Interim Chief of Staff / Operating Partner

Taking Root; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A reforestation organization in Vancouver seeks an experienced Interim Chief of Staff / Operating Partner to maintain internal execution and support the CEO during a critical growth period. This hands-on role requires strong leadership and communication skills, facilitating decision-making across teams. Ideal candidates have experience in similar positions and a background in finance or strategy. Join a mission-driven team committed to sustainable practices in a hybrid work environment that values equity and inclusion.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to provide leverage to CEOs.
• Worked in founder-led organizations.
• Experience with strategy or people management.

Responsibilities

• Run day-to-day operations and decision-making.
• Facilitate cross-team coordination and communication.
• Manage Directors to ensure clarity on priorities and timelines.
• Support CEO in maintaining focus on external relationships.

Skills

Strong communication

Facilitation skills

People management

Financial analysis

Decision-making under ambiguity

Education

Experience as Chief of Staff, COO, Managing Director or similar

Experience in climate or nature-based solutions

Job description

Why This Role Exists

Taking Root is looking for an experienced operator to step in as an Interim Chief of Staff / Operating Partner during our COO’s parental leave.

This role exists to keep internal execution, coordination, and decision prep from flowing to the CEO so he can stay focused on investment, offtake, and senior external relationships during a critical growth period.

It is not a traditional “Chief of Staff” role – it is a hands‑on operating role for someone who has been close to the center of a growing organization.

What You’ll Actually Do

You will run the day‑to‑day operating cadence of the company and act as the connective tissue across teams.

In Practice, This Includes

• Providing execution, process, and people‑management to Directors (while the CEO provides strategic management)
• Join bi‑monthly CEO meetings 1:1 with Directors focused on strategic decisions and major projects for the CEO to give direction and guidance
• Hold all other regular 1:1s (weekly) to unblock issues, manage capacity/priorities, discuss management and people‑related decisions, and prep decisions/updates for the CEO to provide input/management
• Ensure issues get resolved without escalating everything upward
• Run the weekly leadership meeting, including surfacing progress, dependencies, and risks; clarifying what needs a decision versus what just needs doing; capturing owners and deadlines and following up during the week
• Being the “glue” across functions
• Coordinate work that cuts across Ops, Tech, Commercial, Finance, and People, keeping all informed of objectives, priorities, risks, and workplans across the teams, particularly issues that are impactful cross‑team
• Facilitate decisions across the leadership team, especially in areas of ambiguity and uncertainty, supporting the team in getting unstuck on decisions
• Turn leadership direction into clear plans and next steps
• Plan leadership offsites, key meetings, and trips
• Supporting team health and organizational clarity
• Surface capacity or people risks early
• Support workload balancing and role clarity
• Coordinate people‑related processes (with support from the CEO)
• Acting as the CEO’s internal manager
• Weekly synthesis: what’s on track, what’s not, what decisions are coming
• Helping the CEO stay out of follow‑ups and internal coordination by ensuring that internal decision‑making happens across the leadership team that doesn’t need the CEO
• Align the leadership team with the CEO and vice‑versa
• Providing strategic finance and investment support (as have bandwidth + skills)
• Scenario analysis and investment modelling (high‑level, decision‑focused)
• Helping frame trade‑offs for the CEO to make decisions

What This Role Is Not

• Not an executive assistant
• Not a project manager
• Not an extra layer between the CEO and decisions – this role exists to reduce complexity, not add it.

What Success Looks Like

• The CEO has stayed focused on investors, offtake, and senior relationships
• Directors are clear on priorities, owners, and timelines
• Fewer issues are “stuck” due to coordination gaps
• Decisions are made with the right inputs, at the right level
• The organization stays stable and focused during a period of stretch

Who This Is For

This role is a good fit for someone who has:

Experience

• Experience as a Chief of Staff, COO, Managing Director or similar
• Proven ability to provide leverage to a CEO and comfort doing so
• Worked in a small or mid‑stage, founder‑led organization
• Experience with finance, strategy, or people management is important
• Experience in climate, nature‑based solutions, or multi‑country operations is a plus, not a requirement

Strong Communication And Facilitation Skills

• Strong facilitation skills – especially in driving clarity with the team
• The ability to turn direction into execution quickly with team buy‑in
• A great coach, communicator and people‑leader for Directors
• Strong operating and management judgment and comfort with ambiguity and ability to translate that to the team

Hands‑on, Low Ego, And Execution Bias

• Enjoys and able to work in fast‑paced and very hands‑on environments. We all do work – from details to the execution
• Low ego, high trust, and a bias for getting things done
• Excellent organization skills that can be shared with the team

About Taking Root

Taking Root is a Canada‑based, Latin America‑focused reforestation organization. Our purpose is to accelerate the restoration of the world’s forests. We enable smallholder farmers to grow trees and earn money from the carbon they remove from the atmosphere, by selling carbon credits to major companies, such as Microsoft. Our technology and support make it simple for our reforestation partners to create transparent and robust forest carbon removals. We bring environmental and social benefits while having a strong business model, backed by a product and technology approach.

We are a mission‑driven organization deeply committed to nature and the farmers we serve. Our work sits at the intersection of environmental science, international development, and human‑centered operations. We collaborate closely across Latin America and maintain a hybrid, remote‑first culture that values trust, curiosity, and growth. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are cornerstones of our culture, and we hire and promote based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs.

We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. We comply with all federal and provincial laws regarding employment, privacy, and marketing. All hiring decisions are made by people, and we use automated or AI‑assisted tools only at limited stages of the recruitment process. We are committed to using technology responsibly and in line with applicable laws.