Senior Director Chief of Staff

The Role

The Sr Director, Chief of Staff role serves as a strategic thought partner and trusted advisor to executive leadership. The Chief of Staff brings the operational leadership and strategic discipline required to strengthen executive impact across a broad, cross-functional portfolio. The role brings structure, clarity, and next-level strategic foresight to how work gets done across the portfolio, establishes a mature orchestration process, effective planning, and operating rhythm that keep the HR and AI leadership teams aligned, forward-looking, and prepared.  

In a high velocity transformation environment, the Chief of Staff continuously scans across priorities and initiatives to anticipate what is ahead, and to identify risks, dependencies, and decision points early, ensuring that leaders have clear visibility into timelines, key decisions, upcoming deliverables, and potential trade-offs. This enables the team to remain aware, proactively connected, and on track against commitments while navigating shifting priorities before they disrupt execution or dilute focus.

A passion for innovation is essential, along with a commitment to excellence grounded in Lumen’s 8 cultural behaviors: Teamwork, Trust, Transparency, Clarity, Courage, Customer Obsession, Growth Mindset, and Respect.

Work Location

This is a remote position open to candidates based anywhere in the U.S., with a preference for those located in or near Seattle, WA.

Travel will be expected based on business needs.

The Main Responsibilities

• Act as a strategic proxy, delegate, and trusted advisor in leadership and decision‑making forums, advancing work on behalf of the C-suite leader while aligning priorities across teams.
• Own and manage the rhythm of the business across the HR and AI portfolio, including recurring leadership meetings, governance cadences, and decision forums, enabling agility, accountability, and cross‑functional execution.
• Collaborate with Corporate Communications and other key stakeholders for internal and external executive communications, speaking engagements, leadership forums, etc. to shape messaging and storytelling reflecting leadership priorities and reinforcing Lumen’s North Star.
• Prepare all materials for all internal and external events for the C-suite leader, including leadership forums, board meetings and presentations, customer meetings, and other key stakeholder interactions, in collaboration with HR and AI leaders and other Chiefs of Staff, including the Chief of Staff to the CEO.
• Establish and maintain a mature operating rhythm that ensures leaders have clear visibility into priorities, timelines, decisions, risks, and upcoming deliverables.
• Lead the team’s planning processes and reinforce people programs within the HR and AI teams including goal setting, events and comms calendars, budget, etc.  
• Manage executive budget processes, HC, and financials across the executive remit, in close partnership with the leadership and finance teams.
• Act as a change agent for the HR organization, and as needed, serve as the change sponsor to build/activate change champions to drive adoption and impact.
• Plan and execute high‑impact meetings and events, including HR Leadership Team strategy sessions, quarterly town halls, weekly staff meetings, and critical process reviews.  
• Provide oversight, structure, and guidance to initiatives and programs of high strategic importance, ensuring momentum, quality, and alignment with leadership intent.  
• Identify operational bottlenecks and champion process improvements that strengthen execution across the HR organization.  
• Leverage data and analytics to inform decisions, monitor progress, ensure accuracy, and drive continuous improvement.
• Lead Lumen’s HR talent early career programs.=

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Bachelor's degree in HR or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 12-15+ years of progressive experience with 5+ years of HR experience and a minimum of 3 years of experience supporting senior executives.
• Agile and flexible, with extraordinary collaboration skills and ability to influence business-unit or functional leaders.
• Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to lead multiple high-priority, time-sensitive projects simultaneously.
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders, and manage complex projects.
• Deep business acumen and strategic thinking with a high level of AI proficiency.
• High emotional intelligence, exceptional communication skills, and executive presence.
• Proficiency with data-driven storytelling, dashboarding, and strategic planning tools.
• Experience leading enterprise transformation, change management, or capability-building initiatives related to AI, digital innovation, or new ways of working.
• Strong judgment and ability to balance innovation with responsible governance, risk management, and adoption discipline.Preferred:
• Prior experience in a Chief of Staff role or at a Fortune 500 or high-growth tech company. 

Compensation