About Alta Futures
Alta Futures invests in bold ideas in unexpected places—overlooked opportunities that equip the next generation to flourish on a healthy planet, within a strong civil society, and as part of thriving communities. The team uses a full philanthropic toolkit that includes grants, c4 giving, and impact investing to accelerate meaningful progress.
Operating within a dynamic family office platform, Alta Futures brings a startup mindset to philanthropy. Unconstrained by traditional models, the team experiments with new ways to drive impact from co-creating with grantees to cross-pollinating expertise across ventures. Past collaborations have included introducing nonprofit leaders to tech veterans for skill-sharing and leveraging their network of gearheads to support STEM education through motorcycles. The approach is nimble, creative, and deeply relational.
Alta Futures is currently leading a national funder collaborative focused on boys and men, an emerging area of national focus. Watch this short video to learn more about the challenges and opportunities shaping this work. We also host events that amplify the efforts of our grantee partners and encourage others to see philanthropy as more expansive and creative than they may have imagined.
With a 20-year spenddown commitment and an ambitious roadmap ahead, Alta Futures is hiring for three roles to round out their core team with plans to onboard a Climate Lead, Democracy Lead, and Chief of Staff in the fall of this year.
For more information about Alta Futures, please visit our website.
The Opportunity
Alta Futures is seeking a sharp, entrepreneurial Chief of Staff to be the operational engine behind our work. As the Founder’s right hand, you’ll lead operations, finance, and execution—translating vision into results and building systems that power our impact. This role plays a critical part in shaping how Alta Futures operates and evolves as a lean, high-impact organization.
This unique opportunity can accelerate a career in the impact sector. It offers a powerful launchpad to future pathways such as founding a philanthropic or impact-driven venture, stepping into a COO or executive leadership position at a foundation or nonprofit, or advising high-net-worth families. The breadth of exposure, responsibility, and learning embedded in this role makes it a unique opportunity within the impact landscape.
The Chief of Staff’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Driving Strategy, Rhythm, and Results
- Provide strategic and operational support to the Founder, acting as a trusted partner across everything they lead.
- Lead quarterly and annual planning processes, establish clear individual and team goals, and triage incoming ideas to support focused execution and accountability across the organization.
- Maintain a cross-initiative scorecard to track progress, identify interdependencies, and ensure alignment across all focus areas.
- Shape improvements in grantmaking, impact evaluation, and communications in collaboration with the team.
- Embed learning into core operations by capturing insights, surfacing patterns, and informing future decisions.
- Supervise the Team Administrator/Grants Administrator to support organizational flow across team logistics, grantmaking, and event delivery.
- Coordinate all aspects of the Investment Committee for impact investing, including meeting prep, documentation, and execution tracking.
Optimizing How We Work
- Optimize internal systems (including Slack, GMS, and G-Suite tools) to enable high performance and team collaboration.
- Train and support the team in using systems effectively, reinforcing habits that drive focus and follow-through.
- Oversee planning and execution of internal gatherings such as the annual Learning Summit and quarterly Founders’ Sync.
- Support the launch and coordination of Alta’s Advisory Group, creating structure and content that enable trusted advisors to contribute meaningfully to our long-term vision.
Resourceful Financial Stewardship
- Lead budget tracking and reconciliation across philanthropic grants, c4 funding, operational spending, and impact investing.
- Develop reporting processes to ensure transparency and alignment
- Collaborate with the team on financial planning by synthesizing key inputs, identifying trade-offs, and helping allocate resources where they’ll have the most impact.
- Identify spending that no longer aligns with strategy or priorities, and make recommendations to streamline or cut costs.
Candidate Profile
While no one candidate will have every experience outlined in the position description, ideal candidates will display the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:
Vision-to-Execution Leadership: Ability to work at the detail level while also planning and thinking strategically, setting and achieving realistic goals and objectives, balancing multiple priorities; demonstrating capacity to both lead and support large-scale strategic initiatives.
Impact Orientation: Deeply motivated by outcomes and purpose, especially within Alta Futures’ three focus areas—climate, democracy, and community—and driven to turn ideas into meaningful change.
Technical Acumen: High-level skills with a range of platforms, from Powerpoint to Excel to organizational systems and databases, and the ability to help others become proficient with them. Comfort using emerging tools, including large language models (e.g., ChatGPT), to accelerate execution.
Financial Literacy: Able to oversee budget management, reconciliation, and financial forecasting across philanthropic and operational portfolios, with a strategic approach to using financial data to guide decisions.
Service-Driven Mindset: Approaches engagement with internal colleagues and grantee partners as an opportunity to provide excellent service and follow through that enables strategic growth and decision-making and advances the overall mission.
Values Aligned: Embodies and fosters Alta Futures’ Core Values:
- Curiosity: We believe there is always something new to learn
- Humility: We’re not the smartest people in the room
- Optimism: Problems intimidate, but possibilities inspire
- Pragmatism: A plan is what turns possibility into reality
- Joy: Work worth doing and doing well makes life better for everyone
Competitive candidates bring at least seven years of experience, including a track record of managing significant projects and initiatives with increasing levels of responsibility. Candidates may have gained these experiences from a variety of fields, including finance or consulting.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this role is $200,000 - $220,000 with a generous benefits package that includes a matching 401k plan, top-tier health coverage, fitness and wellness stipend. Our culture and work environment reflects our values, and includes regular opportunities for in-person team meetings and activities.
The Chief of Staff will be located in Chicago, where Alta Futures is based. This is a hybrid opportunity, with an expectation of working 3 days per week in the Chicago office (West Loop). Occasional travel (~30 percent or less) will also be expected. Strong candidates currently based elsewhere but willing to relocate to Chicago will be considered, and relocation expenses will be covered for the right candidate.
Contact
DSG | Koya has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Molly Brennan, Corina Benitz, and Gina Wrolstad Kueber. To express interest in this role, please fill out our Talent Profile or email the search team directly at [email protected]. Candidates are expected to share a resume and complete a questionnaire in lieu of a statement of interest. The Koya team will follow up with the required questions after an introductory conversation. All inquiries and discussions are strictly confidential.
DSG | Koya is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
Alta Futures is the philanthropic entity of OnDean Management LLC, the family office of Jessica and Andrew Sieja. OnDean is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages expressions of interest from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ applicants.