Rice is implementing Momentous , its ten-year strategic plan, and preparing for the public phase of a comprehensive campaign. Both bring more presidential engagements, more work that crosses divisions and schools, and more decisions that must reach the President well prepared. The Deputy Chief of Staff is a new position in the Office of the President, created to meet this moment of acceleration.
The Deputy Chief of Staff is a strategic generalist and the Chief of Staff’s principal backup. The Deputy facilitates presidential engagement readiness and staffs the President at his most consequential engagements, coordinating across offices so that he is prepared and supported, and his commitments are followed through. The Deputy also leads sensitive special projects, staffs key meetings, and keeps institutional priorities moving across the divisions and schools. The Deputy works directly and regularly with the President, including traveling with him, and represents the Chief of Staff and the office as delegated.
Reporting to the Chief of Staff, The Deputy Chief of Staff works closely with the President and senior university leadership to advance institutional priorities and ensure effective coordination of presidential engagements and initiatives.
The role suits someone whose interests, skills, and experience span strategic thinking and tactical execution, big picture and nitty-gritty. It requires careful discernment, a strength in navigating conflict productively, and a capacity for fostering warm, positive relationships across campus and the community.
Workplace Requirements:
The role includes regular travel with the President, including overnight and international travel. It also requires frequent work outside standard business hours, particularly around presidential engagements, board meetings, and university events.
Workplace Location:
On-campus position. This is an on-campus position, with the possibility of occasional remote workdays based on office needs, workload, and scheduled activities. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.
Hiring Range: $128,371 to $167,761 annually. The anticipated hiring salary will be determined based on the selected candidate’s qualifications, experience, and alignment with the requirements of the position.
Minimum Requirements:
- Bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Four or more (4+) years of progressively responsible experience in executive office, strategy, public or constituent engagement, or comparable roles, including direct work with a senior executive.
Skills:
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- Experience exercising delegated judgment in ambiguous situations.
- Ability to think through complex questions independently: frame the problem, gather and weigh evidence, and offer a clear, candid view, including when it differs from a senior leader’s.
- Demonstrated ability to lead substantial projects from first question to final recommendation with minimal direction, moving between strategy and execution as the work requires.
- Ability to absorb a high volume of information, identify what matters and for whom, and turn it into short, decision-ready material.
- Judgment, presence, and poise to work directly with the President and the University Associate (the President’s Spouse), including in informal settings and during travel. Similar fluency with trustees, senior officers, donors, faculty leaders, and external partners.
- Strong written communication skills.
- Unequivocal discretion with confidential and sensitive material, and sound judgment about what to share and with whom.
- Consistent follow-through without prompting.
Fluency in Google Workspace and a project management platform, with the capacity to work independently in Asana within the first several weeks.
Preferences:
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- Master’s or other advanced degree.
- Seven or more years of progressively responsible experience.
- Experience in a president’s or chancellor’s office, or in a comparable executive office in a research university or other large, decentralized organization.
- Experience preparing and accompanying a principal at external engagements, including advance work.
- Experience in a comprehensive fundraising campaign environment.
- Experience supporting executive searches.
Familiarity with the work of a governing board.
Essential Functions:
1. Presidential engagement readiness
- Facilitate the office’s preparation of the President for his most consequential engagements, including oral and written briefings.
- Coordinate with the Executive Assistant to the President, the President’s Events Team, and Presidential Communications, and with partner offices including Development and Alumni Relations, Athletics, Public Affairs, and the Office of the Secretary so that roles, guests, and the President’s needs are settled in advance and each piece has a clear owner.
- Maintain a forward view of the President’s engagements and contribute to planning them across the year.
2. Presidential staffing
- Staff the President at university and external engagements and on travel, as designated by the Chief of Staff, including advance coordination, managing his time in the room, providing background on the people present, and addressing needs as they arise.
- Use travel and the time between engagements to brief the President on wider matters and glean direction, in coordination with the Chief of Staff.
- Debrief the President after significant engagements and record what was discussed and what he committed to.
3. Special projects and institutional priorities
- Lead sensitive presidential projects from initiation to final recommendation, including confidential consultation inside and outside Rice.
- Steward cross-institutional initiatives and Momentous priorities as assigned, particularly those at an early stage or without a clear owner.
- Work with partners across the university to surface risks, dependencies, and unresolved issues, and bring forward what requires the attention of the President or Chief of Staff.
- Source and maintain the information and data the President relies on, working with Institutional Research and other university offices so that figures for presentations, briefings, and decisions are ready before they are needed.
- Staff and shepherd executive searches and other institutional processes as assigned.
4. Leadership meetings and decision follow-through
- Provide facilitative support and staffing for institutional leadership bodies and retreats: build agendas with the Chief of Staff, prepare pre-reads, keep the record, and issue follow-up with named owners.
- Prepare briefing and decision memoranda that set out the question, the context, the options, and their implications.
- Track the decisions and commitments of the President and senior leadership through to completion.
5. Deputy to the Chief of Staff
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- Serve as principal backup to the Chief of Staff, representing him in his absence and keeping communication and decision-making continuous.
- Represent the Office of the President in university meetings, working groups, and forums as delegated.
- In close collaboration with the Executive Assistant to the President and other colleagues, contribute to the office’s operating rhythm, shared practices, and crisis response, and take on operational work as directed.
Complete additional duties as assigned.
Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits
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