Chief Administrative Officer

About People’s Action Institute

People’s Action Institute (501c3) is a national people-powered organization that conducts public education toward winning an inclusive democracy and economy. People’s Action Institute builds the power of poor and working people in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through policy education and campaigns, leadership development, narrative and communications strategies, and more.

Headquartered in Chicago, IL, and with remote staff across the country, we support and advance state-based and national efforts for common-sense policies on the environment, decarceration, health care, economic security, housing, education, and more.

For more information on People’s Action Institute, please visit (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./

Do you enjoy overseeing core internal systems, including governance, risk management, and executive operations? Then this position is just for you. You will work closely with the Executive Director and other senior leaders to strengthen People’s Action Institute's organizational effectiveness, sustainability, and impact.

As the Chief Administrative Officer, you will report to the Executive Director. The primary function of this position is to provide senior-level leadership over the organization’s administrative, operational, and financial infrastructure, ensuring that organizational priorities are translated into coordinated execution across departments.

As Chief Administrative Officer, your typical day will include (but isn’t limited to):

• Will lead the People’s Action Institute’s (PAI) executive and institutional administration, ensuring that strategic and board-level decisions translate into coordinated execution, accountability, and organizational health.
• Responsible for tracking executive decisions, ensuring cross-departmental alignment, and identifying institutional risks, while partnering closely with the Executive Director, Chief of Institutional Advancement, and Chief of Staff on governance, resourcing, and capacity building.
• Stewards effective board governance, ensuring boards and committees are well-supported, engaged, and equipped to govern with clarity and accountability.

• Provides executive leadership and supervision across core internal functions, directly overseeing the Directors of Operations and Finance by guiding the department staff through clear goals, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Ensures strong coordination between Operations and Finance while maintaining appropriate functional boundaries, and provides executive oversight of the organization’s financial health, internal controls, and audit readiness.
• Fosters financial accountability and shared understanding among senior leaders to align resources with strategic priorities.

• Collaborates with the Executive Director on board governance, leads organizational compliance and risk management, and ensures that internal systems support the strategic vision of the Executive Director and Boards across all entities (C3, C4, PAC).
• Partners closely with executive leadership to steward effective board engagement, committee work, and decision-making, while overseeing legal and regulatory compliance, political reporting, and lobbying disclosures.
• Identifies and escalates organizational risks and constraints, providing clear executive visibility into institutional health.

• Oversees the executive team operating system, ensuring that executive workflows, decision-making, and follow-through are disciplined, aligned, and effective.
• Collaborates with the Executive Director to set the executive agenda and holds accountability standards, ensuring that decisions and commitments are clearly documented, assigned, and followed through.
• In close partnership with executive support staff, the CAO continuously improves executive team systems to strengthen clarity, alignment, and organizational execution.

Other duties may be assigned as needed to support organizational…