CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). HRA is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits such as Food Assistance and Emergency Rental Assistance. DHS is committed to preventing and addressing homelessness in New York City by employing a variety of innovative strategies to help families and individuals successfully exit shelter and return to self-sufficiency as quickly as possible. The NYC Public Engagement Unit (PEU) delivers government services and benefits to New Yorkers through direct outreach strategies like door-knocking, street canvassing, text banking, and phone calling to reach hard-to-find individuals and help them navigate NYC’s bureaucracies.

About the role

The Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) will analyze the results of PEU’s outreach campaigns, assess effectiveness, and set improved goals to help the 100+ outreach team members reach more New Yorkers and connect them more effectively to city services. The CSO will serve as a central contributor to PEU’s Executive Team and a key thought partner to the Executive Director, focusing on continuous learning and improvement.

Day-to-day responsibilities involve collaborating with leaders of PEU’s outreach teams and working with external partners, including City Hall, the Office of Mass Engagement, and other agencies such as DSS, HPD, DOF, NYCPS, and OTI.

Responsibilities

• Help PEU’s outreach teams reach more people, more efficiently, and deliver more city services.
• Collaborate with PEU’s programmatic leaders to set goals, socialize those goals, and motivate teams to achieve them.
• Create and implement continuous improvement loops to enhance outreach effectiveness.
• Capture outcome data to assess what’s working and drive program improvements.
• Manage partnerships with City Hall and other agencies on high-priority initiatives, such as keeping NYC tenants in their homes, connecting families to pre-K seats, and helping New Yorkers afford transit costs.
• Run meetings effectively, synthesize input from staff and data, and build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders.

Requirements

• A baccalaureate degree in business administration, public administration, social science, or a similar field, plus four (4) years of full-time experience in management, methods analysis, operations research, systems analysis, financial administration, cost-effectiveness, or fiscal/economic program or policy research, design, or evaluation. At least one (1) year of this experience must be in a responsible administrative or managerial capacity.
• One (1) year of specialized experience in the fields listed above.
• Deep understanding of person-to-person outreach campaigns, including door-knocking, phone banking, peer-to-peer texting, street canvassing, tabling, events, or similar strategies. Experience may come from political campaigns, government outreach, community engagement, or direct sales.
• Experience with the operations and strategy side of outreach, including how to efficiently reach targets, learn from results, and apply insights to broader program structures.
• Highly flexible, with strong interpersonal and analytical skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in government, community organizing, issue advocacy, or labor.
• Enthusiasm and commitment to addressing homelessness, health outcomes, and other social service challenges in New York City.
• Ability to analyze data, monitor outcomes, and guide program improvements.
• Experience managing complex, fast-moving operations and making decisions under pressure.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Energy, enthusiasm, and a focus on teamwork and relationship-building.
• Experience managing staff with diverse skill sets on both simple and complex projects.
• Experience working in complex environments like city government or large bureaucracies.

Schedule

Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Additional Information

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website.

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County.