Sr. Director, Chief of Staff - Card Experience Design

Sr. Director, Chief of Staff - Card Experience Design

The Experience Design team at Capital One is at the forefront of enriching our customers’ digital and physical experiences and we are passionate about creating memorable, meaningful product experiences that build the Capital One brand with humanity and drive business advantage and innovation. We champion a thriving environment of collaboration, authenticity and healthy critique, in which we honor diversity of thought, create a culture of belonging, and elevate one another. If you’re a creative innovator who embraces an environment where you can experiment, learn, and change banking for good, we’d love to hear from you. 

Role Expectations 

The Chief of Staff role is largely about relationships. The Chief of Staff is a connector for everyone else in the organization and operates as a strategic partner for the Managing Vice President of Design and their Senior Leadership team. You’re great at balancing the big picture, strategic thinking with tackling the tactical execution and recognize overlaps in plans, processes, people, and many other facets of a functioning organization. You have access to people and data at all levels and disciplines and keep at least one ear and one eye open to gauge the temper of the organization.

As the Chief of Staff, the primary responsibility will be to enable a high performing Senior Leadership team and wider design team in direct partnership with the Managing Vice President of Design. As part of the Chief of Staff function, you will be accountable for our Strategy & Operations practice that creates the systems and strategies that enable a team of design associates across the entire Card Design portfolio. This role includes oversight of initiatives where central coordination and aligning with partners across the line of business and the enterprise are key for well-managed delivery, including leadership team routines, large-format and executive meetings/events, recognition programs, team communications support, change management and strategy implementation.

What you’ll do:

• Serve as a trusted advisor, confidential thought partner, and act as a sounding board to the Head of Design for Card Experience Design as well as Senior Leadership

• Develop and iterate management practices (Senior Leadership Team and Organization) to enable our transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of our organization

• Facilitate defining business priorities and drive goal setting effort for the organization, inclusive of cascading information through the organization

• Counseling leadership team on organizational design and change management

• Ensure the Managing Vice President of Design and the leadership team’s time is focused on the highest leverage activities related to priorities

• Evangelizing the impact of design with business partners by embracing and advocating for an experience design mindset

• Managing business critical relationships on behalf of senior leadership, and representing senior leadership accordingly in non-executive meetings

• Prepare agendas, coordinate materials, facilitate management practices meetings

• Shepherd Strategic Planning cycle (quarterly/annual)

• Coordinate regular business reviews of key experience investments and initiatives

• Engage in organizational design including headcount justification and planning processes

• Develop and execute the department Communications Strategy activities

• Be eyes and ears for the Senior Leadership team by keeping a finger on the culture pulse and actively participating in shaping it; focusing on morale, attrition, and unspoken feedback

• Manage difficult situations and hard conversations; showing a high level of discretion, professional maturity, resilience, and adaptability

• Serve as “go to” person for information and historical materials

• Lead the Strategy & Operations agenda for the organization and own execution

• Handle oversight of special projects that don’t fit into traditional workstreams

Here are some of the expected competencies for this role:

• Operational Expertise: Leverage established expertise and leadership in operations to elevate the quality and maturity of the design practice at Capital One

• Leadership: Create conditions for a positive and inclusive team environment and set a vision for an inclusiv