NDWA

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Remote, US$175,000-$200,000Posted 1 day ago

Job Description

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Priority consideration will be given to applications submitted by end of day Thursday, October 15, 2026. Applications received after this date may be considered until the position is filled.*

Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Position: Full-Time

Reports To: Executive Director

Direct Reports

VP of Finance
VP of People & Culture
Director of Operations and Events
Director of Technology
General Counsel

Job Family: Confidential Employee

Bargaining Unit: No

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary: $175K - $200K

Work Location: Remote (U.S.-based); flexible, with in-person attendance as required

Target Start Date: As soon as possible

The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) is the leading national voice for dignity, respect, and recognition for domestic workers in the United States. NDWA was founded in 2007 by organizers and worker leaders in six cities representing nannies, house cleaners, and care workers, and now represents an alliance of more than 76 organizations across 22 states and 395,000 domestic workers nationally.

We envision a society where domestic work is valued as essential to our collective well-being, domestic workers are leaders in shaping the care sector, and domestic work jobs are good, economically secure jobs.

For over 15 years, we've worked to advance our mission by making domestic work visible. We've worked to pass policies that enable rights and higher wages for domestic workers across the country, changed public awareness and opinion about the dignity and value of care work, and built the capacity and leadership of domestic workers to organize and advocate for their rights.

We see the next era of our organization as an opportunity to move domestic work from newfound visibility towards transformation, and we're ready to elevate care workers to the essential workers of the 21st-century economy.

We're a multi-racial, multi-lingual organization building a powerful movement rooted in the human rights, dignity, and equality of domestic workers, care workers, immigrant women, and women of color.

POSITION SUMMARY

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The National Domestic Workers Alliance seeks a strategic, systems-minded, and mission-driven Chief Operating Officer to serve as the organization's senior operating executive. Reporting to the Executive Director, the COO provides strategic oversight and integration across finance, people & culture, operations, technology, and legal and risk management. This role translates strategy into operational execution, ensures alignment across functional areas, and partners closely with the Executive Director and Board on the organization's financial health, internal operations, and security infrastructure.

The COO brings particular strength in financial strategy and business modeling, leading long-term financial planning, capital allocation, and reserve strategy, while bringing enough fluency across HR, legal, technology, and operations to integrate these functions into a coherent whole. The COO is a systems thinker who identifies opportunities to streamline processes and adopt more effective tools, and holds direct oversight of enterprise risk management.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

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Strategic Leadership and Executive Partnership

Serve as chief operating partner to the Executive Director, translating strategy into cross-functional execution, with particular attention to financial sustainability and long-term modeling.
Sit on the executive leadership team and contribute to organization-wide strategic and financial planning.
Represent finance, operations, HR, legal, technology, and risk matters to the Board and relevant committees.
Partner with the Strategy and Impact team to assess whether current systems, capacity, risk tolerance, and resource allocation are fit for purpose, and own the operational and financial changes required to close any gaps.

Finance (via VP of Finance)

Lead financial strategy, including long-term planning, business modeling, budgeting, and reporting.
Review and approve major financial decisions, capital planning, and reserve strategy.
Ensure financial strategy is tightly aligned with organizational priorities and drives sustainable growth.
Lead engagement with the Board of Directors and Finance Committee on financial reporting and budgeting.

People & Culture (via VP of People & Culture)

Oversee the entire employee lifecycle, ensuring all staff recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and offboarding policies and practices align with organizational values and legal requirements, and support a healthy and productive workplace culture.
Oversee labor and management relations.
Provide strategic direction on organizational design and workforce planning, including its budget implications.
Oversee the strategic design of organization-wide compensation frameworks, total rewards, and succession planning in alignment with long-term fiscal sustainability.

Operations (via Director of Operations and Events)

Set strategic direction for operational infrastructure, systems, and process efficiency.
Oversee facilities and vendor management.
Oversee the execution of internal and external events, demonstrating operational excellence and achieving program goals.

Technology (via Director of Technology)

Set strategic direction for enterprise technology infrastructure and internal digital tools, ensuring investments align with organizational priorities and budget.
Oversee vendor and platform evaluation, selection, and implementation.
Oversee data security and the organization's posture on data governance.
Ensure responsible adoption of emerging technologies that strengthen organizational effectiveness.

Legal, Compliance, and Risk Management (via General Counsel)

Oversee enterprise risk assessment and risk reporting to the Board.
Oversee risk mitigation strategy, crisis response protocols, and business continuity planning.
Oversee regulatory compliance and nonprofit governance obligations.
Oversee insurance, liability, and internal controls.

Division Leadership and Cross-Functional Integration

Mentor department heads and build high-performing, values-aligned teams.
Ensure coordination across Finance, People & Culture, Legal, Technology, and Operations so policy and process don't work at cross-purposes.
Sponsor organization-wide initiatives requiring multi-functional coordination.
Build and maintain dashboards and metrics, with financial performance central, for executive and Board visibility.

QUALIFICATIONS

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Required

10+ years of senior leadership experience, preferably as a COO or equivalent, managing multi-functional teams.
Direct experience overseeing organizational finance at a senior level.
Proven track record designing and executing business modeling, long-term financial forecasting, and cost management.
Strong data analysis and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to identify trends and drive data-based decisions in a fast-paced environment.
Enough fluency in HR, legal, technology, and operations to ask sharp questions, make sound judgment calls, and go deep when a situation demands it, without needing to be the technical expert in every domain.
Systems thinking: sees how decisions in one function ripple into others (for example, how a compensation policy affects budget, or how a vendor contract creates legal or operational risk) and spots cross-purpose friction before it becomes a problem.
Trusted executive presence; able to build credibility with the Executive Director, Board, and functional leaders, and to represent operational and financial health externally (funders, auditors, regulators) and internally with equal clarity and confidence.
A collaborative, not controlling, leadership style that leads through trust, delegation, and thoughtful questioning rather than direct control of functional experts.
Strong judgment under ambiguity, particularly in risk and crisis situations; calm and clear-headed under pressure.
Discretion and integrity, given regular access to sensitive financial, legal, HR, and risk information.
Comfort building and professionalizing infrastructure, not just maintaining what exists.
Ability to translate technical and functional detail (financial, legal, HR, technology) into plain language for the Board, staff, and external stakeholders.
Experience in a nonprofit and/or unionized environment; familiarity with national nonprofits.
Alignment with NDWA's mission, vision, and values, and an understanding of the issues facing low-wage workers, immigrant communities, and women of color.

Preferred

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration or a related field; MBA preferred.
Experience working within a collective bargaining environment and partnering with union leadership.
Experience with multi-entity nonprofit structures (such as a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and PAC).
Demonstrated commitment to racial, economic, and gender justice.

How to Apply: Please apply directly to the job posting and send a resume and cover letter tailored to the job. Your resume and cover letter must clearly describe your senior leadership experience, including your direct oversight of organizational finance and the functions you have led, the organizations, your role, and the years in that role. Applications, reviewed on a rolling basis, will only be accepted electronically, and solicitations to individual staff are unlikely to be responded to.

NDWA provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.