CHIEF Administrative Officer

Position Summary

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) strengthens the LJCC's financial, operational, and administrative performance while serving as a strategic and operational partner to the CEO. The CAO leads high-priority, cross-functional initiatives; develops practical recommendations; coordinates implementation; and helps department leaders and project teams achieve measurable results.

The CAO is expected to exercise executive leadership through collaboration, influence, sound judgment, and disciplined follow-through. The role will initially have no direct reports and will work closely with existing department leaders. As organizational needs evolve, the CEO may assign oversight of selected administrative functions or departments.

1. Operational and Financial Performance

Goal: Strengthen the financial sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness of LJCC programs and services.

• Lead evaluation and continuous improvement of major programs, services, and revenue-producing activities.
• Identify significant opportunities to improve pricing, staffing, compensation, scheduling, enrollment, revenue generation, and expense management.
• Establish consistent methods for evaluating financial and operational performance.
• Partner with department leaders to develop, prioritize, and implement improvement plans.
• Monitor progress, clarify accountability, and elevate material issues or decisions to the CEO.

2. Risk, Compliance, and Administrative Infrastructure

Goal: Reduce organizational risk and strengthen the systems that support safe, consistent, and effective operations.

• Provide executive leadership for assessments of operational, financial, legal, personnel, technology, and safety risk.
• Guide policy review and the development of clear implementation procedures, training requirements, and accountability systems.
• Strengthen systems for tracking required training, policy acknowledgment, certifications, grants, and compliance obligations.
• Coordinate appropriate review of insurance, liability, cybersecurity, technology, vendors, equipment, purchasing, and staff-support needs.
• Work with brokers, legal counsel, advisors, and department leaders as appropriate.

3. CEO and Strategic Initiative Support

Goal: Serve as a strategic and operational partner to the CEO during the feasibility study, anticipated capital campaign, and other major organizational priorities.

• Support organizational readiness, planning, coordination, and follow-through for the feasibility study and potential capital campaign.
• Serve as a thought partner to the CEO on priorities, sequencing, resource needs, and organizational capacity.
• Coordinate staff, board members, consultants, campaign leaders, campus partners, and community stakeholders as assigned.
• Advance important internal priorities while the CEO's time is increasingly focused on campaign leadership and external relationships.
• Support relationship development and strategic introductions without necessarily having primary responsibility for direct gift solicitation.

4. Emerging and Special Projects

Goal: Provide executive leadership for strategic initiatives that arise as organizational needs and opportunities evolve.

• Identify and assess emerging operational, administrative, financial, and partnership opportunities.
• Lead or coordinate cross-functional projects, organizational reviews, audits, due diligence, and implementation efforts assigned by the CEO.
• Develop practical recommendations, work plans, decision points, and measures of success.
• Provide leadership for time-sensitive or high-priority initiatives that do not fall neatly within an existing department.
• Adjust priorities collaboratively with the CEO as projects are completed and new needs emerge.
• Balances strategic thinking with practical operational execution.
• Builds trust and works effectively through collaboration rather than unnecessary disruption.
• Communicates clearly with the CEO, board, department leaders, staff, advisors, and community partners.
• Prioritizes the organization's most consequential needs and avoids attempting every initiative at once.
• Demonstrates integrity, discretion, accountability, and commitment to the LJCC's mission.

Role Evolution

The initial phase of the position will emphasize project leadership, operational improvement, administrative infrastructure, and support of the CEO. The scope is expected to evolve as projects are completed and the feasibility study and capital campaign progress. As priorities shift, the CEO may assign the CAO broader responsibility for selected administrative functions or departments.

Intended Value

• Increase the organization's capacity to address significant operational and financial opportunities.
• Strengthen risk management, compliance, technology, and administrative systems.
• Allow the CEO to maintain focus on major strategic and external priorities without losing momentum on internal work.
• Provide disciplined leadership for projects that cross departments or require focused executive attention.
• Create a flexible executive role that can grow with the organization rather than being defined permanently by a temporary list of projects.

Minimum Qualifications:

Job Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, finance, organizational leadership, public administration, nonprofit management, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7-10 years of progressively responsible experience in operations, administration, finance, organizational leadership, or a related executive capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives and driving projects from assessment and planning through implementation and measurable results.
• Strong understanding of financial and operational performance, including budgeting, expense management, revenue generation, staffing, compensation, scheduling, pricing, and resource allocation.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate organizational performance, identify opportunities for improvement, develop recommendations, and implement practical improvement plans.
• Experience assessing and managing organizational risk, including operational, financial, personnel, legal, technology, cybersecurity, insurance, liability, and safety considerations.
• Demonstrated experience developing, reviewing, and implementing policies, procedures, training requirements, accountability systems, and compliance processes.
• Ability to establish effective systems for tracking training, certifications, policy acknowledgments, grants, compliance obligations, and other administrative requirements.
• Experience working collaboratively with department leaders, executive leadership, boards, consultants, legal counsel, advisors, vendors, and other external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a strategic thought partner to a CEO or other senior executive on organizational priorities, sequencing, resource needs, capacity, and implementation.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to establish work plans, milestones, decision points, accountability measures, and measures of success.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and collaboration, particularly in environments where the position does not initially have direct supervisory authority.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, with the ability to evaluate complex information and translate it into practical recommendations.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with executives, board members, department leaders, staff, advisors, community partners, and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities while maintaining focus on the organization's most consequential needs.
• Strong judgement, discretion, integrity, accountability, and professionalism.
• Ability to work effectively in a changing organizational environment and adapt priorities as projects, organizational needs, and strategic initiatives evolve.
• Demonstrated commitment to organizational mission and the ability to build trust across departments and stakeholder groups.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in business administration, public administration, nonprofit management, organizational leadership, finance, or a related discipline.
• Executive-level experience in a nonprofit, membership-based organization, community organization, educational institution, or similarly complex organization.
• Experience supporting a feasibility study, capital campaign, major organizational initiative, or significant strategic growth effort.
• Experience working with boards of directors, campaign leadership, community stakeholders, consultants, and external partners.
• Experience with organizational audits, due diligence, enterprise risk management, compliance reviews, or administrative infrastructure improvement.
• Experience evaluating programs, services, or revenue-producing activities for financial sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Experience overseeing or coordinating technology, cybersecurity, insurance, purchasing, vendors, equipment, or other administrative infrastructure.
• Experience in organizational transformation, continuous improvement, process redesign, or change management.
• Experience in a role requiring significant executive influence without direct authority over all participating departments or functions.

$120,000 - $135,000

Agency Information:

Through the lens of Jewish identity and values, the family oriented LJCC impacts thousands of Birmingham residents daily as we welcome people of all faiths, ages, genders, sexual identities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We take pride in being an active partner of both the Jewish and broader Birmingham communities, and we strive to enhance our community every day.

Our campus includes a large fitness center, a five-mile hiking and biking trail, large indoor and outdoor pools and a baby pool, and the highly regarded Cohn Early Childhood Learning Center. We also offer dozens of group fitness classes, personal training, summer and year-round camps, and a wide range of other activities and programs.