Job Description

VP, Strategic Initiatives

New Horizon Bank · Richmond, Virginia · Reports to the President & CEO

About New Horizon Bank

New Horizon Bank is a nationally chartered, growth-stage bank headquartered in Richmond, with markets in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia. We pair community-bank service with institutional financial capabilities.

We are building new capabilities, launching new partnerships, and entering new markets. Most community banks don't attempt what we're doing. We need people who can help make it real.

The Role

You'll work directly with the CEO on the Bank's most important initiatives, partnerships, and special projects. Your job is to take an idea, opportunity, or problem off the CEO's desk and make it happen. Think of it as a chief of staff role built around execution, not access.

This is an execution role, not a strategy role. You'll build the plan, rally the people, work through the regulatory and operational details, and stay with each initiative until it runs on its own.

The work will change as the Bank changes. The common thread is getting important things done.

What You'll Do

Drive the CEO's priority initiatives

• Turn ideas into clear plans with owners, milestones, and deadlines.
• Coordinate across business lines, technology, operations, compliance, legal, and finance.
• Spot roadblocks early and push them to resolution.
• Report progress simply: what happened, what's next, what's stuck, and what decision is needed.
• Stay through implementation, not just the recommendation.

Help build strategic partnerships

• Assess and diligence potential partners, including fintechs, investment firms, private funds, technology companies, and other financial institutions.
• Build business cases and financial models.
• Support negotiations, contracts, and implementation planning.
• Manage day-to-day relationships with selected partners.

Figure out new things

• Take an early-stage idea and answer: what would it take to actually do this?
• Learn unfamiliar markets fast, find the right experts, and map regulatory and operational constraints.
• Recommend a path. Once a decision is made, shift from analysis to execution.

Create leverage for the CEO

• Turn CEO priorities into organizational action.
• Prepare the CEO for key meetings, board discussions, and partner conversations.
• Make sure important things move faster because you're here.

What This Role Is Not

• Not an executive assistant role. You won't manage the CEO's calendar or travel.
• Not a layer of management. Functional leaders keep owning their areas and keep direct access to the CEO. You won't control access or approve their work. You'll know when to lead, when to coordinate, when to challenge, when to escalate, and when to get out of the way.
• Not a deck factory. We don't want months of analysis handed to someone else to execute. You'll write short memos, not decks.

What We're Looking For

You probably have 4–7 years of experience in consulting, corporate development, investment banking, fintech, a bank strategy or analyst program, or a high-growth operating role. Banking experience helps but isn't required.

More important than your résumé:

• High agency. You don't need perfect instructions to start. You take an ambiguous goal and get moving.
• Judgment. You know what matters, what can wait, and when to raise a flag.
• Clear communication. You write and speak simply, and can boil a complicated issue down for executives.
• Commercial sense. You understand how businesses make money and can build a model to prove it.
• Influence without authority. People follow your lead because you're prepared, credible, and easy to work with.
• Fast learning. You get up to speed on new industries and regulations quickly.
• Willingness to do the work. No task is beneath you when it moves the initiative forward.

Where This Leads

This role is a path to senior leadership. You'll see how a bank works from the CEO's seat: credit, operations, regulation, partnerships, and growth.

The Environment

New Horizon Bank moves fast. Priorities shift, new information changes direction, and once we decide, we move. That isn't for everyone.

We value the HUSTLE Mentality:

• Humility. Team over ego.
• Unafraid. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
• Speed. Act with urgency.
• Tenacity. Find a way.
• Learning. Stay curious and keep getting better.
• Excellence. Set a high standard.

What Success Looks Like

First 90 days

• Take ownership of two live priority initiatives and move each to a clear next milestone.
• Build working relationships with every member of the executive team.
• Set up a simple operating rhythm with the CEO: weekly priorities, open decisions, and status.

First 12 months

• Several important initiatives have moved from idea to reality, and you helped make that happen.
• Fewer important items sit on the CEO's desk.
• You've helped launch at least one productive external partnership.
• People across the Bank trust you with difficult work.

When we spot the next big opportunity, you'll be one of the first people we call.

Compensation and How to Apply

Compensation: $120,000–$150,000 base salary plus an annual incentive, depending on experience. Full benefits included.

To apply: Send your résumé and a short note about something you built or moved forward that wouldn't have happened without you. Send both to [careers contact].

New Horizon Bank is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

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