Chief of Staff - School of Law

LocationST. LOUIS, MO 63130 Scheduled Hours37.5

Position SummaryThe Chief of Staff serves as the Dean’s principal deputy and strategic advisor, providing executive-level leadership in support of the School of Law’s mission, priorities, and external representation. This position advises the Dean on institutional strategy, sensitive issues, and cross-functional initiatives; serves as a senior liaison to internal and external stakeholders; and ensures alignment and follow-through on Dean-level decisions. The Chief of Staff leads high-level communications and strategically significant initiatives requiring Dean oversight, while day-to-day administrative operations, scheduling logistics, and routine execution are delegated to the Director of Law Operations and administrative support staff.

Job Description

• Strategic Leadership & Executive Advising: Serve as the Dean’s principal deputy and strategic advisor on institutional priorities, emerging issues, and major initiatives. Recommend and help refine Dean-level priorities, goals, and action plans aligned with the School of Law’s mission and strategic direction. Advise the Dean on sensitive matters requiring executive judgment, discretion, and timely escalation.
• Dean representation and stakeholder relations: Represent the Dean in internal and external meetings, committees, and partnerships as delegated. Serve as a senior liaison with University leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and external partners. Support the Dean’s public-facing and relationship-building efforts by preparing briefings, background materials, and talking points.
• Executive Communications: Lead development and review of high-level communications on behalf of the Dean, including sensitive, high-visibility, or institutionally significant messages. Ensure Dean-level communications reflect strategic priorities, institutional messaging, and appropriate tone and content. Coordinate with administrative staff on drafting, routing, and distribution of communications as appropriate.
• Cross-functional alignment and initiative management: Lead or sponsor strategically important cross-functional initiatives and ensure alignment across offices and departments. Remove barriers to implementation by coordinating with the Director of Law Operations and other stakeholders. Monitor progress on Dean-priority initiatives and ensure timely escalation of issues requiring executive attention.
• Executive decision-making and escalation: Serve as the Dean’s delegated authority for matters requiring executive judgment, prioritization, and resolution. Resolve competing demands on the Dean’s time, attention, and office resources. Escalate operational, personnel, financial, or policy matters to the Dean when decisions exceed delegated authority
• Leadership councils, committees, and task forces: Manage the monthly Law School Leadership Council and the Senior Administrative Leadership meetings to advance institutional priorities and strategic plan objectives. Along with the Dean and Dean’s Office staff, support the Law National Council and other leadership groups, task forces, and strategic committees as assigned. Coordinate agendas, follow-up, and action tracking for key leadership groups to ensure accountability and progress.
• Governance and accountability: Establish executive-level expectations for follow-up, documentation, and accountability on Dean priorities. Ensure major decisions, commitments, and action items are tracked through appropriate office systems. Provide oversight of office-level governance structures and ensure alignment with institutional expectations.
• Budget and resource oversight: Review and approve, as delegated, priority use of Dean’s office resources and expenditures. Monitor resource allocation at a high level to ensure alignment with Dean priorities and office needs. Coordinate with the Director of Law Operations on budgetary and operational matters requiring execution or tracking.

Working Conditions:
Job Location/Working Conditions

• Normal office environment.

Physical Effort

• Typically sitting at desk or table.
• Repetitive wrist, hand or finger movement.
• Ability to move to on and off-campus locations.

Equipment

• Office equipment.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by the personnel so classified. Management reserves the right to revise or amend duties at any time.

Required Qualifications

Education:

Bachelor's degree

Certifications/Professional Licenses:

No specific certification/professional license is required for this position.

Work Experience:

Progressively Responsible Leadership (5 Years)

Skills:

Supervision

Driver's License:

A driver's license is not required for this position.

More About This JobRequired Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in higher education, business, public administration, law, or related field.
• Five years of directly related experience in progressively responsible senior-level administrative or executive leadership roles.
• Previous supervisory experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a complex higher education or similarly structured organization preferred
• Seven years of directly related experience is preferred. MSW, MPH, MBA, MPP, J.D. or other appropriate graduate professional degree.
• Five years’ experience in a university, public service, and/or policy environment with responsibilities for academic administration, board support, faculty management, operations management, external relations, and/or communications.
• Direct experience with academic programs, faculty, university administration, development, and external relations.
• Experience supporting a senior dean, vice president, president, or other executive leader in a complex academic or nonprofit environment.

Preferred Qualifications

Education:

J.D. - Juris Doctor, M.B.A. - Master of Business Administration, M.P.H. - Master of Public Health, M.P.P. - Master of Public Policy, M.S.W. - Master of Social Work, Master's degree

Certifications/Professional Licenses:

No additional certification/professional licenses unless stated elsewhere in the job posting.

Work Experience:

Relevant Experience (7 Years), University, Public Service, And/Or Policy Environment (5 Years)

Skills:

Academic Administration, Accounting, Business Education, Communication, Confidentiality, Data Tools, External Relations, Faculty Management, Fast-Paced Environments, Office Administration, Operations Management, Presentation Development, Prioritization, Problem Solving, Professional Judgement, Project Implementations, Public Health, Public Policies, Social Work, University Administration

GradeG15

Salary Range$84,200.00 - $148,500.00 / Annually

The salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Questions

For frequently asked questions about the application process, please refer to our External Applicant FAQ.

Accommodation

If you are unable to use our online application system and would like an accommodation, please email [email protected] or call the dedicated accommodation inquiry number at 314-935-1149 and leave a voicemail with the nature of your request.

All qualified individuals must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily and, if requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job, absent undue hardship.

Pre-Employment ScreeningAll external candidates receiving an offer for employment will be required to submit to pre-employment screening for this position. The screenings will include criminal background check and, as applicable for the position, other background checks, drug screen, an employment and education or licensure/certification verification, physical examination, certain vaccinations and/or governmental registry checks. All offers are contingent upon successful completion of required screening.

Benefits Statement

Personal

• Up to 22 days of vacation, 10 recognized holidays, and sick time.

• Competitive health insurance packages with priority appointments and lower copays/coinsurance.

• Take advantage of our free Metro transit U-Pass for eligible employees.

• WashU provides eligible employees with a defined contribution (403(b)) Retirement Savings Plan, which combines employee contributions and university contributions starting at 7%.

Wellness

• Wellness challenges, annual health screenings, mental health resources, mindfulness programs and courses, employee assistance program (EAP), financial resources, access to dietitians, and more!

Family

• We offer 4 weeks of caregiver leave to bond with your new child. Family care resources are also available for your continued childcare needs. Need adult care? We’ve got you covered.

• WashU covers the cost of tuition for you and your family, including dependent undergraduate-level college tuition up to 100% at WashU and 40% elsewhere after seven years with us.

For policies, detailed benefits, and eligibility, please visit: https://hr.wustl.edu/benefits/

EEO StatementWashington University in St. Louis is committed to the principles and practices of equal employment opportunity. It is the University’s policy to provide equal opportunity and access to persons in all job titles without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, citizenship (where prohibited by federal law), age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, protected veteran status, or genetic information.