Chief Operating Officer

Summary

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

The Police Athletic League (or PAL) is one of New York City's largest independent youth development not-for-profit organizations. PAL operates diverse programs from Head Start, Day Care and Universal Pre-K programs, to elementary and middle school after-school programs; and summer day camps and summer Playstreets. PAL runs evening teen centers and college readiness programs, as well as youth employment and juvenile justice programs. Competitive and recreational sports for children of all ages are a cornerstone of PAL's youth development strategy. Serving approximately 15,000 kids each year, and with a current operating budget of about $30M, approximately 700 staff, and 28 facilities across the five boroughs of New York City, PAL's reach and impact are tremendous. With over a century of service, PAL continues to evolve and remains a vibrant and vital New York City institution.

For more information on PAL, please visit its website

ABOUT THE POSITION

The Police Athletic League is poised for continued growth and impact; building and strengthening internal operations and capacity is critical for the organization's ability to deliver on its ambitious goals. To that end, PAL is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead day-to-day operations of the organization by designing and implementing best-in-class organizational systems, directly managing the leaders of the HR/talent, program operations, IT, and facilities functions. In addition, the COO will provide ongoing thought partnership and support for the sustainability and expansion of PAL's program offerings by ensuring the organization is both right-sized in the moment, and efficiently optimized and resourced to meet future goals.

The COO will report directly to the Executive Director (ED), and will serve on the leadership team as a key partner to a range of critical internal and external stakeholders, while managing four direct reports and leading a team of over 50.

Qualifications

PAL is looking for a dynamic, driven leader who possesses the following qualifications:

• Palpable passion for PAL's mission to support and inspire New York City youth to realize their full individual potential as productive members of society.
• Minimum of twelve years serving in leadership roles, with a track record of leading operations, organizational development and human resources, and strong knowledge of facilities management, information technology, legal and compliance, and vendor management.
• Proven track record of strong change management, with demonstrable experience in methodically tracking progress and plans to achieve short- and long-term goals; ability to develop thoughtful change management plans for operationalizing significant organizational changes, communicating with all stakeholders and leading with enthusiasm and optimism.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the intellectual depth and maturity to work with the Executive Director and other executive leaders and staff across the organization.
• Deep experience leading and managing diverse teams, serving as a coach and mentor to management staff in a range of functional areas, particularly around giving constructive feedback, developing supervisory skills, assessing and supporting professional growth of staff reporting to managers
• Outstanding organizational and project management skills with an overall execution orientation and high attention to detail

Duties

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Cross-functional Leadership

• Operations: Respond to the ongoing evolution of organizational needs, supervising the Director of Operations and Director of Program Operations to ensure smooth management of all programs, facilities, and IT.
• HR & Talent: Oversee the HR and Talent functions, managing and coaching the Director of HR to ensure all HR and Talent processes and practices (e.g., recruitment and selection, on-boarding and performance management, learning and development, compensation, etc.) across the organization are equitable and inclusive, and laser-focused on attracting, retaining, and developing the most diverse and most qualified talent possible.
• Finance: Partner with the CFO to prepare and manage the annual budgets for departments under the COO's purview: HR/talent, Program Operations, IT, and facilities; oversee periodic market analysis to ensure competitiveness in compensation and to support equity.
• Legal & Compliance: Liaise with PAL's outside legal counsel to manage and track all legal matters; actively monitor regulatory changes and advise on policies and practices to ensure the highest levels of compliance, data protection and integrity.

Infrastructure

• Ensure PAL is working with the most up-to-date tools and resources available and is readily able to leverage technological systems and solutions to meet goals; oversee PAL's IT infrastructure needs, managing internal staff and external vendors to provide the entire PAL team with the technology to work both efficiently and effectively.
• Establish the infrastructure, systems and processes necessary to support scalable growth across the organization, with an eye towards developing internal leadership, and improving knowledge management and communication within and across teams.