Organizing and Political Director - Sister District Project

[Sister District Careers]

Organizing and Political Director SUMMARY

The Organizing and Political Director oversees the execution of Sister District’s organizing and electoral functions to cultivate our volunteer community, and to help exceptional state legislative candidates win elections in key states. This position reports to the Executive Director and sits on the Leadership Team for the organization.

RESPONSIBILITIES Programs – 60%

• General
  • Lead Organizing Department and Political Department staff in setting and meeting aligned goals.
  • Execute mid-cycle and end-cycle evaluations to solicit feedback from candidates/campaign staff and volunteer leaders.
  • Produce reports summarizing Sister District organizing and electoral impact and outcomes.
• Political Department
  • Oversee the candidate endorsement process.
  • Oversee the candidate services program.
  • Oversee candidate-facing and administrative aspects of fundraising and field programs, including phonebanking, canvassing, postcarding, and textbanking.
  • Execute mid-cycle and end-cycle evaluations to solicit feedback from candidates/campaign staff.
• Organizing Department
  • Oversee volunteer training program.
  • Oversee youth programs, including Organizing Fellows and Campus Program.
  • Oversee volunteer-facing aspects of candidate fundraising and field programs, including phonebanking, canvassing, postcarding, and textbanking.
  • Facilitate partnerships with aligned organizations to boost fundraising and field efforts to support candidates.
  • Execute mid-cycle and end-cycle evaluations to solicit feedback from volunteer leaders.

Management – 15%

• • Manage the Head of Campaigns, who generally manages campaign-facing functions and relationships, and the Head of Organizing, who generally manages volunteer-facing functions and relationships.
  • Oversee the development and maintenance of departments’ policies and procedures.
  • Manage the departments’ budget.
  • Support leadership development of staff.
  • Ensure adherence to mission, vision, and values.

Volunteer Communications – 10%

• • Publish thrice-monthly email newsletters for leaders.
  • Hold monthly political update meetings for leaders during election cycle.
  • Hold quarterly meetings for anchor team leaders.
  • As needed, address any volunteer-related issues escalated by staff.
  • Speak as a special guest at volunteer-organized events.

Ecosystem Intelligence – 10%

• • Maintain accurate and up-to-date intelligence and information on trends and key developments in state legislatures and grassroots organizing.
  • Serve as an internal expert and resource to Sister District’s leadership team and throughout the organization.
  • Represent Sister District in key tables and coalitions.

Leadership Team – 5%

• • Serve on Sister District’s Leadership Team.
  • Participate in organizational strategic planning.
  • Collaborate across departments to meet organizational goals.

MUST HAVES

• 6-7 years of full-time experience in progressive work, including both organizing and political experience, such as: managing political campaigns, leading organization engagement in political activity, electoral organizing, volunteer management and training, and collaborating with other organizations to effect political change.
• Some experience with state legislative politics.
• Experience at a political or advocacy organization as a full time employee, including managing and motivating staff at early and mid-career level.
• Experience running successful organizing programs, preferably with strong distributed organizing experience.
• Experience running field and fundraising programs for successful electoral campaigns.
• Excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills, especially in light of new or ambiguous situations.
• Proactive and motivated self-starter who is able to anticipate and address problems before they arise.
• Superior oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully manage and execute projects in a fast-paced environment and across multiple departments.
• Extremely organized and detail-oriented, and as comfortable with big picture strategic thinking, as well as goal-setting, data tracking, reporting, and analysis.
• Multicultural competence; i.e., the awareness, knowledge and skills needed to work with others who are culturally different from self in meaningful, relevant and productive ways.

NICE-TO-HAVES

• Professional experience working with Action Network, Mobilize, ActBlue, or WordPress.

LOCATION & START DATE

Sister District is a remote organization and this position can be filled from anywhere in the United States. We are looking to fill the position immediately.

COMPENSATION

This is a full time position with a salary of $85,000-$90,000 plus reimbursement for healthcare expenses, reimbursement for phone and internet, and unlimited leave policy.

TO APPLY

Please send an email to car...@sisterdistrict.com with the subject line “Organizing & Political Director” and attach the following:

• Resume
• Cover letter explaining your interest in the position
• The names of three references with contact information

Format the file titles as follows: firstname_lastname_stateabbreviation_cover and firstname_lastname_stateabbreviation_resume. Your cover letter will be considered a writing sample.

THE ORGANIZATION

Sister District builds enduring progressive power in state legislatures by filling critical gaps at every point in the political lifecycle. We win elections by “sistering” teams of volunteers across the country to support candidates with field and fundraising capacity, and providing strategic professional support to campaigns. We support organizers through hands-on training and coaching, and also direct grassroots fundraising support to power-building organizations on the ground in the states where we work. We develop legislators to help our alumni hit the ground running in office, and by supporting candidates who lost but who should run again. We educate and empower through cutting-edge voter and volunteer engagement research and broader education about the importance of states.

Since launching in the wake of the 2016 elections, we have grown to over 50,000 members nationwide, raised $3.6 million for candidates, and reached out to 3.1 million voters through phones, doors, postcards, and texts. While we have a Democratic trifecta at the federal level, our progressive values—in terms of voting rights, reproductive health, climate change, and more—are under attack and vulnerable in the states. Our 2021-2022 strategy is laser-focused on building power in the states that matter most.

Sister District’s mission to build progressive power in state legislatures is inextricably linked to our vision for racial equity and justice in America. We value a multicultural, diverse working environment. Applicants of diverse backgrounds are welcomed and encouraged to apply. Sister District prohibits discrimination of employment, promotion, compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on gender, disability, race, age, national origin, color, creed, sexual orientation, sex (including marital and parental status), gender identity and expression, religion, economic status, ethnic identity, veteran’s status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.