Chief of Staff, Data

Job Overview:

We are looking for a Chief of Staff to join our team and serve as a strategic integrator for the Chief Data Officer, operating across a major function or business domain to connect strategy and execution. This role ensures that the Data organization scales effectively, translating company strategy into a cohesive operating system that drives alignment, accountability, and results across multiple teams.

At Coursera, we’re evolving how we operate to enable sustained growth and agility. The Chief of Staff plays a central role in that evolution, designing and improving the frameworks that underpin performance, including planning, governance, decision-making, and resource allocation. Operating at the intersection of strategy and operations, this role enables the executive and leadership team to deliver Coursera’s goals with greater clarity, speed, and discipline.

Objectives of this role: 

• Translate company strategy into functional operating systems that connect priorities, plans, and execution across teams
• Drive cross-functional alignment within and adjacent to the Data organization, ensuring shared accountability for results
• Design and evolve frameworks that bring structure, discipline, and visibility to planning, goal-setting, and performance tracking
• Enable high-quality decision-making through data, narratives, and governance models that clarify tradeoffs and resource allocation
• Ensure organizational readiness and adaptability, balancing scale with speed as Coursera continues to evolve
• Strengthen the leadership system within the Data org, increasing focus, follow-through, and clarity across teams

Responsibilities:

• Manage and continuously improve the CDO Org operating rhythm, including timely review and action of key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Partner with executive-enabling function - People, Finance, Administration - to drive CDO’s strategic change and improvement initiatives org-wide
• Drive the strategic and operational planning system for the CDO organization, defining and continuously improving processes that enable the CDO to effectively and efficiently manage their large team with ongoing visibility into results and impact
• Oversee a portfolio of strategic projects, structuring and driving to completion complex, ambiguous initiatives, steering large, cross-functional projects, and building consensus with senior leadership across the organization
• Lead employee engagement strategy, in collaboration with People Business Partner, crafting initiatives that foster a positive, inclusive, and dynamic work environment. Plan and execute internal communications within the team, ensuring that all team members are informed, aligned, and motivated
• Create cross-functional connections between the principal’s org and adjacent functions to accelerate decision-making and remove friction
• Facilitate strategic meetings, ensuring alignment and clarity on objectives, and drive follow-through on action items. Represent the CDO in certain cross-functional meetings and projects, advocating for their priorities and ensuring alignment with overall company strategy
• Build and develop relationships with the CDO’s direct reports and other individuals in critical roles - providing an unbiased ear - to understand the need and opportunities in existing ways of working and helping define new strategies to address

Required Qualifications:

• 12-15 years in a business or executive management role
• In-depth experience driving results in a Data organization
• Extremely versatile, dedicated to efficient productivity
• Experience defining, planning, and driving top-level strategic initiatives
• Excellent communicator in written and verbal form
• Demonstrated experience organizing and directing multiple teams and departments
• Proven track record of data-driven approach to complex decision-making

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration or similar field
• Experience with data analysis
• Experience with budget management
• Consulting experience with a focus on operations management
• Proven success in a project management role
• Nimble business mind with a focus on developing creative solutions
• Strong project reporting skills, with a focus on interdepartmental communication