Chief of Staff

About CorpsAfrica

CorpsAfrica was founded in 2011 by former Peace Corps Volunteer Liz Fanning after young Africans asked how they could become Peace Corps Volunteers to serve their own country. She had to tell them that the program was open only to Americans, so she created CorpsAfrica, an NGO that recruits and trains young Africans to live and serve in rural communities, listening to the people and facilitating community-led development projects. 

Since launching its first Volunteer cohort in Morocco in 2013, CorpsAfrica has expanded to 11 African countries. More than 1,700 volunteers have completed service, partnering with communities to implement small-scale high-impact projects that are identified by local people, improving the lives of nearly one million people across the continent. Learn more at .

Overview of the Position

CorpsAfrica seeks a seasoned, mission-driven executive to serve as Chief of Staff. This role leads the Leadership Team and the internal management of the organization, enabling the Founder and CEO to focus on her highest-value contributions: vision, fundraising, donor and partner relationships, Board leadership, and serving as the public voice of CorpsAfrica.

The Chief of Staff is not an administrative coordinator; this is an executive leadership role with significant responsibility and delegated authority. The Leadership Team (the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Program Officer, Director of People and Culture, and two Regional Directors) reports to the Chief of Staff. The Chief of Staff is accountable to the CEO for organizational performance: translating strategy into annual plans, strengthening the effectiveness of the Leadership Team, clarifying workflows, and ensuring that a $25 million organization operating across eleven African countries performs with discipline, transparency, sound judgment, and heart.

Equally important, the Chief of Staff will strengthen the leadership capacity of the organization. The role requires someone who sets clear expectations and holds leaders accountable while also coaching, supporting, and creating the conditions for them to exercise increasing autonomy. The Chief of Staff's impact should be evident not only in the results delivered, but also in the strength, confidence, and effectiveness of the leaders and teams delivering them, as well creating a culture of wellness and balance.

The mandate for the next two years is clear: learn from communities, stabilize and optimize the organization after a period of extraordinary growth, strengthen the people and systems required for sustained performance, and prepare CorpsAfrica for expansive growth in 2028 and beyond. When the CEO is traveling or on vacation, which the structure is designed to enable, the Chief of Staff acts on her behalf.

Classification: Full-time, exempt

Salary and Benefits: $240,000 – $260,000, commensurate with experience, plus a comprehensive benefits package consistent with CorpsAfrica policy

Location: Remote US where the COS is available during working hours across Africa or a CorpsAfrica country office, with regular travel to CorpsAfrica program offices

Reports To: Chief Executive Officer

Direct Reports: Chief Operating Officer; Chief Financial Officer; Chief Program Officer, Director of People and Culture; and two Regional Directors

Specific Responsibilities

Second-in-Command to the CEO

• Serve as the CEO's most trusted thought partner and deputy, with delegated authority to lead the organization's internal operations; act on the CEO's behalf when she is traveling or on vacation.
• Create the organizational clarity and leadership discipline that allow the CEO to remain focused on vision, relationships, resource development, and external leadership.
• Deliver a consolidated weekly briefing to the CEO covering operations, finance, programs, fundraising, people, and risk, replacing multiple reporting channels with a single, comprehensive source of insight and escalation.
• Serve as an honest broker, ensuring that matters reaching the CEO are presented with complete information, credible options, material risks, and dissenting perspectives, and that decisions are resolved at the appropriate level whenever possible.
• Steward decision-rights framework (Lead / Approve / Inform) and decision trees, helping leaders understand where they have autonomy, where collaboration is required, and which decisions are reserved for the CEO or Board. Reinforce agreed channels consistently and respectfully, while helping leaders build the judgment to operate confidently within them.
• Establish a relationship of candid, constructive feedback with the CEO and provide the perspective she needs to hear, including when that perspective is difficult or contrary to prevailing views.
• Frame and pressure-test significant decisions, ensuring that recommendations reflect rigorous analysis, organizational realities, mission alignment, and the perspectives of those responsible for implementation.

Leadership Team Effectiveness and Development

• Lead a focused, candid, and collaborative Leadership Team that aligns around shared values and priorities, addresses difficult issues directly, and takes collective responsibility for organizational performance.
• Establish clear expectations, decision rights, and measures of success for each Leadership Team member, and hold leaders accountable for both results and the health and effectiveness of their teams.
• Coach and develop senior leaders through regular feedback, thoughtful challenge, and practical support, strengthening their judgment, confidence, and ability to lead independently. Help senior leaders prioritize so they can model wellness and balance for their teams.
• Create space for leaders closest to the work to shape solutions and make decisions within clearly established parameters, intervening directly when organizational risk, performance, or mission integrity requires it.
• Identify and remove barriers that prevent leaders and teams from succeeding, including unclear authority, competing priorities, weak coordination, or insufficient resources.
• Build a culture in which leaders share information early, ask for help without hesitation, learn from setbacks, and address performance concerns promptly and constructively.
• Strengthen collaboration across functions, regions, and country offices so that organizational priorities take precedence over individual or departmental interests.
• Develop leadership depth and succession readiness across the organization, reducing dependence on any one individual and ensuring continuity during periods of transition or growth.
• Lead Leadership Team searches and hiring for CEO approval; approve Country Director hires and organizational chart changes, keeping the CEO informed and ensuring that appointments strengthen both performance and organizational culture.

Strategy Execution and Organizational Performance

• Coordinate the next strategic planning process with the COO to ensure all voices throughout the organization are heard and considered while staying true to operational excellence and entrepreneurial optimism.
• Translate the strategic plan into an integrated annual plan with clear organizational targets, accountable owners, resource requirements, and decision points for CEO approval.
• Establish a disciplined performance rhythm, anchored in a simple organizational scorecard reviewed weekly and quarterly, that enables leaders to monitor progress, surface risks early, resolve cross-functional obstacles, and adjust course when needed.
• Drive the two-year learning, stabilization and optimization agenda by simplifying, standardizing, and documenting policies, systems, and processes across GSO and country offices, while ensuring that new approaches are practical, understood, and owned by the people who will sustain them.
• Lead cross-cutting initiatives from concept through decision and implementation, engaging the appropriate leaders early and ensuring that ownership transfers clearly to the teams responsible for long-term execution.
• Advance CorpsAfrica's commitment to becoming an African-led organization, strengthening Africa-based leadership, systems, and shared services as the organization prepares for its next phase.

Program, Operations, Finance, and Risk

• Oversee, through the Chief Program Officer and two Regional Directors, program quality and implementation ensuring volunteers are well trained and supported, including innovation, MERL, and training.
• Oversee, through the Chief Operating Officer, day-to-day operations, administration, IT, and shared systems across GSO and country offices.
• Oversee, through the CFO, budgeting, financial reporting, audit and Form 990 readiness, banking, and delegation-of-authority thresholds; present the annual budget to the CEO and Board with the CFO.
• Oversee, through the Director of People and Culture, HR policy, compensation administration, employee handbooks, and performance management across all countries of operation.
• Approve organization-wide operational policies (HR, travel, procurement, safeguarding) and major system selections (accounting, CRM), and establish, with the CFO, the delegation-of-authority matrix and financial decision trees that define approval levels across the organization, keeping the CEO informed.
• Own safety, security, and emergency management: establish and maintain an incident command structure, approve evacuation and duty-of-care plans for staff and Volunteers, prepare the organization through scenario-based training and simulations, lead crisis response, and escalate major incidents to the CEO immediately.
• Oversee legal and compliance matters across twelve countries of operation, engaging external counsel as needed and keeping the CEO and Board informed.
• Oversee an internal audit function to ensure CorpsAfrica’s team complies with all aspects of the operating manual and prioritize additional training or resources when deficiencies surface.

Qualifications

• At least 15–20 years of increasingly responsible executive leadership (COO, CEO, Executive Director, Country Director, or an equivalent role) in complex, multi-country, mission-driven organizations; experience serving as second-in-command to a founder is highly valued.
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.
• Fluency in English required, and proficiency in French strongly preferred.
• A strong commitment to the mission of CorpsAfrica, with a desire to support youth leadership, participatory community development, transparency, and accountability.
• Demonstrated success building and leading headquarters operations (finance, HR, IT, legal, and compliance) across multiple African countries, including implementing internationally benchmarked HR and compensation standards; direct experience living and working in Africa is required.
• Strong financial acumen, including multi-entity and multi-currency budgeting, forecasting, audit oversight, and Board-level financial reporting.
• Demonstrated success leading accomplished senior executives through influence, clarity, coaching, and accountability rather than positional authority alone.
• A record of developing leaders who assume greater responsibility, exercise strong independent judgment, build effective teams, and deliver sustained results.
• The ability to move fluidly between strategic counsel, organizational problem-solving, leadership development, and decisive executive action, with the maturity to distinguish situations that require direct intervention from those better served by coaching another leader to take ownership.
• A leadership approach grounded in humility, empathy, candor, and service to the mission, combined with the courage to make difficult decisions and address underperformance directly.
• A low-ego orientation and a demonstrated willingness to share credit, elevate others, listen closely to those nearest the work, and place organizational success above personal visibility.
• A track record of building durable systems, capable teams, and clear accountability structures, including structured leadership operating rhythms (scorecards, meeting cadences, quarterly priorities), that continue to perform without the leader's constant involvement.
• Experience leading volunteer-based, community-led development programs; familiarity with the Peace Corps model is a significant advantage.
• Proven crisis, emergency-management, and duty-of-care leadership for staff and volunteers in high-risk environments, including natural disasters, evacuations, and security incidents, with experience establishing incident command structures and preparing teams through scenario-based training.

To Apply:

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter that illustrates qualifications relevant to this role and a résumé through JazzHR. The application period closes on 25th September, 2026.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, CorpsAfrica encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, physical ability or any other legally protected basis.