Associate Policy Director

Causenow; Santa Barbara (CA); Hybrid; USD 80,496 - 98,384; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% paid medical and dental coverage

Flexible paid vacation days

Paid sabbatical after 5 years

Job summary

A community organization is seeking an Associate Policy Director to lead public policy advocacy, mentor Policy Advocates, and manage communications across multiple campaigns. This role includes supervising a small team, engaging in coalition-building, and ensuring effective message delivery. Ideal candidates will possess a Bachelor's degree, fluency in Spanish, and extensive experience in policy advocacy. The position offers a salary of $89,440 annually with comprehensive benefits, and is located in Santa Barbara, CA with a hybrid work arrangement.

Qualifications

• 1+ year of supervision experience including temporary staff.
• 4+ years of experience in public policy advocacy or multimedia communications.
• Knowledge of policy issues such as housing, environment, labor, and immigration.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and mentor up to 4 Policy Advocates.
• Coordinate with Organizing Team for campaign support.
• Review and edit communications including press releases and social media content.

Skills

Fluency in Spanish

Strong writing and public speaking skills

Ability to interact with diverse cultures

Strategic and analytical approach to political issues

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy or related field

Job description

CAUSE is a base-building organization committed to social, economic, and environmental justice for working-class and immigrant communities in California’s Central Coast. We build grassroots power through community organizing, leadership development, coalition building, civic engagement, policy research, and advocacy.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

CAUSE is currently seeking an Associate Policy Director to fill a leadership role in public policy advocacy, multimedia communications, and staff supervision. The Associate Policy Director will supervise, train, and mentor a team of up to four Policy Advocates throughout the Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties region working on campaigns to advance affordable housing, farmworker rights, immigrant rights, and environmental justice. CAUSE’s Policy Team supports our Organizing Team’s efforts to build a grassroots base of working-class immigrant community leaders in the Central Coast region by providing them with legislative analysis, coalition-building, messaging and graphic design. The Associate Policy Director will report to CAUSE’s Policy Director and will work closely with CAUSE’s Organizing Team to meet their policy and communications needs. This position is regional and can be based in any of CAUSE’s offices including Oxnard, Ventura, Santa Paula, Santa Barbara, Lompoc, or Santa Maria. Interest in being located in CAUSE’s new Lompoc office is a plus.

The Associate Policy Director’s responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Directly supervising CAUSE’s up to 4 Policy Advocates, providing coaching, work planning, feedback, and accountability to their supervisees and taking responsibility for their successful development and performance
• Training Policy Advocates in building coalitions, lobbying policymakers, conducting research, developing messaging, persuasive writing, digital and traditional media communications
• Coordinating with the CAUSE Organizing Team to meet their needs for policy and communications support for organizing campaigns and working collaboratively with CAUSE’s team of supervisors to ensure strong staff collaboration
• Planning, reviewing, and editing language, content, and graphic design of Policy Advocates’ public communications including flyers, newsletters, press releases, opinion editorials, talking points, surveys, petitions, social media posts, videos, webpages, mass emails, fact sheets, and infographics
• Acting as the City Team Lead for one of CAUSE’s six city-based chapters, coordinating the team’s strategic vision, serving as the senior staff member in the office, and maintaining CAUSE’s relationships and visibility within the community of that city
• Provide regular feedback and conduct annual staff evaluations, review and approve timesheets, PTO, and documentation/reporting
• Take a leadership role in regional and priority campaign strategy and direction, including building relationships with coalition partners, policymakers, and journalists
• Facilitating weekly city-based team meetings and creating space for strategizing and coordination between that city’s organizers and policy advocates
• Becoming familiar with a wide range of different policy issues and communities within the Central Coast region
• Representing the organization in regional and/or statewide coalitions
• Participating in some grassroots fundraising, grant writing and reporting

Job Requirements/Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent required, graduate degree in Public Policy, Urban Planning or related field a plus but not expected
• Fluency in Spanish strongly preferred
• 1+ year of supervision experience, can include temporary/part-time staff, interns
• 4+ years of experience in public policy advocacy and/or multimedia communications
• Strong writing and public speaking skills
• Eye for graphic design and visual media
• Knowledge of policy issues including housing, environment, labor, and immigration a plus
• Knowledge of Central Coast regional political landscape a plus
• Experience with and desire to work with diverse cultures and the ability to engage people from a variety of backgrounds
• Ability to interact professionally with elected officials, donors, board members, leaders of ally organizations, and news reporters
• Strategic and analytical approach to political issues
• Able to work independently and as part of a team
• Able to set own work priorities, manage responsibilities and time
• Flexibility and willingness to sometimes work evenings or weekends, and be able to travel throughout region, state and nation.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Valid drivers’ license and dependable access to a car to drive for work required.

WORK SCHEDULE

This is an exempt position with a typical 40-hour work week. This position has flexible hours and may often include evening and weekend work in order to engage community members. CAUSE has a hybrid remote/office work arrangement (3 days in office, 2 from home).

COMPENSATION

Starting pay for this salaried position is $89,440 per year. Benefits include 100% paid medical and dental coverage including dependents, paid sick and mental health days, holidays and flexible paid vacation days, paid family leave, paid sabbatical after 5 years of employment, monthly stipend for use of cellphone and travel, and annual professional development budget. CAUSE also typically provides two weeks of paid annual holiday shutdown and an annual retirement contribution.

To ensure pay equity across our team, salaries at CAUSE follow a formula based on position and tenure and are non-negotiable for individual candidates. However, we have a fixed salary scale providing additional pay for candidates with years of relevant job experience significantly beyond the minimum qualifications listed in this job description.

APPLYING

CAUSE will be accepting resumes through January 2nd, 2026. Please e-mail resumes with cover letter to Lucia Marquez at [e-mail].

CAUSE IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.