Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support

National Legal Aid & Defender Association; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 298,000; Full time

Job summary

The Innocence Project seeks a Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support to oversee Post-conviction Litigation, Special Litigation, Social Work, and Intake programs. The role drives strategic alignment, budget oversight, and cross-program collaboration in a high-impact, mission-driven environment.

Hybrid work model with in-office days, strong emphasis on leadership, equity, and organizational health to advance exoneration efforts and policy impact.

Qualifications

• Senior leader with deep expertise in exoneration programs and post-conviction litigation.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and budgets.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and IP values.

Responsibilities

• Organizational Leadership: implement IP strategy across program departments and report to the Executive Director.
• Program Leadership: guide Post-conviction Litigation, Intake, Special Litigation, and Social Work with senior directors.
• People and Team Management: coach directors, set goals, monitor progress, and allocate resources.
• Policy and operations alignment: ensure coherence and integration across programs to maximize impact.

Skills

Organizational leadership

Strategic planning

Litigation experience

Equity & inclusion

Job description

Position Description

ABOUT THE INNOCENCE PROJECT

The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism. Since our inception, the Innocence Project has used DNA and other scientific advancements to prove wrongful conviction. To date, we have helped to free or exonerate more than 250 people who, collectively, spent more than 3,600 years behind bars. Our efforts have led to the passage of more than 200 transformative state laws and federal reforms. Today, the Innocence Project continues to fight for freedom, drive structural change, and advance the innocence movement. To learn more, please visit www.innocenceproject.org.

About The Position

The Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support is responsible for oversight, management, and supervision of the following program areas: Post-conviction Litigation, which provides pro-bono legal representation to approximately 200 innocent people who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit; Special Litigation, which provides pro-bono legal representation in some of the Innocence Project’s most high profile and complex post-conviction cases, including but not limited to people sentenced to death and caregivers wrongly convicted of the deaths of harming children; Social Work, which provides trauma-informed support to formerly incarcerated Innocence Project clients as they transition from prison to community; and Intake & Case Evaluation which is responsible for reviewing and analyzing the 2000 requests for representation that the Innocence Project receives every year and identifying those that present a legally viable way to prove innocence. The Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support serves as a primary thought partner to the talented, creative, and hardworking team of experienced professionals that they lead. They are responsible for keeping the teams under their supervision aligned, focused, motivated, and high performing to ensure the effectiveness and quality of work in each area.

This role is a member of the Senior Leadership Team, serving as an essential organizational leader with responsibilities that extend beyond their department. In this capacity, the Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support is responsible for contributing to the overall direction, strategy, and health of the organization.

Specifically, They Are Responsible For

• effectively managing department staff to encourage alignment, motivation and high-performance,
• contributing to organization wide strategic planning, decision making, and resource allocation,
• achieving departmental objectives and regularly reporting on the department’s progress and outcomes to the Board, senior leadership, and the IP staff during office-wide meetings, and
• modeling the Innocence Project’s values of an inclusive and respectful workplace and encouraging the same from their staff.

The Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support reports to the Executive Director, and also works closely with all members of the Senior Leadership Team – including the Chief Program Officer, Policy, Research, and Prevention, Chief People and Culture Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Communications Officer, and the Chief Development Officer – to advance the vision, strategy, goals, integration and cohesion of the Innocence Project.

The Chief Program Officer, Exoneration Strategy & Support will model the Innocence Project’s values of an inclusive and respectful workplace and encourage the same from their staff. All Innocence Project employees must model our IP Values of accountability, collaboration, empathy + compassion, equity, person-centeredness, quality focus, and self-awareness. In addition, they must embrace, respect and value the rich diversity of perspectives and lived experience of our staff. We recognize and appreciate that our work is better for having varied participants and thought partners.

We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor visas and we are not an e-verify employer.

The duties of this position require approximately 40 hours of work per week to be performed virtually/in-office. We currently have a hybrid in-office model, with all employees in the office three days per week and the remainder of the week remotely. Wednesday is our organization’s “anchor day” where all staff works in the office. The number of required in-office days is subject to change.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

The Innocence Project seeks an experienced senior leader with deep expertise in criminal legal system reform litigation – especially in the post-conviction context – and complex, multi-program environments. They bring a strong track record of organizational leadership, strategic alignment, and operational oversight across multidisciplinary teams. They are skilled at setting direction, building coherence across programs, and ensuring accountability, performance, and effective execution at scale. This leader is a thought partner to senior colleagues, able to translate organizational strategy into clear priorities and sustained outcomes. They lead with clarity, emotional intelligence, and sound judgment, and are deeply committed to advancing equity, inclusion, and the mission and values of the Innocence Project.

In addition, the ideal candidate models our IP Values of accountability, collaboration, empathy + compassion, equity, person-centeredness, quality focus, and self-awareness. All Innocence Project employees must embrace, respect and value the rich diversity of perspectives and lived experience of our staff. We recognize and appreciate that our work is better for having varied participants and thought partners. The ideal candidate is someone who thrives in this type of environment.

Essential Job Functions

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

• Report to the Executive Director and work in partnership with the Senior Leadership Team to implement the Innocence Project’s strategic vision and plan for its substantive program departments;
• Serve as a spokesperson for the Innocence Project, with the Executive Director, Program Directors, and staff, articulating the Innocence Project’s positions on a broad range of issues to the public and diverse stakeholder constituencies;
• Collaborate closely and intentionally with the Chief Program Officer, Policy, Research, and Prevention to ensure that insights from exoneration cases inform policy, research, and strategic litigation cases. Support collaboration, communication and alignment between strategic litigation, post-conviction litigation and special litigation dockets;
• Cultivate, build and maintain strategic relationships to advance the Innocence Project’s mission, to engage on shared priorities, and to exchange knowledge and information.

Program Leadership

• Maintain deep expertise in Exoneration Programs, including Post-conviction Litigation, Intake, Special Litigation, and Social Work and work closely with those Program Directors to provide strategic thought-partnership and guidance;
• Collaborate with Directors of Post-conviction Litigation and Special Litigation teams to identify relevant and emerging legal issues, opportunities for amicus briefs, and current trends, opportunities and challenges in wrongful conviction litigation;
• Collaborate with the Director of Intake to monitor the efficiency of IP’s operational and structural intake processes and track relevant developments and advancements across the Network;
• Partner with the Director of Social work as they navigate social science research and emerging trends in the provision of social work support to innocent people who were wrongly convicted of crimes;
• Ensure regular collaboration with Directors of Post-conviction Litigation and Special Litigation to ensure consistency and integration of litigation goals and to improve operations, communications, and effectiveness;
• Plan and manage budgets with Directors of Post-conviction Litigation, Intake, Special Litigation, and Social Work and ensure effective use of organizational resources to ensure accountability and excellent stewardship;
• Cultivate, coordinate and maintain pro bono legal relationships and resources.

People And Team Management

• Foster formal and informal cross-Program collaboration, identify opportunities and create strategies for further integration, communication, and cooperation;
• In partnership with Directors of Post-conviction Litigation, Intake, Special Litigation, and Social Work, set goals, monitor progress, evaluate outcomes, solve problems, and evaluate resource allocation;
• Effectively manage and coach Directors as they supervise high performing program staff;
• Develop and manage processes for teams as required to enhance clarity, efficiency, efficacy, and morale.

SALARY RANGE

$229,500 - $298,000. Salary commensurate with experience.