Experience as a chief of staff, in consulting, or in a similar generalist role working closely with a senior leader.

• Familiarity with the high-impact careers space.

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Not sure you tick every box? We'd still love to hear from you. Many excellent candidates will bring other strengths and experiences that make them a great fit for this role.

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We're committed to building a diverse team and especially encourage candidates from backgrounds that are underrepresented in our field to apply. If you're excited about our mission, please don't hesitate to throw your hat in the ring!

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Role details

• Hours: ideally full-time, but we're open to part-time arrangements for outstanding applicants.

• Location: fully remote, from anywhere. Ideally you'll have at least 2 hours of overlap with 9am to 6pm UK time, and reliable internet access.

• Travel: you'll need to be comfortable traveling for 3 to 5 in-person conferences and co-working sessions per year.

• Start date: as soon as possible, ideally by February 2027, but we're open to a later start for the right candidate.

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What we offer

Salary

Our typical full-time salary range is $60,000 to $80,000 USD pre-tax, depending on location, experience and fit for the role (prorated for part-time). For outstanding candidates, salaries up to $90,000 USD may be considered. At the Managing Director level, salaries up to $140,000 USD may be considered.

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Benefits

• A chance to help shape an ambitious nonprofit at a pivotal moment in its growth, focused on supporting professionals to do as much good as possible.

• A high-autonomy culture: real ownership of your projects and decisions, with clear goals and supportive check-ins.

• A fully remote team with flexible hours.

• A generous self-managed time off policy, including 30 days' vacation (local public holidays included).

• A $1,000 USD tech stipend for work and office equipment.

• A collaborative, caring team that values respect and a healthy work-life balance.

• Plenty of opportunities for growth and professional development.

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Our hiring process

1. Application: apply by Sunday, November 1. We'll get back to you within two weeks of the deadline.

2. Test task: selected candidates complete a test task of about 3 hours.

3. Interviews: shortlisted candidates have 1 or 2 virtual interviews with our Executive Director and/or other team members to explore fit and contribution to our mission, alongside reference checks.

4. Paid work trial (Managing Director level): Managing Director-level finalists are invited to a paid work trial of around two days.

5. Offer: we aim to make an offer by mid-December, for a start as soon as possible, ideally by February 2027.

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About High Impact Professionals

High Impact Professionals (HIP) is an international nonprofit that helps experienced professionals use their careers to work on the world's most pressing problems. We've helped more than 140 professionals move into high-impact roles and facilitated more than $5 million in counterfactual impact. Our 2025 impact report has the detail.

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More funding is coming into high-impact work, and organizations are hiring faster than they planned to. Since 2025 our team has grown from 2 to 5 staff, and over the next two years we plan to grow to around 14, run twice as many rounds of the IAP with twice as many participants in each, launch new programs, and support hundreds of career transitions a year.

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Impact Accelerator Program. Structured career transition support that has helped over 100 experienced professionals move into high-impact roles, joining organizations like GiveWell, Epoch AI, MATS, Rethink Priorities and Shrimp Welfare Project, founding high-impact charities, or serving on the boards of impactful nonprofits. We've grown it from 19 participants in 2023 to 350 in 2026, while only doubling the team size.

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Talent Directory. Over 5,500 professionals keen to join high-impact organizations. Since May 2026 our automated matching has supported over 120 organizations with around 350 roles, and the directory has helped over 30 professionals land a role at a high-impact organization.

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Pledge Club. We've inspired over 130 professionals to take a giving pledge, including 39 🔸10% Pledges, representing millions in future donations to high-impact causes.

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We've done this with a remote team that was just 1.6 FTE until this year, supported by a community of IAP alumni facilitators and partners and an increasingly automated operations stack. Your work here will have real counterfactual impact, and your contribution will be visible from day one.

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HIP was incubated through Ambitious Impact's Charity Entrepreneurship program in 2021 and has since received funding from organizations like Coefficient Giving and EA Funds, as well as individual donors.

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Questions?

We're happy to answer them. Email info@highimpactprofessionals.org with any questions about the role or the process. You can also join one of our applicant Q&A webinars on Tuesday, October 27, at 9:00 UTC (2:30 pm India time) or 16:00 UTC (12:00 pm US East Coast).