Special Assistant to the CEO

Blue Star Families; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Star Families in Washington, DC is seeking a Special Assistant to the CEO. The role involves managing the CEO’s calendar, supporting strategic engagements, and facilitating key partnerships to enhance the organization’s influence.

Ideal candidates will have relevant experience in high-level environments and strong organizational skills. This in-office position promotes a mission-driven culture focused on improving military family life.

Qualifications

• Relevant experience in executive office or high-level external affairs environments.
• Proven experience in roles such as Chief of Staff or senior scheduler.
• High level of discretion and confidentiality in handling sensitive relationships.

Responsibilities

• Manage the CEO’s calendar as a strategic asset.
• Design and manage intentional travel and engagement strategies.
• Draft and refine executive-level communications.

Skills

Strategic judgment

Exceptional writing ability

Organizational skills

Strong EQ

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

CRM systems (Salesforce preferred)

Job description

Blue Star Families is the largest nonprofit dedicated to making military life better for families. Each year, we support over 1.5 million military- and veteran-connected family members through a national network of 300,000+ members and local chapters in communities across the country.

Our mission is simple and bold: We make military life awesome for families. We listen, share, partner, and act to deliver evidence-based, data-driven solutions that work for real people. We’re a lifestyle organization, a friend and neighbor, and a trusted partner. Our approach is collaborative, human-centered, and designed with the whole family in mind.

A Blue Star Family is one with an immediate family member — a spouse, parent, or child — actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the Guard and Reserves. These families face unique challenges, including frequent relocations, deployments, career disruptions, and isolation. We respond with research-informed programs that create connection, build resilience, and foster a true sense of belonging.

We serve with urgency but build trust over time — because change happens at the speed of trust. Whether we’re driving spouse employment, supporting caregivers, or helping communities welcome military families, we strive for upstream solutions.

Who We’re Looking For:

• Bold thinkers. Fast movers. Smart collaborators. People who want to build, lead, and drive measurable change — and who care deeply about making an impact that matters.

What You’ll Do Here:

• Solve complex challenges with data, heart, and humility
• Build cross-sector partnerships that get things done
• Help military families feel at home wherever they live

If you're ready to work in a high-performance, mission-driven environment — and to make life better for those who serve — Blue Star Families is where you belong.

General Description

This is a unique opportunity to work closely with a visionary founder in growing what has already become the largest nonprofit in America supporting military families at both the national and local level. Under the CEO’s leadership BSF has grown consistently 20 percent year over year for 16 years. The Special Assistant to the CEO is a demanding position that will allow an individual to have a large effect on a critical mission, engage with senior leaders in Government, military, corporate and nonprofit sectors, and learn how to lead a complex and fast growing organization.

The Special Assistant to the CEO serves as the primary point of contact enabling the CEO’s success in the complex role of representing Blue Star Families and growing its influences and resources to meet its expanding mission. This is a complex and exciting position for a high energy, strategically creative individual. The position involves all aspects of preparation and cross-organization integration regarding the CEO’s demanding schedule and extensive communications.

This is a high-trust, high-impact role that integrates elements of logistics, strategy, and communications into a single function. The individual will operate at the center of the CEO’s work—ensuring her time is strategically allocated, and she is well prepared and resourced to create meaningful outcomes.

This is an in-office role requiring on-site presence in our office in Washington DC up to five days per week, given the real-time coordination, executive proximity, and rapid decision-making required to support the CEO effectively. In addition the special assistant will accompany and support the CEO at meetings, engagements and events in DC and occasionally beyond the local area.

In addition, this role requires the ability to travel overnight several times per year to attend team offsites, leadership sessions, and company-wide events. These engagements are mandatory to this position. Frequent local and occasional overnight travel are essential functions of this position.

Desired traits include having strong EQ and the ability to think, respond and produce quickly in a fast moving environment.

Key Job Functions

• Serve as the primary owner of the CEO’s time architecture, managing the calendar as a strategic asset rather than an administrative function
• Evaluate, triage, and prioritize inbound requests for CEO engagement, exercising strong strategic judgment on relevance and impact
• Design and manage intentional travel and engagement strategies aligned with organizational priorities and growth objectives
• Identify, map, and maintain awareness of key external stakeholders and influence networks across policy, corporate, philanthropic, and media sectors
• Proactively secure high-value opportunities for CEO participation in convenings, forums, partnerships, and strategic meetings
• Drive introductions and cultivate access to decision-makers and networks that advance organizational visibility and influence
• Lead preparation of executive briefing materials for all external engagements, ensuring clarity of objectives, messaging, and stakeholder context
• Ensure the CEO is fully prepared for every engagement with concise, high-quality briefing documents and talking points
• Partner with internal teams to align briefing materials with organizational strategy, programmatic priorities, and current initiatives
• Support consistency of CEO narrative and voice in coordination with Communications and external public relations partners
• Draft and refine select CEO communications, including social media content tied to engagements, travel, and key moments, as well as priority correspondence
• Serve as the CEO’s primary in-room coordinator at high-profile events and convenings, managing flow, timing, and stakeholder engagement
• Ensure optimal use of CEO time during events by actively managing access, priorities, and real-time engagement decisions
• Capture insights, commitments, and outcomes from meetings and external engagements
• Own and maintain a structured follow-up system to ensure timely execution of commitments and relationship continuity
• Track opportunities, relationships, and strategic engagements tied to CEO external activity
• Coordinate across internal teams—including Communications, Development, Programs, and Government Relations—to ensure alignment and readiness for CEO engagements
• Serve as a central coordination point for CEO-related initiatives, ensuring seamless integration between external engagements and internal execution
• Perform other duties as assigned

Required Experience, Skills & Background

• Relevant experience in executive office, political, policy, nonprofit, or high-level external affairs environments.
• Bachelor’s degree required, or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience
• Proven experience in roles such as Chief of Staff, senior scheduler, executive office lead, campaign senior staff, or equivalent high-trust operator roles
• Exceptional judgment in prioritization, with the ability to distinguish high-impact opportunities from low-value demands
• Strong executive presence with demonstrated ability to operate confidently with senior leaders, including CEOs, governors, military leaders, and other high-profile stakeholders
• Exceptional writing ability, with demonstrated experience drafting executive-level communications, speeches, or public-facing materials in a senior voice
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex logistics, competing priorities, and fast-moving environments with precision and calm
• High level of discretion and confidentiality in handling sensitive relationships and information
• Strong organizational and systems-thinking skills, with experience managing structured follow-up and accountability systems
• Ability to operate independently while maintaining alignment with executive intent and organizational priorities
• Ability to work on-site in a full-time, five-days-per-week in-office capacity
• Ability to travel locally on a regular basis to support meetings, convenings, and external engagements in the surrounding region
• Ability to assist with event logistics, including the physical setup or transport of materials and supplies (up to approximately 30 lbs), as part of supporting on-site engagements and convenings
• May be required to work nights, weekends, and holidays as necessary to carry out key job functions
• Limited out-of-town/overnight travel may be required to attend meetings, trainings, events, etc.

Desired Experience, Skills & Background

• Masters degree in public policy, political science, public administration, communications, or related field preferred
• Background in congressional (Hill), White House, campaign, gubernatorial/state political, policy, or equivalent high-level government or political environments strongly preferred
• Familiarity with military, veteran, or national security ecosystems and stakeholder networks
• Experience supporting or managing high-profile external engagement strategies for senior leaders
• Background in external affairs, government relations, philanthropy, or partnership development
• Experience working with communications teams or public relations partners on executive messaging
• Familiarity with CRM systems (Salesforce preferred) and relationship tracking tools
• Experience managing or coordinating high-level convenings, conferences, or stakeholder events
• Strong understanding of cross-sector influence networks (policy, corporate, philanthropic, media)
• Comfort operating in mission-driven, fast-evolving organizational environments undergoing growth and transformation

More About Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families empowers military and Veteran families to thrive by connecting them with their civilian neighbors — both people and organizations — to create strong communities of mutual support. We believe we’re all stronger when we take care of one another.

Our groundbreaking research is raising the nation's awareness of the unique challenges of military family life. With the help of neighbors across the country, Blue Star Families is overcoming the isolation and alienation of frequent moves, deployments, and reduced support from the government. Our innovative programs are solving specific challenges for military families, including fighting economic insecurity with resources that foster spouse career development, creating family strength with rich family programming, and providing critical peer support for caregivers, whose numbers are only increasing.

Blue Star Families is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

EEO Policy

Blue Star Families is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.