JOB: M+R, VP of Digital Organizing (DC, NYC, Boston or Oakland) -- $135-156k

[Matt Lockshin]

Hi, I'm helping M+R find a Vice President of Digital Organizing to lead effective, large-scale digital organizing campaigns for their electoral and issue advocacy clients. 

This would be a good fit for someone with 10+ years of campaign experience (including at least a few cycles of senior-level electoral experience and some non-electoral issue-advocacy experience) who really gets digital organizing (online-to-offline email, SMS, digital ads and social) and field.  

The total compensation is $135-156k (a base salary of $110-121k plus an annual bonus of $25-35k). There is a preference for someone based in DC, but NYC, Oakland or Boston are possible. 

If you have questions or are interested in applying, please let me know. And if you know someone who might be a good fit, feel free to forward this email to them or to connect them to me directly at this email address. 

You can find the full job listing below my signature line. 

Thanks!

Matt Lockshin
(he, his)

Sent from Victoria, BC --  the ancestral, traditional and unceded territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.

Vice President, Digital Organizing

We’re looking for a veteran campaign strategist with significant electoral experience to join our senior leadership team and lead effective, large-scale digital organizing campaigns for our electoral and issue advocacy clients.

When you come to M+R, here’s what you’ll find:

140 smart people who help mission-driven nonprofits achieve real, lasting change. We mobilize supporters, raise money, and move the media, the public, and decision-makers. We take risks. We work hard. We’re leaders, we’re organizers, and we don’t stop until we win.

Work that is awesome. We only work with clients who are changing the world. And, we say no to clients if we don’t believe in their cause or if we can’t help them make a real impact. Our election work focuses on building long-term power through electoral organizing -- not just getting a candidate elected and calling it a day.

Colleagues you can count on. Kind, dedicated, passionate people who bring the smarts, get things done, and help you to do your best, too. Not to mention a deep and multi-talented digital organizing bench.

So that’s us. Now about the work:

M+R’s Digital Organizing Practice Area works with progressive groups (not directly for candidate campaigns) to win elections and tackle everything from economic justice to immigration to climate change – think Planned Parenthood, Center for Popular Democracy, National Domestic Workers Alliance, NRDC, big national unions, healthcare advocacy groups, and more. Much of our electoral work has been geared specifically toward mobilizing infrequent voters of color.

Day-to-day, we’re figuring out how to turn out voters, recruit volunteers, spark and sustain grassroots action, drive the narrative, influence policy, hold corporations and politicians accountable, organize movement newcomers, and cultivate networks of power that outlast election cycles.

We use every tool and tactic in the book, from social media to digital ads to broadcast and 1:1 SMS to relational voter turnout to virtual phone banks, integrating digital as tightly as possible with on-the-ground field organizing and media advocacy.

We’re out to win, period. That requires constant evolution -- exploring new ways of organizing, combining tactics or channels we’ve never seen integrated before, taking risks, and sharing what we learn with each other and the movement at large.

Here’s what you’ll be doing in this role:

• Lead small but mighty teams of 3-8 staff to run electoral and issue-advocacy campaigns for 3-5 clients at a time.
• Drive overall strategy for the campaigns you run -- define crystal clear campaign goals in partnership with your clients; channel those goals to develop the overall strategy for digital ads, email, field integration, blast SMS and/or peer-to-peer SMS; and then work closely with your team and other practice areas (such as Digital Advertising) to implement the strategy and win campaigns.  
• Regularly participate in business development work - leading compelling proposals and pitches to win new business, which sometimes includes working with clients to secure funding for projects.
• Identify new opportunities for clients to grow their programs, including new technologies, channels, approaches, partnerships, etc.
• Build and maintain relationships with client contacts, particularly senior staff. Participate in high-level discussions at the organization.
• Drive creative concepting. Manage creative from a high-level, sign off on concepts, ensure teams are getting the best creative produced via a combination of in-house resources and subcontractors.
• Serve as a leader in our Digital Organizing Practice Area, and across the firm, developing and marketing new services and sharing ideas across teams to better serve our clients.
• Build happy, effective, and productive teams - own the overall morale, give regular coaching and feedback to all team members.
• Be the direct supervisor for 2-3 digital organizing staff.
• Do your part to help us run smoothly - including carefully tracking all of your client hours as well as pitching in with small office management responsibilities.

Skills and experiences you should have:

• 10+ years of campaign experience, including senior-level experience in electoral campaigns.
• You’ve run or overseen electoral programs where digital and field were closely integrated.
• You've run online-to-offline campaigns that pressured specific targets in an advocacy context.
• A comprehensive understanding of digital tools and strategy including: blast and P2P SMS, email, social media, and digital advertising.
• A strong network of contacts in the digital organizing space and in the electoral space more broadly.
• Knowledge of data-informed best practices for electoral work.
• Experience learning and integrating new digital organizing technologies into a campaign’s tactical mix.  
• You have the ability to articulate a strategic vision and sell people on that vision
• You can conceive of outstanding visual/written creative (or drive a successful creative process) for a variety of specific audiences.  
• You bring an equity lens (and a recognition of your own position in social power structures) both to campaigns that mobilize  traditionally under-represented communities and to your professional interactions.
• Consistency in meeting deadlines, managing projects without dropping balls, and producing extremely high-quality work.
• Scrappiness - you’re able to work around, over, and under the hurdles in your path. You don’t wait for others to notice issues or assume someone else will fix it.
• Thoughtfulness, empathy, and self-awareness. You prefer working as part of a team and go out of your way to help others and look out for your colleagues. You’re good at building and maintaining strong relationships with those around you.
• Ability to get fired up about a broad range of issues, including those you may not have given much thought to in the past.
• Recognition that feedback is a part of learning and growth, and a commitment to both seeking and receiving feedback.
• Experience managing staff and knowledge of best practices for supervision and mentorship.

Skills and experiences that are preferred, but not required:

• You’ve organized in marginalized communities.
• You’ve incubated electoral projects, gotten new business and/or secured funding for electoral work.
• You’ve worked on electoral campaigns run by organizations, not a candidate (e.g. IE campaigns, coordinated campaigns, ballot initiatives or c3 electoral work), and have a good sense for the national ecosystem of orgs that play a big role in the Democratic/progressive space.
• You’re brilliant at crafting powerful, data-informed messaging.
• You’ve been directly involved in electoral testing or research.
• You’ve done voter registration at scale.
• You’ve worked on relational voter turnout programs.
• You’ve been a consultant.

Salary, benefits, and some perks:

This is an exempt position. Total compensation for this position is $135,000 - $156,000/year: the salary range is $110,000 - $121,000 (dependent on years of experience), and bonus eligibility averages $25,000 - $35,000/year and is dependent on firm, practice area, and personal performance. We also offer a generous benefits package, plus some perks:

• Three weeks’ vacation as well as paid sick and personal days;
• Generous health, dental, and vision benefits;
• 401(k) plan with quarterly employer contributions and an employer match;
• Flexible Spending Accounts for medical, dependent care, and transit;
• Free lunch once a week!
• Weekly brainstorms where we cook up our most creative ideas;
• All kinds of non-traditional benefits depending on which office you’re in. Records and record players. Snack breaks. Cold brew coffee on tap.

The fine print

The position could be located in one of the following offices: 

• 1101 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC
• 11 Park Place, New York, NY
• 262 Washington St, Boston, MA
• 1611 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA

To apply, please use the button on this page. No calls please. M+R will only contact candidates to schedule an interview.

Of course...

M+R is an equal opportunity employer and all applicants will be considered. As a firm we are committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace where we learn and work together to change the world. M+R is strengthened by our staff’s diversity, including race and ethnicity, social class, national origin, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, language, and so much more. We strongly encourage folks from underrepresented backgrounds to apply.