About the Organization
Students For Liberty (SFL) is the largest international pro-liberty student organization in the world, with student volunteers spanning over 100 countries on all inhabited continents. Our mission is to Educate, Develop, and Empower the next generation of leaders of liberty. We accomplish this by identifying the top student leaders and training them to be agents of change in their communities.
We are a remote, vibrant, and entrepreneurial organization consisting of 80+ full time staff members.
As Students For Liberty continues to grow globally, we are creating the role of Chief Operating Officer to strengthen the systems and leadership structures needed for the organization’s next stage of growth. With programs active in more than 100 countries and a team of more than 80 staff, SFL is building the next generation of leaders of liberty worldwide.
The COO will oversee the organization’s core internal functions—including Finance, Marketing, Systems/IT, and Creative—and strengthen the operational systems that allow a fully remote global team to execute consistently at a high level.
Position Summary
The Chief Operating Officer serves as the organization’s senior operational leader and a close partner to the CEO. While the CEO focuses on strategy, fundraising, programs, and external leadership, the COO ensures the organization executes with clarity, strong coordination, and consistent follow-through as the organization continues to scale.
This role exists to strengthen SFL’s leadership bench and build operational systems that support a growing global organization. The COO creates leverage for the CEO and department leaders by improving coordination, strengthening management clarity and accountability, and ensuring that organizational priorities translate into consistent execution. The COO partners closely with the Chief of Staff, who supports the CEO’s priorities, executive communication, and strategic projects, while the COO leads day-to-day operational execution and coordination across departments.
The COO is a servant leader who takes pride in making others more effective. Success in this role comes from building strong managers, improving operational clarity, and ensuring that commitments across the organization are delivered on time and at a high standard.
The COO has clear authority over internal operational execution and holds department leaders accountable for results, financial discipline, and cross-functional coordination. The COO will directly manage 4 individuals, including the Senior Director of Creative Operations, Senior Director of Systems, Director of Finance and Director of Marketing. The COO will have indirect responsibility for roughly 40 individuals.
The COO will work from a virtual office from anywhere in the US. Minimal travel is required for this position (approximately 5%).
SFL is not able to provide visa sponsorship for this role.
Success in this role means:
Directors operate with clear goals, defined decision rights, and consistent follow-through. Cross-team collaboration improves and organizational silos decrease.
Managers operate with clear expectations and support, delivering results while leadership development and performance standards continue to strengthen across the organization.
Financial and fundraising operations provide reliable reporting, clear revenue visibility, and disciplined budget management.
Operational decisions and coordination happen at the leadership level without routine CEO intervention.
Responsibilities
Organizational Leadership & Execution
- Provide leadership for internal operations, managing department leaders and ensuring
commitments translate into consistent results. - Lead the organization’s internal operations, ensuring consistent execution across Finance,
Marketing, Systems/IT, and Creative. - Partner with the Chief of Staff to ensure CEO and Board priorities are translated into clear
operational plans and executed effectively across the organization. - Serve as the primary internal escalation point for cross‑functional issues and operational
decision-making. - Strengthen leadership discipline through clear operating rhythms, decision rights, and
accountability structures. - Build leadership systems that support consistent execution and long-term organizational
resilience. - Participate in selected SFL programs and events (a few times per year) as needed to stay
closely connected to our work on the ground and support alignment between strategy and
execution.
Financial Oversight & Operational Discipline
- Oversee financial operations and enforce disciplined budget management across the
organization. - Ensure leadership has reliable financial reporting, forecasting, and performance visibility.
- Identify operational and financial risks and ensure appropriate mitigation.
- Maintain operational continuity plans for critical functions.
Fundraising Infrastructure & Development Operations
- Ensure fundraising leadership has strong operational infrastructure, including CRM systems,
reporting, donor processes, revenue visibility, and timely decision-making. - Improve coordination between development, finance, and leadership to support accurate
projections, cash timing, restricted funding visibility, and operational planning. - The COO may oversee the operational infrastructure supporting development, while donor
relationships and fundraising strategy remain under the leadership of the CEO and Director of
Development. Fundraising skills welcome but not required.
Culture, Talent & Organizational Health
- Set clear expectations for management performance and leadership standards.
- Address team and performance challenges early and constructively while supporting strong
management practices. - Strengthen leadership development and management capability across the organization.
- Champion SFL’s values (Humility, Professionalism, Ownership, Entrepreneurship) through
daily operational leadership.
Qualifications
- Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of senior leadership or operational management experience, including managing managers and cross-functional teams.
- Proven track record overseeing core internal functions (such as finance, marketing, systems/IT, creative, or general operations) in a growing organization. Specific domain mix is flexible; we care most about depth of operational leadership experience.
- Demonstrated experience building leadership capacity, coaching managers, and addressing underperformance constructively but decisively.
- Demonstrated ability to build clear processes, strengthen accountability, and improve execution across teams.
- Strong financial literacy and experience overseeing budgets, forecasts, and financial performance.
- Experience leading in a distributed or complex environment (multiple teams, locations, and stakeholders).
- High emotional intelligence and strong communication skills, including managing difficult conversations with care and firmness.
- Ability to work effectively alongside a visionary CEO and in partnership with a Chief of Staff.
- Entrepreneurial mindset with disciplined execution standards.
- Deep alignment with SFL’s mission and the ideas of liberty.
- Preferred Qualifications
- Knowledge of Google Workspace tools and modern collaboration systems, including Jira (Atlassian).
- Experience leveraging AI tools to improve operational efficiency and decision-making.
- Salesforce or similar CRM experience.
- Experience in a global or multi-country organization, ideally with fully remote or highly distributed teams.
- Experience overseeing development operations or fundraising infrastructure.
- Experience scaling an organization through periods of rapid growth or change.
To Apply
Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials (in order) in one PDF document:
- Cover letter including:
- Describing your philosophical interest in SFL’s mission
- Why you are qualified for the COO role
- Salary requirements
- Resume
Applications should be submitted to Talent Market via this link: talentmarket.org/apply-for-your-dream-job/
Questions can be directed to Claire Kittle Dixon, President of Talent Market, who is assisting with the search: [email protected].
There is no application deadline for this position. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This job will remain posted on our site until it is filled.
While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. Only direct applications will be considered. No phone calls, please.
Talent Market is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting liberty by helping free-market nonprofits identify talent for critical roles. We provide consulting and recruiting services at no cost to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that clearly and directly focus on advancing the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, free trade, free speech, property rights, rule of law and limited regulation.
