Executive Affairs Manager - Office of Economic and Workforce Development

Executive Affairs Manager

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Executive Affairs Manager will be a critical position in advancing OEWD's most important priorities, relationships, decisions, and operating rhythms. The person in this role will help create leverage, clarity, and momentum for the Executive Director while working closely with senior leaders across the department.

The Executive Affairs Manager will be trusted with highly sensitive information, complex priorities, and fast-moving decisions. You'll need strong judgment, discretion, ownership, and the ability to operate with context rather than waiting for step-by-step direction. The right person is calm under pressure, exceptionally organized, direct in communication, and energized by being close to the work that shapes the future of San Francisco's economy.

This role requires someone who can anticipate needs before they are obvious, protect the Executive Director's time, improve how information flows, and ensure that important commitments do not get lost in a high-velocity environment. You should be comfortable working with other City Leadership, members of the Board of Supervisors, Business Executives, community partners, and internal teams with professionalism and precision.

Essential Duties:

• Partner directly with the Executive Director and the Chief Operating Officer to manage time, priorities, commitments, and operating cadence with a deep understanding of OEWD goals and context.
• Own and optimize a highly complex calendar, using judgment to prioritize the highest-impact meetings, protect focus time, and ensure the Executive Director is prepared for critical conversations.
• Act as a trusted point of coordination between the Executive Director and internal leaders, helping drive follow-through on decisions, deadlines, and key initiatives.
• Prepare the Executive Director for meetings by gathering context, organizing materials, tracking open questions, and ensuring the right people and information are in the room.
• Manage highly sensitive communications and information with absolute discretion, sound judgment, and professionalism.
• Coordinate internal and external stakeholder engagements, ensuring every interaction is thoughtfully planned and executed.
• Plan and manage complex scheduling, including detailed itineraries, logistics, meeting preparation, and contingency planning.
• Support departmental operating functions by preparing agendas, logistics, materials, notes, and follow-ups.
• Proactively identify friction in the Executive Director's workflow and improve systems, processes, and communication loops that create better leverage.
• Support executive leadership in organizational strategic planning and partnership engagement by coordinating planning activities, preparing executive briefings and materials, tracking strategic initiatives and partnership opportunities and ensuring timely execution of leadership priorities.
• Represent OEWD and Executive Director with clarity and the highest standards of customer service in interactions across the department and externally.
• Other duties as assigned

Desirable

Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience supporting an executive or a strategic campaign in a fast-paced, high-standards environment.
• Experience in project management and the ability to coordinate initiatives, track deliverables, and support successful execution of organizational priorities.
• Exceptional judgment and discretion, especially when handling confidential, sensitive, or strategically important information.
• Strong business instincts and the ability to understand priorities, tradeoffs, and urgency without needing every detail explained.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to be clear, concise, professional, and direct.
• High ownership and follow-through. You notice what needs to happen, take responsibility for it, and drive it to completion.
• Outstanding calendar, travel, and logistics management skills, including experience supporting executives with highly dynamic schedules.
• Ability to operate calmly in ambiguity and make good decisions when priorities shift quickly.
• Strong relationship skills and executive presence, with the ability to work effectively across senior leaders, board members, investors, partners, and employees at every level.
• Impeccable attention to detail and a strong instinct for preparation, quality, and reliability.
• A service-oriented mindset paired with backbone. You are helpful, thoughtful, and proactive, while also comfortable…