CIC’s CEO Tim Rowe is seeking a driven, organized, and dedicated individual to be his next Executive Aide (EA).
The EA to the CEO works collaboratively to support the CEO, coordinating closely on his behalf with dozens of individuals throughout the company. This is a unique opportunity for a quick-witted, exceptionally detail-oriented person who thrives in a fast-paced work environment and is looking for boots-on-the-ground exposure to a dynamic, growing global business.
EAs are expected to remain in this role for at least two years, beyond which they would be able to raise their hand for further opportunities within the company. We believe that the skills that are cultivated in this role could allow an individual to be competitive applicants for roles in other parts of the organization, such as in our expansion efforts, working as a project manager, or participating in our consulting arm.
ABOUT TIM
As Founder and CEO of CIC, Tim Rowe’s main focus is establishing CIC in other cities and countries. In addition, Tim plays several roles in the local Cambridge and Boston communities and in the larger innovation community globally. He is a Chairman of the Venture Cafe Global Institute (CIC’s non-profit arm), MassRobotics (CIC’s sister shared robotics labs) and Roomzilla room reservation system; additionally, Tim co-founded and served as the inaugural Chair of LabCentral, the world’s leading shared laboratory for life sciences. He is a recipient of BostInno’s “50 on Fire” award, recognizing his contributions. Tim has long been interested in how communities can come together to foster innovation. In 2008, Tim founded the Kendall Square Association, together with MIT and other partners, beginning a journey of understanding about how to foster innovation districts in cities. Earlier in his career, Tim co-founded a venture capital fund in Cambridge, New Atlantic Ventures. Tim is an empty nester (3 kids!) who lives with his wife and 2 cats in Somerville, MA.
Tim has a driven work style and engages in a wide variety of activities. A key function of the role is to amplify his ability to accomplish his day-to-day work, both at CIC and in his external roles.
ABOUT YOU
You are a self-motivated and confident individual who can act as an operational and intellectual support to Tim, with diplomatic grace. The role requires an excellent planner who possesses the ability to think ahead and who can identify snafus before they occur. This is not a 9-5 job. While you will be primarily working during regular business hours, this role regularly requires project management skills and handling multiple issues as they surface in real time. Tim travels frequently (especially internationally), which means that you occasionally need to work in alignment with a different time zone. While CIC’s HQ is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Tim’s EAs have occasionally worked from other CIC offices around the world (temporarily) as a way to stay closely in touch with those teams and to bolster Tim’s work there.
Some qualities we look for in a candidate:
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• The ability to “see around corners,” anticipating Tim and the team’s needs and heading off potential problems.
• A careful listener and reader, with strong professional communication skills such as excellent grammar and a gracious phone manner.
• Ability to absorb a high volume of information in a short amount of time, complete requests with limited information, and learn and adapt to Tim’s preferences.
• Curious, eager to learn, self-starter: this position carries a significant level of independent responsibility and will have the support of mentorship from the EA Team.
• The capacity to build positive relationships with your team, clients, colleagues, and vendors, as Tim’s representative, and be comfortable treating everyone in these groups as your equal.
• Eager and able to dive into projects with minimal oversight or direction while also balancing day-to-day administrative needs.
• Both a “doer” and a “thinker”; someone who rolls up their sleeves and jumps right in no matter what, but always in a thoughtful manner.
• A background or interest in international business environments.
YOUR DAY-TO-DAY WORK
1. Scheduling and administrative support:
• Master of calendar Tetris: heavy calendar management involving scheduling all of Tim’s appointments and travel (domestic and international), maintaining an organized calendar while determining priorities, working with the schedules of other team members, juggling Tim’s professional commitments, and adapting to last-minute changes. Demonstrates a sense of ownership for ensuring not just that everything is scheduled accurately, but achieving an optimal workflow experience (not only asking “can everyone attend the meeting,” but going beyond and ensuring a positive experience for all involved).
• Manage significant travel for Tim and trips occasionally involving multiple members of the Expansion Team: booking hotels, flights, and meetings in foreign countries as well as being on call during travel situations. Respond to travel and schedule changes, monitor email, and deal with any issues that arise, inside or outside of normal business hours.
• Reconcile Tim’s expenses and create expense reports (both monthly expenses and travel expense reports) through Tallie Expense software (training on this software will be provided).
• Internal “courier”: retrieving and delivering materials, as well as handling the ordering and distributing of food, office supplies, mail, and personal items.
• Receive, greet, and orient Tim’s domestic and international visitors. This includes international delegations, CEOs of well-known start-ups, ambassadors, etc.
• Light personal assistance is also required, which includes coordinating Tim’s work schedule with his personal commitments or booking members of Tim’s family to tag along on his work trips.
2. Prioritize and strategize with Tim to achieve his leadership and business expansion goals:
• Heavy email management: directly handle or delegate as much of Tim’s Google inbox as possible. Read, prioritize, and organize emails, respond on Tim’s behalf whenever possible, minimize the emails that Tim needs to respond to directly, and track his follow-up.
• Act as an internal and external gatekeeper, deciding the best use of Tim’s time, both in terms of meetings and in his project work. Feel empowered to make decisions on behalf of Tim while understanding which decisions Tim needs to be a part of.
• Work with Tim to prioritize requests for his time.
3. Project work:
• Work in collaboration with Tim to research and create presentation materials (PowerPoint decks, blog entries, thought pieces) for Tim’s speaking engagements and expansion pitches.
• Maintain business and admin accounts, bibliographic information and professional contacts in a clear, organized system (including biography, LinkedIn accounts, all business cards).
• Building and maintaining complex travel itineraries for Tim abroad and for Tim’s visiting delegations. For Tim’s VIP guests, coordinating logistics of visiting delegations and corporate visitors to CIC and our sister sites.
YOU HAVE
• A Bachelor’s degree or related experience.
• Past experience in professional and/or organizational roles. Robust non-traditional work experience, such as volunteering, community involvement and activism, college or university clubs, internships, work study, and hobby-led activities, is welcomed. Exceptional recent college graduates with relevant skills and interests have been successful in this role in the past.
• Having worked in foreign languages in general is a plus, but we have a special interest in someone who speaks Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, and/or Spanish at professional working proficiency or above. English fluency is required for this role.
• The unruffled temperament and dedication of Ms. (Barbara) Howard, the cleverness and creativity of Phineas and Ferb, the problem solving abilities of Shuri, the insight and seeming omniscience of Hermione Granger, an accuracy on par with Katniss Everdeen’s archery skills, and Spongebob’s desire to go the extra mile, all combined with the passion and ambition of Leslie Knope.
• Unrelenting calm during chaos.
• Demonstrated success leveraging and supporting others in the achievement of their goals.
• Willingness to help and support others, an ability to think creatively about how to maximize time, and the capacity to juggle many details and activities.
• Master of Google Apps for Business (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) and proficient in Microsoft office (Powerpoint, Excel, etc).
• Detail-oriented, capable of being the first point of contact for multiple conversations, skilled at prioritizing a wide range of tasks.
• An interest in a long-term role. We are a growing company, and we like to hire people who will stay with us for the long term.
OUR OFFER
• Starting compensation is $78,021 per year.
• 100% company-paid premium healthcare and dental benefits.
• 100% company-paid long- and short-term disability, and life insurance.
• 401k (must be 21+).
• Three weeks paid vacation accrued annually (more with seniority), plus thirteen holidays from the start.
• Annual reviews with raises every year for those on track with strong performance.
$78,021 – $78,021 a year
ATTRACTIONS OF THE JOB
In addition to helping our clients achieve great things, we work to ensure that our employees are healthy and supported. Some of the benefits of being here include:
• Fun people in a dynamic space. We pride ourselves on finding driven and bright collaborators who are eager to lend their own unique skills to the team, as well as to our inspiring clientele. The number one reason CICers say they like working here is because of their colleagues!
• Personal growth. This is a great opportunity to learn and develop skills within the epicenter of the innovation community at a growing company.
• Regular massages, access to a nursing room, secure bicycle parking, a maker space, a gym, shower rooms with towels, and discounted services and memberships on resources to make your life happier/healthier such as gym memberships, tech and design support, hotel stays, and other fantastic options.
• Central location. CIC Cambridge is a stone’s throw from the Kendall Square MBTA Red Line stop. CIC Boston is centrally located in downtown Boston and is within walking distance to the Blue, Green, Orange, and Red line.
ABOUT CIC
CIC is a global leader in building and operating innovation communities. Founded in 1999 in Cambridge, MA, CIC is one of the first companies to offer flexible office space and coworking options, providing a platform for the world’s most impactful entrepreneurs to innovate better and faster.
We have locations in Boston, Cambridge, Philadelphia, Providence, Rotterdam, St. Louis, Warsaw, and Tokyo and are growing into other cities within the US and abroad. CIC has supported over 6,000 startups, growth companies, and branches of larger organizations, representing for-profit, mission-driven, and non-profit sectors across a wide array of industries.
CIC co-founded a number of mission-aligned organizations including Venture Café, CIC’s primary public benefit programming partner, and CIC Health, offering COVID-19 testing services to companies and the public.
We invite you to explore all our openings and learn more about our teams here.
CIC is committed to building teams that reflect the fabric of the cities we support. We welcome all candidates regardless of race, color, ancestry, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, Veteran status, or any other legally protected status. Any other human expressions and experiences not mentioned here are equally welcome. If you require an accommodation please let us know. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.