Senior Campaign Lead, Democracy

ACLU - National Office; Washington; Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous paid time off

Healthcare benefits

401(k) with employer match

Professional development funds

Job summary

ACLU - National Office in Washington, D.C. seeks a Senior Campaign Lead, Democracy in the National Political Advocacy Department. This hybrid role requires in-office presence two days per week or eight days per month.

The role leads democracy campaigns, develops goals, strategy, and partnerships, and manages campaigns across legislative, administrative, and electoral levers with a focus on equity and civil liberties.

Qualifications

• Significant experience with issue advocacy and/or electoral campaigning at federal, state, and/or local levels.
• Experience designing campaign strategy and executing campaign plans and tactics.
• Ability to work independently as well as within a team; lead project teams as relevant.
• Experience building, leading, and working within coalitions.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, handle many tasks, and meet deadlines.
• Experience doing advocacy on both issue campaigns and electoral campaigns.
• Experience doing legislative and administrative advocacy.
• Experience doing grassroots organizing.

Responsibilities

• Lead campaigns on core issues in the democracy portfolio, including election safeguarding and voting rights.
• Develop strategic goals, plans, and budgets to advance key political outcomes.
• Manage a team and coordinate with the Director and Chief Political & Advocacy Officer.
• Engage with affiliates, policy staff, and other senior stakeholders to expand influence.
• Plan and execute on-the-ground meetings, events, and campaigns in priority jurisdictions.

Skills

Issue advocacy

Campaign management

Strategy design

Coalitions

Independent work

Grassroots organizing

Travel

Job description

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Senior Campaign Lead, Democracy in the National Political Advocacy Department of the ACLU’s National office in Washington, D.C . This is ahybrid rolethat has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month.

The National Political Advocacy Department builds power to achieve an accountable, representative democracy. We have ambitious goals across Reproductive Freedom, Democracy and Voting Rights, Systemic Equality, Immigration, Trans Justice, Criminal Justice and other core issues in order to protect and expand civil rights and civil liberties, and advance the freedom, equality, ability to prosper, and humanity of all People.

Our department conducts analysis, develops policy, crafts world class campaigns and situates the ACLU to have impact across legislative, administrative, and electoral levers. We are policy experts, lawyers, community organizers, lobbyists, campaign strategists, electoral specialists, program managers and more. We partner across the ACLU to drive national efforts, and support and amplify the priorities of our affiliates. We work to center principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in our approach.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

The Senior Campaign Lead, Democracy will report to the Director of National Campaigns, Democracy within the National Campaigns Division.

YOUR DAY TO DAY

• Reporting to the Director of National Campaigns, Democracy, help to manage a team charged with charting the course for the ACLU’s political agenda, specifically the organization’s democracy program.
• This position will lead campaigns on core issues in the ACLU democracy portfolio, including election safeguarding, structural democracy reform, voting rights, privacy and surveillance and others.
• In conjunction with the Director of National Campaigns, Democracy, provide leadership in the development of novel goals, strategy, and vision, and the strategic plans necessary to advance key political outcomes
• Identify areas of work that should be prioritized, developing an annual slate of priorities that help drive the core work of the program
• Provide strategic advice and counsel to the Director of National Campaigns, Democracy and Chief Political & Advocacy Officer in areas of expertise and in efforts to lead the department’s engagements; lead the team in the Director of National Campaigns, Democracy’s absence, as designated
• Design and lead complex, multi-tooled campaigns from planning to execution, spearheading the development of robust campaign goals, plans, strategies, tactics, and budgets to achieve outcomes in specific areas
• Lead legislative and administrative campaigns, with minimal need for management level guidance
• Utilize a wide variety of sophisticated campaign tactics and tools
• Successfully employ constituent and/or voter targeting, developing advertisements (TV, radio, print), polling, and developing creative campaign tactics for earned media or other purposes
• Retain and manage vendors and consultants
• Work closely with the Organizing Division on developing field plans for relevant campaigns
• Coordinate the day-to-day activities of the staff working on campaigns in matrixed structure
• Work in coordination with other senior stakeholders, affiliate staff, and national staff, including policy staff within the political advocacy department
• Develop strategic partnerships that expand the ACLU’s influence in ways the ACLU would otherwise not have operating alone
• Convene and execute on-the-ground meetings, planning, and campaign events in priority jurisdictions
• Exercise significant independent judgment to solve problems and determine creative solutions
• Assume a senior advisory role, including by serving as project manager for specially designated campaigns or programming
• Represent the department in internal and external context, as the leader of the specially designated campaign/programming
• Demonstrate an ability to be flexible and adjust priorities as necessary in order to adapt to changing external environment
• Help develop staff capacity to work together collaboratively and grow issue expertise
• Support efforts to recruit staff, and further strengthen the Department
• Engage in other leadership and management duties as assigned
• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned

FUTURE ACLU’ERS WILL

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Significant experience with issue advocacy and/or electoral campaigning at the federal, state, and/or local levels, including campaign management experience
• Significant experience designing campaign strategy and executing campaign plans and tactics
• Ability to work independently as well as within a team; leading project teams as relevant
• Experience building, leading, and working within coalitions
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, simultaneously handle many tasks; work efficiently, meeting multiple deadlines, while remaining composed under pressure
• Experience doing advocacy on both issue campaigns and electoral campaigns
• Experience doing legislative and administrative advocacy
• Experience doing grassroots organizing
• Fluency, expertise and experience in multiple ACLU issue areas, a plus
• Sophisticated judgment; experience giving advice or counsel to a principal preferred
• Comfort with policy, including an ability to efficiently and effectively weave policy objectives into campaign execution
• Willingness to travel

COMPENSATION

The ACLU is committed to equity, transparency, and clarity in pay. Consistent with our compensation philosophy, there is a set salary for each role based on geographic work location. The annual salary for this position is $196,369 (Level D), reflecting the salary of a position based in New York, NY. Salaries are subject to a regional pay adjustment if authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.

For details on our pay structure, please visit: https://www.aclu.org/careers/ACLU_Geographic_Pay_Structure-July_2024.pdf

WHY THE ACLU

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being.

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy
• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

OUR COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY, EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email [e-mail]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The Department of Education has determined that employment in this position at the ACLU does not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.