SME, Chief of Staff Support
Project: USDA Rural Development (RD) Loan Servicing
Division: Chief of Staff
Location: Remote, occasional travel to St. Louis or DC offices may be required.
Schedule: Monday – Friday, core Agency hours between 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM CST (8-hour workdays expected)
Overview:
USDA Rural Development (RD) is the federal government’s investment arm for rural America — providing loans, grants, and loan guarantees to expand access to housing, utilities, broadband, healthcare, and business opportunity in the communities that private markets too often overlook. The Loan Servicing Office manages those loans from the day they close to the day they’re paid off — ensuring families stay in their homes, rural businesses keep their doors open, and communities hold on to the infrastructure investments that keep them running.
USDA RD Loan Servicing is embarking on a transformational effort to increase efficiency, elevate performance, and build operational excellence across its divisions and directorates — all in service of better outcomes for its borrowers. The SME supporting the Chief of Staff within the Rural Development Servicing Office serves as a strategic partner in advancing organizational effectiveness, leading change initiatives, and streamlining administrative and operational functions. This role is critical in transforming the organization from reactive to proactive by driving process discipline, strengthening governance, and enabling consistent execution across the organization. In addition, this SME will be responsible for running the lead on the coordination of all SME’s project plans, KPI, Strategy documentation, and reporting uniformity to ensure a streamlined and well-documented project plan is in place. Will report directly to Scott Williams and CoS Christine Knecht.
Desired Experience & Core Qualifications:
- Organizational Development and Change Leadership Expertise:
- Experience leading organizational change initiatives, including culture transformation, process standardization, and operational realignment within complex, matrixed environments.
- Enterprise Process Design and Optimization:
- Proven ability to assess end-to-end administrative and operational workflows, identify redundancies and inefficiencies, and implement streamlined, standardized processes that improve efficiency, accountability, and service delivery.
- Strategic Alignment and Governance Implementation:
- Experience establishing governance frameworks, decision-making structures, and operating rhythms that align priorities, improve transparency, and support leadership oversight.
- • Administrative Function Streamlining:
- Strong capability to evaluate and modernize administrative processes (e.g., correspondence management, task tracking, reporting cycles, meeting structures, and internal coordination), reducing burden and increasing organizational effectiveness.
- Change Management and Adoption Strategies:
- Ability to develop and execute change management approaches that drive stakeholders’ buy-in, minimize disruption, and ensure sustained adoption of new processes and ways of working.
- Executive Advisory and Communication Skills:
- Ability to translate organizational challenges and transformation strategies into clear, actionable recommendations, briefings, and decision materials for senior leadership.
- Cross-Functional Integration and Collaboration:
- Demonstrated ability to work across the organization (RD Servicing Office, Finance Office, Procurement Office, Technology Office, and Human Resources Office) to break down silos, align efforts, and drive enterprise-wide consistency.
- Performance Management and Continuous Improvement:
- Experience in establishing performance measures, feedback loops, and continuous improvement mechanisms to monitor the effectiveness of organizational and administrative changes.
- Data-Informed Decision Support:
- Ability to leverage data and performance metrics to assess organizational effectiveness, inform prioritization, and guide leadership decisions.
- Problem-Solving and Root Cause Analysis:
- Strong analytical skills to identify systemic issues, diagnose root causes, and implement sustainable solutions that address underlying organizational challenges.
- Adaptability and Execution in a Dynamic Environment:
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, respond to evolving leadership needs, and drive results in a fast-paced, high-visibility environment.
- Experience Supporting Senior Leadership:
- Proven ability to operate in close coordination with senior leadership, exercising discretion, sound judgment, and the ability to anticipate needs.
