Job Description

Posting number: 11068-HR

Department: 0102 - Mayor

Division: 010201 - Office Of The Mayor

Job classification: Special Asst To The Mayor

Posting type: Open

Categories: Administration, Executive Management

Summary

Senior Advisor to the Mayor

The Senior Advisor to the Mayor supports the Mayor and executive leadership in advancing strategic priorities and strengthening the effectiveness of City government. Reporting directly to the Chief of Staff, the Senior Advisor works alongside the Mayor, Chiefs, and Directors to lead high-priority initiatives that require coordination across departments and with external stakeholders, translating executive priorities into action and measurable results.

This position requires an experienced leader with the judgment, credibility, and ability to work effectively at the executive level. This is a role for a strategic operator, innovative thinker, and change leader who can navigate complex challenges, bring the right people together, create clarity, build alignment, and maintain momentum. The Senior Advisor does not need to be the subject-matter expert in every room. Rather, the role requires someone who can work effectively with experts, ask the right questions, identify opportunities, improve how work gets done, and drive initiatives from idea to implementation.

The ideal candidate is an accomplished, collaborative leader with strong strategic instincts, sound judgment, and a track record of managing multiple complex initiatives, building strong partnerships, and delivering meaningful results. The City welcomes candidates with varied professional backgrounds who have demonstrated the ability to lead people, organizations, and significant initiatives.

Examples of duties

Essential Responsibilities

• Lead high-priority, citywide initiatives on behalf of the Mayor and executive leadership. Bringing structure, strategy, and momentum to complex challenges that span departments and organizations.
• Turn priorities into action. Work with Chiefs, Directors, and teams to define goals, clarify roles, establish accountability, and develop practical strategies that move initiatives from concept to implementation.
• Solve complex organizational challenges. Identify opportunities to improve how the City works, explore innovative approaches and technology solutions, and help departments remove barriers to effective service delivery.
• Bring people together around shared outcomes. Facilitate executive working groups and cross-functional teams, build trust across organizational boundaries, and create the alignment necessary to make progress.
• Contribute to a culture of innovation and continuous improvement by identifying and advancing practices, tools, and technologies that make government more effective, responsive, and results-oriented.
• Build and leverage relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, representing the Mayor and City as appropriate to advance strategic priorities and achieve shared goals.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading complex initiatives, solving organizational challenges, and turning strategic priorities into results in government, business, nonprofit, consulting, philanthropy, or a related environment.
• Proven ability to lead across organizational boundaries, bringing together diverse stakeholders, building alignment, and maintaining momentum toward shared outcomes.
• Experience working with principals or executive leadership on high-priority initiatives, organizational change, or strategic decision-making.
• Strong strategic, project management, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity, create structure, and move work forward with sustained momentum.
• Comfort operating in a transparent, direct, and action-oriented environment, with the judgment and communication skills to engage candidly and constructively and adapt to evolving priorities and expectations.
• Experience working in large, complex, and highly collaborative organizations is preferred; local government experience is valuable but not required.

Supplemental information

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

Successful candidates will demonstrate:

• Exceptional strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Experience leading complex organizational change initiatives.
• Strong project and program management capabilities.
• Ability to identify inefficient processes and develop practical and scalable improvements
• Excellent facilitation and stakeholder management skills.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to translate executive priorities into actionable implementation plans.
• Sound judgment, diplomacy, and the ability to navigate competing priorities and sensitive issues with intention and discretion.

https://www.clevelandohio.gov/city-hall/departments/human-resources/total-rewards

The City's guiding principles are as follows: Placing Clevelanders at the Center, Empowering Employees to Do Purposeful Work, Defining Clear and Pragmatic Objectives, Leading with Trust and Transparency, Striving for Equity in All We Do, and Embracing Change. All City employees are responsible for embracing and carrying out these principles in all that they do.