Chief of Staff, Energy & Environment Program

Aspen Institute employees come from a wide range of backgrounds and possess a unique blend of education, skill, and policy experience. We recognize that our people are our vital resource and we value their knowledge, enthusiasm, and commitment. At the Aspen Institute we offer competitive salaries and a wide variety of benefits to our employees and their families.

If you would enjoy working in a dynamic environment and are looking for an opportunity to become part of a stellar team of professionals, we invite you to apply online today.

Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization committed to realizing a free, just, and equitable society. Since its founding in 1949, the Institute has been driving change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve the most critical challenges facing communities in the United States and around the world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Institute has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, and an international network of partners.

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM

The Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program brings leaders together from across sectors to shape effective policy, accelerate innovative market solutions, and engage the public to advance practical solutions to the world s energy, environmental, and climate challenges. The Energy & Environment Program achieves this by building trust, fostering collaboration, and turning dialogue into action that drives systemic change - creating ideas and unlikely partnerships that ripple outward to empower people, companies, and governments to turn shared ambitions into practical contributions that strengthen the foundations of a good society.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Chief of Staff (COS) serves as a strategic partner to the Executive Director of the Energy and Environment Program and a force multiplier for the organization by managing up, down, and across to translate vision into execution and to strengthen alignment, communication, and performance across a complex and growing portfolio of work. The role sits at the intersection of strategy and implementation.

The COS supports the Executive Director to operate at the highest level by managing priorities, surfacing tradeoffs, anticipating challenges, and ensuring that the organization is focused on the right work at the right time. They will operate as an extension of the Executive Director and a connective tissue across teams, strengthening alignment and overall leadership impact. This role requires comfort operating with ambiguity, strong judgment and discretion, as well as the ability to move fluidly between big picture thinking and detailed follow-through.

This position reports to the Executive Director. The salary range for this position is $145,000-$155,000. This position is based in the Aspen Institute’s Washington, D.C. office and is expected to work from the office or in-person at meetings frequently, as needed, and must be able to travel frequently as the role requires.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Support development, refinement, and execution of EEP strategy in partnership with the Executive Director and senior leadership.
• Translate long term strategy into tactical priorities with clear ownership, milestones, and success metrics.
• Stress test ideas, surface risks and opportunities, and support preparation for key decisions.
• Monitor progress against goals and proactively flag tradeoffs, capacity constraints, and resource needs.
• Support preparation for key moments such as major convenings, retreats, board interactions, and strategic inflection points.

• Manage information flow to and from the Executive Director by synthesizing inputs, ensuring organized agendas, and maintaining clear follow-up.
• Organize, track, and communicate action item decisions and ensure follow through.
• Identify gaps, inefficiencies, or recurring challenges and propose practical improvements.
• Support coordination on high priority initiatives that cut across teams or require senior attention.

• Support the Executive Director in building a strong, aligned, and high performing collaborative leadership team.
• Help senior leaders translate strategy into executable plans and reinforce accountability across teams.
• Establish and reinforce operating rhythms such as leadership meetings, goal tracking, and cross team coordination.
• Serve as a sounding board and coach team leaders on process, communication, and execution challenges.
• Work with team on onboarding, team transitions, and development as needed.
• Model and reinforce EEP values, including trust, collaboration, nonpartisanship, and intellectual rigor.

• Synthesize complex information into clear, concise materials for leadership use.
• Draft or edit briefing memos, presentations, and internal communications, including for Senior Aspen Leadership and Board of Trustees, as needed.
• Ensure consistent messaging and clarity around…