Associate Vice Chancellor & Chief of Staff; Hybrid; University Marketing and Communications

Location

St. Louis, MO 63110

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Washington University in St. Louis is one of the nation’s leading universities, with highly ranked undergraduate and graduate programs spanning the arts and sciences, engineering, business, law, and social work. WashU Medicine, its medical school and clinical enterprise, ranks among the country’s leading academic medical centers, advancing biomedical research and delivering patient care in partnership with BJC Health Care, the region’s largest health system, and an affiliated physician practice organization.

Together, they form a multi-mission enterprise — spanning undergraduate and graduate education, research, and clinical care — for which this role holds enterprise-wide responsibility.

The Chief of Staff (CoS) is the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer’s (CMCO) strategic partner and the operations leader of the Office of the CMCO. A newly created position, the CoS will translate the CMCO's vision into an executable enterprise strategy, set the operating cadence of a large, matrixed communications and marketing organization, and foster collaboration among teams reporting into the CMCO.

This role calls for a strategic thinker with exceptional planning discipline, a precise and persuasive communicator in both writing and speech, and a natural relationship-builder who earns credibility quickly across a wide range of stakeholders — from the President's cabinet and the Board of Trustees to school deans, faculty, staff, and the CMCO's own team. The CoS operates with delegated authority on the CMCO's behalf: leading the strategic planning and goal-setting process for the full portfolio and orchestrating cross-functional work across internal communications, external communications, thought leadership, issues and crisis management, brand and marketing, operations and digital teams.

Primary

Duties & Responsibilities:

Strategic Partnership and Executive Counsel

• Serve as the CMCO's foremost strategic partner and sounding board, pressure-testing strategy, reinforcing priorities, and aligning on major decisions.
• Act as a proxy for the CMCO in reviewing plans, materials, and decisions across the portfolio to ensure the CMCO's perspective and priorities are consistently reflected, and the organization is set up for success.
• Anticipate institutional, reputational, and organizational issues before they reach the CMCO, and ensure the CMCO's point of view is well-informed by providing clarity of facts and actionable options in advance of escalation.

Cabinet, Board and Governance Cadence

• Own preparation for cabinet meetings, Board of Trustees sessions, and other executive governance forums, including compiling and editing all briefing materials, talking points, and background research.
• Manage the CMCO's executive staff meeting cadence — setting agendas, capturing decisions and action items, and driving follow-through and accountability across the leadership team.
• Represent the CMCO's office as day-to-day liaison to other cabinet members, deans, and medical center executive leadership, helping move cross-institutional initiatives forward.

Organizational Strategy, Planning and Performance

• Lead the annual and quarterly strategic planning and goal-setting process for the CMCO's full reporting team in partnership with the leaders of internal communications, external communications/media relations, thought leadership, crisis management, brand/marketing and digital.
• Maintain the operating budget for the Office of the CMCO, and partner with Finance on resourcing, investment prioritization, and reporting across the portfolio.
• Track and report performance indicators for the organization, ensuring goals are scored, results are communicated, and course corrections happen in real time.

Cross-Functional Orchestration

• Serve as the connector across the CMCO's direct reports and their teams, identifying dependencies, resolving conflicts, and ensuring the portfolio operates as one coordinated organization.
• Partner with Human Resources, Finance, Legal, Government Affairs, and Advancement for alignment on initiatives that cut across the CMCO's remit, and with school…