Job Summary

The Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Chief Digital & Innovation Officer (CDIO) is a senior strategic leader who amplifies the CDIO’s impact and ensures the seamless execution of the global CDIO agenda. Acting as a trusted advisor, integrator, and force multiplier, the CoS operates across highly dynamic and ambiguous environments—routinely stepping into complex issues, driving clarity, and enabling high‑velocity executive decision‑making.

This role requires exceptional judgment, strategic thinking, influential communication, and the ability to represent the CDIO with credibility across the enterprise. As a central orchestrator of CDIO operations, the CoS ensures organizational alignment, accelerates execution, and connects the broader ecosystem of leaders, partners, and cross‑functional teams.

Reporting to the DCOO, the CoS leads the operating mechanisms that power CDIO strategy, ensuring the organization remains focused, informed, aligned, and equipped to deliver enterprise outcomes.

Responsibilities

Leadership Alignment & Organizational Effectiveness

• Architect and run CDIO operating mechanisms, including board engagements, leadership forums, offsites, functional all‑hands, and cross‑functional interlocks

• Create and facilitate the full DIO business rhythm, ensuring effective dialogue, decisions, accountability, and alignment to CDIO priorities

• Act as a proxy for the CDIO when required—representing their perspective, maintaining momentum, and ensuring seamless follow‑through

• Partner with Global Events to shape executive‑level engagements and long‑range planning

• Identify opportunities for leadership collaboration and promote cross‑functional integration on high‑impact initiatives

• Drive operational best practices that enhance decision‑making, time efficiency, and information flow

• Anticipate organizational pressures and proactively surface issues to the CDIO and leadership for resolution

• Diagnose areas of misalignment and construct plans to realign teams around shared priorities

Org & Employee Engagement

• Work with HRBP partners to address organizational issues, guide change management, and support talent strategy

• Maintain a strong pulse on the business and provide the CDIO with timely insight on organizational needs

• Champion employee engagement, recognition, Inclusion & Belonging, and Equinix Impact initiatives

• Shape and refine CDIO’s internal and external communications strategy in partnership with Communications teams

• Ensure cross‑organizational transparency, connection points, and information continuity

• Develop compelling, audience‑ready content for CDIO participation in internal forums, customer conversations, and external events

• Serve as a connective leader across Chiefs of Staff to ensure alignment across key teams and executives

CDIO Time & Priority Management

• Partner closely with the Senior Executive Assistant to maximize the strategic impact of the CDIO’s time

• Continuously evaluate where the CDIO should focus—and confidently decline or redirect efforts that do not drive enterprise value

• Provide foresight and high‑impact preparation for upcoming engagements, ensuring the CDIO’s time is leveraged effectively

Program & Portfolio Management

• Lead the development, tracking, and reporting of functional goals in partnership with CDIO and Business Operations leaders

• Identify operational friction (“sand in the gears”) and drive solutions that enable speed and productivity

• Shape and execute special projects that advance the CDIO agenda, using structured, disciplined project management

• Integrate CDIO initiatives into enterprise operating mechanisms—including Executive Staff, Strategy, and leadership forums—to drive alignment and visibility

• Lead prioritized initiatives directly as assigned by the CDIO

General Executive Duties

• Manage the Office of the CDIO budget in close partnership with Finance

• Dive deeply into any part of the business to surface insight, recommend actions, and enable smart executive decisions

• Operate as a trusted advisor and thought partner to the CDIO and the Executive Leadership Team

• Anticipate risks, bring balanced perspective, and navigate sensitive issues with discretion and integrity

• Ask the tough questions required to protect enterprise value and ensure investments deliver meaningful impact

• Maintain a strong grasp of emerging technology, competitive landscapes, and market dynamics in order to inform CDIO priorities

Qualifications

• Extensive experience within IT, Digital, or Innovation functions, demonstrating increasing levels of responsibility

• Strong preference for candidates with blended experience across technical domains and strategy consulting, customer success, or similar leadership‑oriented functions

• Technology‑savvy and conversant in modern digital, data, and innovation concepts

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred

• Proven success leading large, complex, enterprise‑wide initiatives in dynamic environments

• Strong budget oversight and operational management capability

• Exceptional written, verbal, and visual communication skills—with meticulous attention to detail

• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate information into actionable plans and drive execution

• Highly collaborative team player with the ability to build trust and influence across executives, stakeholders, and global teams

• High energy, bias for action, disciplined execution, and a proactive leadership mindset

• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and leading in fast‑changing environments

• 20+ years experience preferred

• Diploma to a Bachelor's Degree preferred