Political Manager

MN350; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

MN350 is seeking a Political Manager to bridge policy, organizing, and communications in Minnesota. You will collaborate with the Executive Director, staff, and volunteers to advise on winnable issues in local and statewide debates and to engage policymakers who advance climate justice.

You will lead relationship building across government levels, coordinate strategic meetings, and help translate grassroots campaigns into a focused political agenda that advances just transitions and treaty

Qualifications

• Have 4+ years of professional-level experience in electoral politics, issue advocacy, lobbying, or related field.
• Have 2+ years of political organizing with 2+ years in leadership roles.
• Be highly organized with strength in political analysis and community-based power-building.
• Track record of collaborating across diverse stakeholder groups while working independently.
• Have 2+ years of nonprofit experience and building coalitions.

Responsibilities

• Build power by strengthening relationships and engaging policymakers at city, county, state, and federal levels.
• Arrange political meetings for the Executive Director and prepare written statements as needed.
• Integrate grassroots organizing findings into a winnable political agenda.
• Identify where MN350 should focus energy to advance just transitions.
• Suggest strategies to leverage existing power to push Minnesota toward climate solutions.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director on internal and external communications and messaging.
• Educate policymakers about treaty rights and Indigenous sovereignty with policy and legal teams.

Skills

Organizational skills

Political analysis

Community organizing

Leadership

Written and verbal communication

Analytical thinker

Job description

About The Position

MN350’s Political Manager position brings strategic and relational capacity at the intersection of policy and our communities in deep collaboration with our MN350 and MN350 Action organizing and communications teams. The Political Manager works with the Executive Director, staff, and volunteer organizers to engage and advise internal stakeholders on winnable political issues in local and statewide policy debates. In collaboration with the Executive Director, the Political Manager works with policymakers to repair our public processes and treaty promises. MN350 and MN350 Action seek to grow our constituency base from 35,000 to 50,000 by 2024 by building relationships with policymakers who champion climate justice and by actively supporting and holding them accountable for securing large-scale legislation and climate action plans for clean air, clean water, a stable climate, and an equitable future for all, first and foremost for communities most harmed.

What We’re Looking For

MN350 is leading Minnesota’s efforts to address climate change through a commitment to climate justice. We have been on the front lines of many climate justice campaigns and are looking to build capacity at the front lines of policy change.

We are looking for a dynamic, relational professional who knows how to navigate the complexities of the political process, policy, and political organizing. Most of our staff are organizers, and we need a Political Manager who can align political action with what is emerging through grassroots organizing. We need the Political Manager to help us understand what is possible politically in any given year and also integrate that into the passions of our organizing teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Build power by building productive relationships and leading our engagement with policymakers at all levels of governance (city, county, state, federal)
• Set up political meetings for the Executive Director, including written statements as appropriate.
• Integrate with staff and volunteer organizers what is emerging through our organizing campaigns with a winnable political change agenda
• Discern where it makes most sense for MN350 to invest our political energy to advance just transitions
• Use our theory of change and recommend approaches to leverage our existing power to persistently push the state of Minnesota to invest in just climate solutions across Minnesota
• Collaborate with the Executive Director to provide input and strategic thinking into the organization’s internal and external communication and messaging
• Partner with policy and legal professionals and our Indigenous organizing team to educate policymakers, particularly non-Native policymakers, about treaty rights and obligations and impress on them the importance of upholding treaties and Indigenous sovereignty

This is a job posting, not a detailed work plan. Responsibilities in this posting will inform regular work plans including short-term goals and day-to-day assignments.

Qualifications

• Have 4+ years of professional-level (paid or unpaid) experience in electoral politics, issue advocacy, lobbying, movement building, community organizing, or a closely related field
• Have 2+ years of professional experience in political organizing with 2+ years in leadership roles
• Be highly organized with a strength in political analysis and community-based power-building
• Have a track record for collaborating effectively within and across diverse groups of stakeholders while also working independently and taking appropriate initiative
• Have 2+ years of experience working in a nonprofit setting and a comfort level navigating in the nonprofit arena and working effectively to build and maintain networks and coalitions

Relations & Leadership Skills

• Ability to collaborate and integrate grassroots ideas with political realities
• Proven commitment to embodied leadership with ability to cultivate the leadership of others while also managing several tasks and projects concurrently
• Ability to plan and manage multiple projects, consult with various stakeholders, anticipate obstacles, manage timelines, keep staff and volunteers engaged and maintain good spirits.
• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills; ability to manage an unpredictable workflow and flexibility to respond thoughtfully and quickly.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Understanding of the structural nature of power and inequity with demonstrated ability to transform it.
• Relationally organized, having significant experience working with Black, Indigenous, People of Color, broad coalitions and multiracial communities, proven ability to build rapport and trust with others.
• Familiarity with transformative justice, healing justice, and decolonization frameworks with willingness to stretch, imagine, and manifest practices within the organizational culture.
• Personal commitment to operating from a place of hope, abundance and optimism
• Analytical and creative thinker

Political Process And Analysis

• Working knowledge of state and national legislative and regulatory processes, with proven track record of identifying opportunities for public engagement
• Experience with legislation incubation