Managing Director

CAIR San Francisco Bay Area; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 133,738 - 167,184; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully paid health insurance

401(k) plan with employer match

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

A prominent nonprofit organization in Santa Clara is seeking a passionate Managing Director to lead its mission-driven team. This role involves overseeing departmental leads, supporting strategic initiatives, and ensuring effective collaboration. The ideal candidate will have at least five years of senior management experience in nonprofit settings and a strong commitment to social justice and community empowerment. Competitive salary, benefits, and a hybrid work model are offered.

Qualifications

• Minimum five years of senior-level management experience in nonprofit or social justice.
• Alignment with CAIR's mission and understanding of American Muslim community issues.
• Experience in assessing and scaling organizations, evaluating programs, and facilitating staff development.

Responsibilities

• Serve as second-in-command across departments and ensure alignment with the Executive Director's vision.
• Directly supervise departmental leads and support campaign coordination.
• Support development and implementation of CAIR-SFBA's strategic plan.

Skills

Senior management experience

Strong communication skills

Relationship building

Emotionally intelligent leadership

Flexibility under pressure

Education

Five years of senior-level management experience

Knowledge of American Muslim community issues

Tools

SharePoint

MS Office

Quickbooks

Asana

Job description

CAIR San Francisco Bay Area is seeking a strategic, values-driven candidate for its new full-time Managing Director position. This role is essential to scaling the organization's impact, strengthening internal coordination, and supporting a high-performing, mission-aligned team. The ideal candidate will bring significant senior management experience across program oversight, staff supervision, and operational systems-along with a deep commitment to justice, equity, and the empowerment of American Muslim communities. This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned leader ready to help steer one of the nation's most impactful Muslim civil rights organizations through its next chapter of growth and transformation.

Location

Based in CAIR's Santa Clara office. CAIR staff are currently working a hybrid schedule, with three days in-person and two days remote

Schedule Type

Full-time. Exempt. Occasional evenings and weekends required

Reporting Relationships

Reports to Executive Director

Requirements

Ability to travel throughout the Bay Area (vehicle and driver's license required); must be authorized to work in the United States

Key Responsibilities

Organizational Leadership

• Serve as second-in-command and internal leader across all departments, ensuring alignment with the Executive Director's vision
• Lead weekly cross-departmental check-ins and ensure team accountability to org-wide priorities
• Facilitate day-to-day management of the organization and represent the Executive Director

Staff Supervision & Coordination

• Directly supervise departmental leads, including legal, programs, development, and communications
• Ensure timely coordination and support for campaigns, reports, and grant deliverables
• Facilitate professional development planning and team performance review cycles
• Play a key role in developing annual staff strategic planning sessions; oversee staff training budgets and professional development goals

Strategic Planning & Execution

• Support development and implementation of CAIR-SFBA's strategic plan
• Track progress on goals, draft internal progress reports, and surface cross-team opportunities or risks
• Assist with external-facing projects and organizational partnerships as needed

Operational & Financial Alignment

• Partner with Operations Manager on internal systems improvements
• Collaborate with Executive Director and Development team to ensure budgetary alignment with program priorities
• Participate in financial planning processes and funding strategy development

Culture & Communications

• Help foster a high-performance, values-driven culture of trust, equity, and accountability
• Support transparent communication across the organization and between leadership and staff
• Collaborate with statewide leadership on shared initiatives, systems, and reporting
• Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership team members, including the CAIR-SFBA Executive Director, and the CAIR-CA Operations Team in developing internal processes and driving culture shifts as we grow

Other Duties

Other duties as assigned, dependent on organizational needs and employee skills. All CAIR staff are required to assist in general duties such as answering phones, weekly outreach, and other office tasks.

Required Qualifications

• At minimum five years of senior-level management experience, preferably in a nonprofit, social justice, advocacy, or public policy organization
• Alignment with CAIR's mission, knowledge of the realities facing the American Muslim community, and a deep desire to work in an organization whose mission and culture are rooted in Islamic values, including justice, courage, and collaboration
• Experience assessing and scaling an organization, building infrastructure and efficiency; and overseeing, developing, aligning and evaluating programs Experience creating, investing in, uplifting, and managing individual staff and teams; strong, inclusive facilitation skills; experience building the leadership capacity of team members to innovate and achieve high impact
• Strong relationship builder and communicator who values equity and justice, collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning
• Excellent oral and written communication skills including public speaking experience
• Excellent interpersonal skills both in person and by phone, with a high degree of professionalism and ability to interface with staff, community leaders, volunteers, legislators, government agencies, and other key stakeholders
• Emotionally intelligent with thoughtful and collaborative leadership style; an open mind and learning spirit
• Grounded while working in a fast-paced environment; track record of inspiring confidence internally and externally, excellent judgement, measured and operationally savvy
• Detail and process-oriented; willing to roll up their sleeves and do whatever it takes in a pinch; flexible. Can prioritize between and manage multiple demands Knowledge of cloud applications such as SharePoint, Office365, Quickbooks, and Asana;
• Basic computer proficiency including knowledge of MS Office, MS Outlook, and Adobe Acrobat Preferred Qualifications Experience working in Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and/or South Asian communities
• Experience working with a political action committee and/or a grassroots campaign

Compensation

• Compensation in the range of $133,738-$167,184, commensurate with experience
• Fully paid Kaiser Health Insurance and Blue Cross PPO Dental Plan for employee and dependents,401(k) plan with an employer match
• 12 paid holidays, 10 sick days, and 12 vacation days

To Apply

Please submit (1) a cover letter discussing your interest in the position, (2) your resume, and (3) the names and contact information of three references. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis.

CAIR-CA is an equal-opportunity employer and adheres to all federal, state, and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination.