Chief of Staff to CEO - Energy Sector Leadership Role
The Focus Group · Sandton, Gauteng
Overview
A rare opportunity to work at the centre of South Africa's energy transition as Chief of Staff to the CEO. Based in Sandton, this senior role puts you in the room with government, business and industry leaders, turning CEO priorities into delivered outcomes. If you have 10 to 15 years of executive support, programme delivery and governance experience, and you want to help shape the country's energy future, this is for you.
About the role
The Focus Group is looking for a highly capable Chief of Staff to partner with and support the CEO of a major energy sector organisation in Sandton. This is a high-trust, high-impact delivery leadership role where you will act as an extension of the CEO, translating priorities into plans and driving on-time delivery across the organisation.
You will work at the centre of the organisation, coordinating the CEO priority portfolio, implementing structured operating cadences, managing Board and Executive governance processes, and coordinating engagement with senior stakeholders including government officials, Board members, CEOs and industry leaders. The role also includes end-to-end management of the CEO diary and key operational processes to keep the executive office running efficiently.
This is a permanent, full-time position suited to someone with strong programme and project delivery capability, excellent communication skills and the ability to operate confidently at C-suite and Board level.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field
- 10 to 15 years' experience supporting senior executives
- Demonstrated responsibility for operations, programme or project delivery, governance processes and cross-functional execution
- Proven experience operating at C-suite and Board level with credibility to engage senior stakeholders
- Strong understanding of South Africa's energy sector, public policy environment and developmental agenda
- Advanced proficiency in all Microsoft Office products
- Strong report writing, editing and proofreading capability
- Strong programme and project delivery capability including planning, RAID, action tracking and executive-ready reporting
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organisational, planning and time management skills
- Excellent diary, meeting scheduling and coordination skills
- Data management and information governance awareness
- Analytics and reporting capability including simple dashboards and RAG status views
- Operations management expertise including vendor and contract coordination, process improvement and establishing standard ways of working
- Technology-savvy with a continuous improvement mindset
Responsibilities
- Coordinate the CEO priority portfolio as an execution lead, translating decisions into delivery plans with clear scope, milestones, owners and success measures
- Implement a structured operating cadence including weekly delivery reviews, RAG status and action logs
- Proactively manage dependencies and constraints across teams and partners, unblock delivery and escalate issues with pragmatic options
- Coordinate Board, Committee and Executive governance processes and meeting cycles, ensuring agendas, packs, briefings and minutes are prepared on time
- Own the tracking of Board and executive decisions, actions and follow-ups, driving closure and accountability
- Coordinate engagement between the CEO and senior internal and external stakeholders, maintaining an engagement plan
- Triage and coordinate responses to high-level correspondence and membership enquiries
- Orchestrate delivery of cross-functional initiatives, mobilising workstreams and coordinating inputs across member organisations and partners
- Prepare delivery-focused briefs, decision papers and stakeholder updates highlighting status, risks and required decisions
- Own key internal operational processes including planning, procurement and contract coordination and vendor performance
- Manage the CEO's diary end to end, scheduling key engagements and ensuring logistics and briefing materials are in place
- Drive continuous improvement across executive-office workflows including automation, templates and standard ways of working
- Enable the team to deliver by clarifying responsibilities, improving handovers and strengthening coordination across workstreams
Job details
- Organisation
- The Focus Group
- Location
- Sandton, Gauteng
- Job type
- Full time
- Experience level
- Senior (10+ years)
- Education
- Bachelor
- Category
- Administration & Office
- Application Method
- Apply online
Success Guide
This is a senior role working directly with a CEO in the energy sector, so your application needs to show more than just experience. Highlight specific examples where you coordinated executive priorities, managed Board processes or drove cross-functional delivery. Mention your understanding of South Africa's energy landscape and public policy, as this will set you apart. In interviews, expect questions about how you handle competing priorities, manage senior stakeholder relationships and stay calm under pressure. Bring concrete stories about times you made an executive office run more smoothly or helped deliver a complex initiative. Also be ready to discuss how you manage confidentiality and discretion at the highest level.
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