Chief Administrative Officer

South
South Site
3700 S 1st St
Austin, TX 78704, USA

South
South Site
3700 S 1st St
Austin, TX 78704, USA

Life Works
of
Austin, TX is looking for a Chief Administrative Officer to join our Executive team! The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) is a senior executive leader responsible for stewarding and strengthening Life Works’ operational, administrative, and risk infrastructure in service of the organization’s mission, strategy, and long-term sustainability. The CAO provides executive leadership of Risk Management, Facilities, Administrative Operations, and Technology, ensuring the interdependent systems supporting Life Works’ people, programs, clients, and physical locations are safe, reliable, scalable, and aligned with organizational strategy.

Owns and continuously improves the agency’s operating model, including cross-functional workflows, processes and service standards to drive efficiency, consistency and staff and client experiences. The CAO translates organizational strategy into effective systems, service standards and cross-functional processes. The CAO balances strategic leadership with disciplined execution, developing leaders, systems, and organizational capacity that promote continuity and safety that allow Life Works to operate effectively across a multi-site, multi-program nonprofit environment.

This full time, exempt position earns a competitive rate ranging from $-$ annually, depending upon experience. Benefits are also included, which consist of 24 PTO days per year (accrued); 11 paid holidays per year; a premium-free employee medical plan with $100 per month HSA contribution (plus other affordable employee or family medical, dental, and vision options!); a retirement savings plan with 50% match on the first 6% of contributions, and much more!

• Executive Leadership and Strategic Partnership:
  • Acts as a strategic thought partner to the CEO and Executive Team regarding operational risk, administrative strategy, and enterprise-wide initiatives.
  • Serves as a key member of the Executive Team, participating in organizational strategy, policy development, and long-term planning.
  • Translates organizational strategy into clear administrative, technology, facilities, and risk management priorities and execution plans.
  • Identifies emerging organizational risks, capacity constraints, and infrastructure needs and develops proactive strategies to address them.
  • Leads or sponsors significant cross-functional initiatives requiring coordination across multiple departments.
  • Establishes and monitors operational performance metrics to assess effectiveness, identify risks, and inform decision making.
  • Provides clear, data-informed recommendations to executive leadership and the Board as appropriate.
  • Participates in Board meetings or committees as requested by the CEO.
• Operational Risk & Organizational Resilience:
  • Ensures the agency maintains effective risk management frameworks, policies, and procedures to protect staff, clients, assets, and reputation.
  • Establishes systems to identify, assess, prioritize, mitigate, monitor, and communicate significant organizational risks.
  • Oversees enterprise-wide business continuity and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery planning to ensure continuity of critical operations across programs, sites, facilities and systems.
  • Promotes an organizational culture of thoughtful, proactive risk management.
  • Establishes clear roles, decision rights, escalation protocols, and communication processes for organizational emergencies and significant operational incidents.
  • Ensures appropriate organizational response, review, documentation, and learning following critical incidents, with an emphasis on prevention and continuous improvement.
  • Establishes appropriate enterprise vendor governance, contract-management standards, and risk controls in partnership with the CFO, CEO, CPPLO, and other organizational leaders.
  • Ensures significant operational risks are appropriately escalated to executive leadership and the Board.
• Facilities Management:
  • Provides executive leadership for Life Works’ agency facilities and maintenance operations, including preventive and corrective maintenance, safety, security, accessibility, space planning, in-kind inventory management, and facilities-related emergency response.
  • Develops a long-term facilities maintenance strategy aligned with organizational growth, program needs, workforce needs, client experience, and financial sustainability.
  • Ensures facilities are safe, welcoming, functional, well-maintained, and compliant with applicable regulatory, accreditation, funder, and organizational requirements.
  • Establishes facilities performance standards and preventive-maintenance systems designed to reduce risk, improve reliability, and responsibly steward organizational resources.
  • Oversees facilities-related vendor strategy, procurement, contract performance, and service quality.
  • Ensures clear roles, handoffs, and accountability between facilities operations and…