What is this role called?

February 22, 2020 8:06 AM

You work for the leader of the organisation, whose time and attention are a limited resource. But you are not their PA or secretary. You communicate throughout the whole organisation, look for developing issues within or between different teams, and help resolve them or let the leader know when things that need their attention. You have no direct reports of your own. What is your role called? What is your job title? How would you distinguish it from related roles? And where would you find this job? Would prefer UK opinions if this is something that varies internationally.
posted by automatronic to Work & Money (28 answers total)

Best answer: This sounds to me like a chief of staff.
posted by zebra at 8:13 AM on February 22, 2020 [16 favorites]

Response by poster: Chief of staff definitely captures the right role, but I've never seen that term used outside of political or military settings.

What would this role be called in an everyday small/medium company or non-profit organisation?
posted by automatronic at 8:30 AM on February 22, 2020

Best answer: Chief of staff is absolutely the title on the rise in corporate and now smaller business contexts and even for people in this role supporting other executives, not just the top leader.
posted by sestaaak at 8:36 AM on February 22, 2020 [4 favorites]

Agreed, this is a Chief of Staff, and they're definitely a thing in corporate settings, at least in the US.
posted by spindrifter at 8:39 AM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Executive Assistant can be a very senior role.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:42 AM on February 22, 2020 [5 favorites]

Operations manager/director
posted by nuclear_soup at 8:54 AM on February 22, 2020 [8 favorites]

I would call it an executive assistant.
posted by summerstorm at 9:06 AM on February 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

Consigliere.
posted by clockwork at 9:17 AM on February 22, 2020 [4 favorites]

Where I work the people who do this are the Director of Strategy (where one of the strategies is a top functioning workplaces) and Chief of Staff Development.
posted by Miko at 9:39 AM on February 22, 2020 [2 favorites]

I knew an Executive Officer who did this in government.
posted by escapepod at 9:41 AM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

In the military this is XO or executive officer.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:54 AM on February 22, 2020

In academia, "assistant director" or "assistant boss' title" is pretty typical. I know of a few examples in the UK. (Note that the word assistant has lots of very specific and historical meanings that might not translate as well to other fields.)
posted by eotvos at 10:05 AM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Executive assistant. In the fortune 50 company I used to work for, being an EA was a chief of staff type role and a step prior to becoming a (more junior) executive yourself. There were also executive administrative assistants, who scheduled meetings, took calls, had more of a 9-5.
posted by slateyness at 10:11 AM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

Administrative Director or Administrative Manager is how this role has been described in the academic and medical settings I have worked in.
posted by shadygrove at 11:11 AM on February 22, 2020

My first thought was also Chief of Staff, but that role usually involves managing staff and you specifically said the person doesn't do that.

My next thought was Hand of the King, but of course that applies to monarchs in fantasy novels not organizations in the real world.

Given responsibilities you describe, I think it's not surprising that this role doesn't have a name. It's about having the personal confidence of the CEO and being able to speak, act, and demand respect on her behalf. Troubleshooter or consigliere come close. People with many different formal titles can be given those responsibilities. It could be chief of staff, senior vice president, deputy director, or something else.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:30 AM on February 22, 2020

vizier
posted by clockwork at 12:22 PM on February 22, 2020

This is a Senior Advisor at my organization.
posted by kinsey at 1:00 PM on February 22, 2020 [1 favorite]

This fits with Director of Corporate Strategy which I’ve seen in a couple of UK orgs (public and private sectors)
posted by BAKERSFIELD! at 2:11 PM on February 22, 2020

I have been this in a non-profit as Operations Manager and elsewhere as Executive Officer.
posted by stellathon at 2:31 PM on February 22, 2020

Best answer: I have seen this sort of job in the UK with the following job titles (in descending order of perceived status and pay): Deputy Chief Executive, Director of Strategy, Head of Private Office, Strategic Adviser, Executive Assistant. Parts of it might be done by Chief People Officer, Communications Director, or Operations Director depending on the exact function of the organisation.
posted by plonkee at 2:54 PM on February 22, 2020

Business Manager is a title I've come across that describes this.
posted by smoke at 4:28 PM on February 22, 2020

If you are in the arts world and your boss is an Artistic Director you'd likely be some kind of Production Manager or Producer (maybe a Lead Producer if you're managing other teams).

General Manager roles tend to be more administrative/financial in nature but this is often part of their role.
posted by divabat at 7:01 PM on February 22, 2020

Best answer: I've seen Special Advisor, Senior Advisor, Strategic Director, and Chief of Staff. Senior Advisor has been more common in the UK and Canada. Chief of Staff seems to come up more often in the US, unless we're talking the military or politics as you say.

Strategic Director seems to be a newer version of the same thing, but to me, "director" still implies that you supervise staff.
posted by rpfields at 7:09 PM on February 22, 2020

In my organization this is a special assistant or a staff assistant depending on the level of the superior.

A chief of staff is similar in some ways, but a chief of staff has subordinate staff (hence chief) who they supervise. In industry, the title chief of staff has become popular for people who aren't really.

An executive officer can mean two different things, either it can be a deputy/second on command or it can be the person who manages administrative staff tasks outside the delivery of program (e.g. who manages funding, real estate, technology, security, travel, etc.), but doesn't have a direct role on program supervision and delivery.
posted by Jahaza at 10:13 PM on February 22, 2020

I've seen a number of people with the chief of staff title who do this work and do not actually manage other people, so it's certainly not a requirement (at least here in the States) that you be managing people.
posted by ch1x0r at 4:51 AM on February 23, 2020

Chief of Staff or COO
posted by Ragged Richard at 8:35 AM on February 23, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks all. These were all helpful answers, I have marked a few best that I found most useful.
posted by automatronic at 5:17 PM on February 23, 2020

As an aside, this is *sort of* the role that Special Advisers (commonly known as SpAds) have played for Cabinet ministers over the last few decades. I have met former Tory and Labour SpAds who have been lovely and genuinely great people to work with. In any case, depending on what you're interested in you might find it helpful to look at explanations of their role like this one.
posted by plonkee at 3:37 PM on February 25, 2020