Senior Director, Democracy Project State Innovation Exchange (SiX)

[Abby Magnus]

About the State Innovation Exchange 

The State Innovation Exchange (SiX) is a 501(c)(3) policy, strategy, and resource center for progressive state legislators. We empower, embolden, and equip state legislators to build and wield progressive governing power by/with/for the people they represent. We do this by providing legislators with the tools needed to shape impactful public policy and building their capacity to lead with their constituents. We foster long-term collaboration between legislators- across chambers, across regions, and across state lines - and with grassroots movements. Our vision is an equitable, resilient, healthy, and prosperous future for every person in the United States, which is secured and safeguarded by progressive state legislators. 

About this Position 

The Democracy Project is a new national initiative that empowers and emboldens progressive state legislators to be dynamic advocates for a powerful, inclusive, and participatory democracy. The Senior Director is responsible for the overall design, execution, implementation, and management of the project. The starting salary for this role is set at $110,000; this starting salary is non-negotiable in compliance with our internal salary bands and commitment to equitable and just salary practices. In addition, SiX offers competitive benefits including generous healthcare coverage options for you and your family, life insurance, a retirement match, flexible schedule and a generous leave and holiday schedule. More information about our benefits and compensation philosophy is available here. This is a full-time, exempt position. The position is remote and open to anyone living in the continental United States. The position will require travel, possibly more than 10 times a year. 

Role Responsibilities

All staff at SiX have personalized role responsibilities – the outcomes and impacts you are expected to deliver as part of your unique role within the organization. As the Senior Director, Democracy Project you report to the Co-Executive Director and will be responsible for delivering on the following expectations in your day-to-day work:

1.  Program Strategy and Oversight – Democracy Project: Design and oversee strategy, implementation, and impact for the Democracy Project, a multi-year project to build the capacity of state legislators to fight for a radically inclusive, participatory democracy, working in close coordination with legislators, local and national partners, and SiX overall. Candidates should have a proven track record designing and successfully executing national advocacy campaigns, with specific experience working at the intersection of democracy and racial equity. Ideal candidates will harness their robust network of relationships with state and national democracy and civic engagement advocacy organizations in service of this work. 
2. Partnerships: Identify, establish, cultivate and maintain relationships with key democracy reform partners and coalitions. Coordinate with local, state and national partners to execute projects and pursue shared policy goals. Ensure internal coordination across departments for partnerships that have multiple touchpoints. Candidates should have an expert understanding of the dynamic and complex democracy reform field and utilize that to inform the direction of the program.
3. Staff Management: Supervise and support the Democracy Project team. Cultivate an environment of positive team building and drive organizational culture-building activities. Support staff in identifying opportunities for advancement of SiX’s Democracy Project, set goals and achieve objectives, and oversee and track team progress toward the organization’s and portfolio’s overall programmatic goals. Oversee the execution of special projects, as necessary. Ensure Democracy Project staff are collaborating across the organization, as necessary. Candidates should demonstrate a strong history in staff management rooted in a commitment to feedback, culture building, and accountability. Ideal candidates will have experience managing remote staff distributed across the country. 
4. Fund Development: Represent the Democracy Project with foundations, individual donors, and donor collaboratives. Provide high-level support for all funding streams, including the completion of grant reports, grants management and oversight, and national meetings where required. Lead the development of proposal renewals, proposal design and grant writing for projects in your portfolio. Candidates should possess strong written and verbal communication skills that can clearly, concisely, and compellingly convey essential programmatic information. 
5. Financial Oversight: Develop, monitor, and course-correct Democracy Project budget where needed to ensure alignment with internal controls and funder compliance. Candidates should have direct experience managing program budgets and using/maintaining operational data. 
6. Program Implementation: Support Democracy Project and SiX staff to expand the network of state legislator Democracy Champions and oversee the development of training and policy materials, communications tools and other project deliverables. Candidates should have demonstrated experience working in state legislative ecosystems, with a deep understanding of the barriers and resource limitations that hamper the efforts of state legislators to advance prodemocracy reforms. 
7. External Affairs: Represent the organization and serve as a spokesperson and thought leader with legislators, the public and members of the press. Advance the organization’s reputation, profile and brand with key stakeholders. Ensure departmental participation in national conferences and events, as needed. Candidates should possess strong written and verbal communication skills that can clearly, concisely, and compellingly convey essential programmatic information. 
8. Organizational Alignment: Ensure that the Democracy Project meets its organization-wide expectations with regard to living our organizational values, practicing equity and inclusion, ensuring compliance with applicable rules and regulations, and achieving coordination and cohesiveness with SiX’s strategic plan and overall programmatic goals. Candidates should demonstrate a history of stewarding organizational transformation and/or culture change work within a dynamic and multi-racial setting.

Core Competencies 

All staff roles at SiX are grounded in a set of core competencies that are standardized across the organization based on the type of role you hold. As the Senior Director, Democracy you will be responsible for delivering on the following core competency expectations in your day-to-day work: 

1. Strategy and Implementation. You are able to provide strategic consultation and advice in the formation, oversight, and execution of your team’s work and their deliverables. You ensure ongoing programmatic excellence and accountability for your team in alignment with SiX’s organizational strategic plan and funder requirements. You are able to successfully implement the core activities of your department/issue area through direct program implementation and/or the management of staff who are responsible for program implementation. 
2. Staff Management. You are able to support and cultivate staff. You effectively engage in and resolve conflict and you are able to adeptly manage across lines of difference within a multiracial organization. 
3. External Partner Management and Movement Building. You are able to identify, cultivate, and maintain successful partnerships with external stakeholders in the implementation and impact of your department/issue area. You possess the ability to identify, recruit, hire, delegate, and manage contractors and/or vendors to implement components of the work, on an as-needed basis. 
4. External Communications and Brand Management. You are able to adeptly represent the organization and serve as a spokesperson and thought leader with legislators, the public, and members of the press. You advance the organization’s reputation, profile, and brand with key stakeholders. You possess excellent written and verbal communication skills. 
5. Knowledge Management. You are able to provide consultation and input on the design of systems, processes, and tools to better support the facilitation, collection, and sharing of knowledge that is generated by your portfolio. You ensure consistent data collection and analysis on key project outcomes. You work collaboratively with the senior management team to integrate cross-program activities and functions. 
6. Financial Oversight. You are able to assist with managing the resources of your department/issue area. You manage your team to provide timely, accurate financial information, as needed, and comply with all internal financial protocols. 
7. Fund Development. You are able to successfully secure resources for your department/issue area. You are able to effectively design funding requests, and communicate those ideas, both in writing and in-person, to targeted audiences. 
8. Compliance. You ensure that all activities within your program area/department, as well as the staff you manage, comply with relevant nonprofit laws and adhere to internal policies, practices, and protocols. 
9. Organizational Culture and Values. You are able to ensure that you and the staff you supervise practice and uphold the organization’s values in your day-to-day and long-term work. You steward and exemplify an organizational culture that is productive, collaborative, and equitable. 
10. Equity and Inclusion. You are able to consistently integrate your deep understanding of key equity concepts into work projects and interactions by addressing structural implications and disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions on race, gender, class and other group identities within the context of job responsibilities and projects. 

Organizational Values 

All staff at SiX are responsible for upholding our organizational values, which were developed collaboratively by all staff. These describe the way we strive to do our work together and the kind of organizational culture we want to build. As the Senior Director, Democracy you will be responsible for demonstrating the following behaviors in carrying out your day-to-day work: 

1. Collaboration. Proactively build relationships with your colleagues and partners. Demonstrate respectful speech and behavior. Be honest, kind, and direct in instances of conflict. Adopt a stance of “having each other’s back.” Resist habits of individualism and competition in favor of turning toward and building with one another. 
2. Accountability. Demonstrate the ability to own and achieve your responsibilities at work. Attend to both the results and the process by which you achieve your results. Pay attention to details, anticipate roadblocks, offer solutions, drive work forward, include relevant stakeholders when making decisions, follow through with delivering high-quality work on time. 
3. Integrity and Trust. Do not withhold information but democratize knowledge. Acknowledge both your successes and your mistakes. Practice forthrightness, “saying the thing,” graciously giving and receiving feedback, and building your own skills and capacity as well as that of your colleagues.
4. Initiative and Tenacity. Take responsibility for your success and the success of your teammates. Demonstrate the ability to manage and successfully execute on the work in the context of a remote organization. Offer and seek answers and options proactively, in consultation with your supervisor, colleagues, and partners. Challenge implicit assumptions and create explicit agreements. 
5. Flexibility. Embody a “getting to yes” attitude and a propensity for working through roadblocks, building consensus, and course-correcting when necessary. Engage in continuous learning and reflection. Seek feedback. Apply your learnings to subsequent projects and responsibilities. Welcome change and seek ways to adapt to new information, people, and circumstances. 
6. Innovation. Commit to learning and growing the organization’s work. Stay open to possibility. Greet new opportunities with curiosity and a sense of possibility and openness. Contribute to a culture that lets us grow, try new things, succeed (or fail), and learn from our efforts. 
7. Equity and Inclusion. Actively practice our commitment to racial, gender, economic, and social justice. Demonstrate an openness to cultivating progressive, inclusive leadership and welcoming different learning and leadership styles. Seek and accept feedback about ways to strengthen your awareness and understanding of how to create more inclusiveness in your speech and behavior. Practice humility and continuous learning. Commit to repairing relationships with your speech or behavior has promoted inequity or exclusion. 

How to Apply 

Interested applicants should submit a compelling cover letter and resume to jo...@stateinnovation.org. Please indicate the position you are applying for in the subject line of the email. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Individuals from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. State Innovation Exchange is an equal opportunity employer. We consider applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status.