Chief of Staff

 

About Hot Bread Kitchen 

Since 2008, Hot Bread Kitchen has empowered New Yorkers who face barriers to economic opportunities through transformative careers in New York City’s food industry. We offer small business development programs, culinary skills training, and job placement, bolstered by individualized, wraparound supportive services. Our small business program, HBK Incubates, supports entrepreneurs as they transform their food businesses into sustainable income sources. Culinary Fundamentals, our award-winning culinary training program, provides access to high-quality jobs for those starting their careers in the food industry. Our upskilling programs enable incumbent workers to gain further skills, leading to higher wages and career advancement. We work diligently alongside our network of over 200 food employer partners and more than 250 nonprofit and government partners to ensure our graduates are set up for success both at home and in their careers.

 

The Opportunity

Hot Bread Kitchen is seeking a highly strategic and execution-oriented Chief of Staff to serve as a senior internal partner to the CEO and Executive Team. This role is ideal for a leader who combines decisiveness and structure with strong collaborative instincts, and who can move complex work forward while bringing people along.

The Chief of Staff will be responsible for driving the execution of the organization’s highest-priority internal initiatives, ensuring alignment across departments, clarity of roles and timelines, and consistent follow-through. Success in this role requires the ability to set direction, coordinate across teams, and work closely with departmental leaders to translate strategy into action, often in fast-moving and ambiguous environments. This role will report to the Chief Executive Officer.

 

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

 

Strategic & Cross-Departmental Execution

  • Lead and coordinate complex, cross-departmental initiatives in close partnership with departmental leaders, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and shared accountability for results.

  • Establish clear goals, timelines, decision points, and ownership for major initiatives, while working collaboratively with teams to support effective execution.

  • Track and support implementation of the strategic plan through clear milestones, dashboards, and structured reporting processes that promote transparency and alignment.

  • Serve as project lead for major internal initiatives (e.g., real estate planning, internal business development efforts, operational expansions) and other priority projects assigned by the CEO.

  • Partner with teams to assess, design, and implement new internal ventures and programmatic expansions, including a food industry social enterprise and programming for new populations.

  • Identify opportunities to improve systems, workflows, and communication structures, and work collaboratively with teams to implement practical, sustainable solutions.

Operational Excellence & Project Management

  • Apply advanced project management methodologies to plan, sequence, and execute multi-phase initiatives, balancing speed, rigor, and flexibility.

  • Use and refine existing tools—or recommend and implement improved ones—to strengthen coordination, accountability, and visibility across departments.

  • Proactively identify risks, capacity constraints, and tradeoffs, and work with departmental leaders and the CEO to address challenges and adjust plans as needed.

  • Maintain clear documentation of project plans, timelines, decisions, and outcomes to support organizational learning and continuity.

Government Funding & Internal Coordination

  • Serve as an internal resource on city, state, and federal government funding structures, requirements, and compliance considerations.

  • Coordinate across Program, Finance, and Development teams to support the preparation and submission of government funding requests.

  • Support internal readiness for audits, reporting, and compliance, helping teams anticipate requirements and resolve issues efficiently.

Executive Leadership Support & Internal Communications

  • Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO, supporting priority-setting, problem-solving, and preparation for key leadership decisions.

  • Prepare clear, decision-focused materials—including briefing documents, strategy memos, dashboards, and board reports—that synthesize complex information for executive use.

  • Facilitate effective communication and alignment among the Executive Team by clarifying decisions, next steps, and expectations.

  • Complete additional projects assigned by the CEO, as needed.

PREFERRED SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

  • Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in senior-level project management, operations, strategic planning, or nonprofit leadership.

  • Demonstrated success leading large-scale, cross-functional initiatives that required both clear direction and strong collaboration.

  • Strong project management skills, including planning, sequencing, risk management, and coordination across multiple teams.

  • Ability to make decisions, move work forward, and adjust course as needed, while maintaining trust and partnership with colleagues.

  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with sound judgment and attention to detail.

  • Exceptional written communication skills, including experience producing executive- and board-level materials.

  • Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment with multiple competing priorities.

  • High level of integrity, discretion, and deep commitment to Hot Bread Kitchen’s mission of advancing economic opportunity.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

  • Project Management — Organizes and tracks multiple initiatives, deadlines, and deliverables to ensure successful execution of fundraising activities.

  • Results driven - achieve goals in a timely manner and when necessary will adapt to various solutions and take the initiative to develop a new solution.

  • Collaboration- Works with others to achieve common goals and desired results. Connects with people from a variety of backgrounds and develops relationships to advance work. 

  • Persuasive communication- Displays verbal and written communication that influences and inspires others. 

  • Flexible- Adapts to changes while remaining focused on goals. Welcomes and works with changing environments. Mindful of blind spots and open to feedback.

  • Detail oriented - verifies important details, ensures there are no surprises or gaps in needed information, has the ability to think a few steps ahead to answer potential questions about the data or project. Aims to leave things better than they found them. Checks work with others, plans time to review for errors and addresses errors quickly and learns from them. 

 

OUR VALUES

We are driven by a feeling of commitment to support our members, teammates, and partners. Our culture of equity comes from the many cooks in our kitchen and the diversity of perspectives we each bring. We believe that respect goes a long way in making people feel welcome, accepted, and celebrated. We seek out opportunities for connection and become a stronger team by being in community and prioritizing candor over consensus. The pace of our work and velocity of change can be quick; our entrepreneurialism helps us take optimistic risks and pursue inventive solutions

LOCATION 

This is a hybrid position, with flexibility to work remotely. Typically,  four days per week in person is required, with occasional evenings and weekends also required. Our facility is located in Chelsea in Manhattan, near A/C/E/L subways. 

 

COMPENSATION 

This is a full-time position with a salary range between $115,000-$125,000. Hot Bread Kitchen's comprehensive benefits package includes health/vision/dental insurance (eligible from day one), 401K contributions, paid office closure days  (including holidays, and staff appreciation days, and a one week holiday break at the end of the year), flexible and generous vacation and sick time, paid parental leave, and a sabbatical program (after 5 years of service). Our organizational culture is inclusive, entrepreneurial, flexible, and civically-minded (learn more about our culture on hotbreadkitchen.org/careers)

To Apply

  • Please include a cover letter and experience-aligned resume including your pronouns.

  • Apply here at Hot Bread Kitchen’s Applicant Tracking System.

 

Due to the volume of applications, only complete applications sent via email will be considered. Applications sent via LinkedIn or other third party sites will not be accepted or reviewed.

Hot Bread Kitchen is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants based on race, religion, color, disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity or expression, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), age, veteran status or other legally protected characteristics. Any applicant with a mental or physical disability who requires an accommodation during the application process should contact hr@hotbreadkitchen.org to request such an accommodation.