Director of Labor and Coalition Relations

Jewish California; California; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Jewish California is seeking a senior advocacy leader to build and sustain relationships with labor unions, education governance bodies, and LGBTQ/interfaith partners across California. You will advance antisemitism initiatives, coordinate with a small remote team, and report to the CEO on progress and risks while shaping a statewide coalition.

You will map leadership landscapes, identify priorities, and drive joint actions such as letters, events, and campaigns.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in coalition-building, government relations, community organizing, or related advocacy work.
• Demonstrated track record of building relationships across difference, including during periods of tension or historical distrust.
• Working knowledge of California’s labor and education-governance landscape, or a strong foundation in multi-stakeholder coalition work.
• Clear personal commitment to combating antisemitism and to Jewish California’s mission.
• Sound political judgment and diplomacy, with ability to navigate difficult conversations.
• Strong, clear writing and ability to work autonomously on a small, fully remote team.

Responsibilities

• Build and sustain relationships with California’s major labor unions and education governance bodies.
• Represent Jewish California’s priorities, including antisemitism, to leadership.
• Repair strained relationships with CEO-guided staged path toward restoration.
• Build reciprocal partnerships with LGBTQ, interfaith, and identity-based organizations across California.
• Identify shared policy priorities and turn them into joint actions (coalition letters, events, advocacy).
• Represent Jewish California at community events, coalitions, and convenings outside our network.
• Coordinate with member organizations and colleagues to ensure coordinated efforts.
• Contribute to letters, statements, coalition materials, newsletters, press releases, and social media posts.
• Track relationships and engagement and report progress to the CEO.
• Assist with day-to-day operations and event logistics.

Skills

Coalition-building

Government relations

Strategic partnerships

Diplomacy

Strong writing

Autonomy

Job description

Responsibilities

Jewish California’s advocacy depends on relationships beyond the Jewish community. These include labor unions, institutions that govern California’s schools, and LGBTQ, interfaith, and identity-based organizations that share many of our policy goals. We work alongside these partners on anti-hate, social justice, human services, and civil rights priorities because they reflect our values.

Some of these relationships have grown strained. In recent years, some education unions and civil liberties organizations have opposed major antisemitism initiatives, at times in ways that have deepened distrust with the Jewish community. Other relationships, particularly across faith and identity communities, were tested after October 7, 2023, and have not yet been rebuilt.

This new role gives Jewish California dedicated capacity to build and repair these relationships. That means identifying partners for shared advocacy, showing up for their priorities as well as our own, representing the Jewish community’s values and concerns to them, and helping ensure the organizations we work with understand and take antisemitism seriously.

Labor and Institutional Relations

• Build and sustain working relationships with California’s major labor unions and education governance bodies. These include education unions, school management and governance associations, and labor organizations outside education where partnership is possible.
• Represent Jewish California’s priorities and concerns, including antisemitism, directly to their leadership.
• Where a relationship is strained, work with the CEO on a staged path toward repair, including when a concern needs to be raised more directly.

Coalition and Intergroup Relations

• Build reciprocal partnerships with LGBTQ, interfaith, and identity-based organizations across California, and help rebuild relationships strained after October 7.
• Identify shared policy priorities and turn them into joint action, such as coalition letters, events, and advocacy campaigns.
• Represent Jewish California at community events, coalitions, and convenings outside our network.
• Coordinate with member organizations already doing intergroup or labor work locally, and with colleagues managing relationships within the Jewish community, so our efforts complement theirs.

Strategy and Communications

• Contribute to letters, statements, coalition materials, newsletters, press releases, and social media posts tied to this work.
• Track relationships and engagement systematically and document them so they are shared across the team and stay with the organization.
• Report regularly to the CEO on progress, risks, and opportunities, and help set priorities across a broad portfolio.

General Support

• Take on special projects as assigned by the CEO, including policy work.
• As on any small team, help coordinate day-to-day operations and event logistics, and staff events.

What Success Looks Like

• First six months: You’ve mapped the leadership and landscape across the state’s major education unions and management associations. You’ve identified a first set of LGBTQ, interfaith, and identity-based partners, and work on at least one shared priority is underway.
• Year one: You have at least three visible, credible partnerships to point to, such as a joint letter, event, or shared advocacy win. You also have a clear read on which relationships are moving toward partnership and which need a different approach.
• Year two: These are durable, recurring relationships built on mutual respect, with a track record of showing up for partners before we need something from them.

Qualifications

Essential:

• 7+ years of experience in coalition-building, government relations, community organizing, or related advocacy work, including experience in politically complex, multi-stakeholder environments
• A demonstrated track record of building relationships across difference, ideally including during periods of tension or historical distrust
• Working knowledge of California’s labor and education-governance landscape, or an equally strong foundation in multi-stakeholder coalition work; we don’t expect deep expertise in both on day one
• A clear personal commitment to combating antisemitism and to Jewish California’s mission Sound political judgment and diplomacy, and the ability to navigate difficult conversations, including knowing when to build trust gradually and when a situation calls for a more direct approach
• Strong, clear writing
• Comfort working with autonomy on a small, fully remote team

Strong preference, not required:

• Direct experience with labor unions or the labor movement
• Existing relationships with LGBTQ, interfaith, or identity-based organizations in California
• Background in K-12 or higher education policy

No specific degree or field of study is required. We will evaluate candidates on the track record above.

About Jewish California

Jewish California (formerly JPAC) is the voice of California's Jewish community in Sacramento. A coalition of 46 leading Jewish community organizations across the state, we advocate on behalf of the Jewish community's concerns and broadly shared values, and work in coalition with allied organizations on the social justice, human services, and civil rights priorities we hold in common. Our member organizations collectively serve hundreds of thousands of Californians and represent the interests of California's 1.2 million Jews, making us the nation's largest statewide coalition of Jewish organizations.

Since 2022, Jewish California has advocated successfully for over $600 million in state funding for community priorities, and helped pass landmark legislation including AB 715, the first-in-the-nation law addressing antisemitism in K-12 schools.

This is an opportunity to build something from scratch: the relationships and infrastructure you create will shape how Jewish California engages with labor and social justice movements for years to come. You’ll have direct, regular access to the CEO and the authority to shape this portfolio. And you’ll be representing a statewide coalition, which gives you a credible platform to build partnerships.

Equal Opportunity & Diversity

Jewish California seeks to create a diverse work environment because teams are stronger with different perspectives and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnic background, gender, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. We encourage women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others from minority groups and diverse backgrounds to apply. All Jewish California employees and contractors are responsible for maintaining a work culture free from discrimination and harassment.