Senior Strategist

Reason Foundation; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6% 401(k) match, immediate vesting

Flexible time off

Health and dental plans

Wellness and mental health support (Pe

Talkspace)

Job summary

Stand Together is seeking a Senior Strategist on the Strategic Analysis team to serve as a trusted advisor to issue teams, turning data into clear point-of-view strategies and producing materials for partners and stakeholders. You will work embedded with Priority Initiatives, from early strategy to final deliverables, applying rigorous frameworks and a writing-first approach.

This senior individual contributor role requires calm in ambiguity, the ability to distill complex information, and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in strategy, consulting, policy analysis, research, or a similar advisory role.
• Proven skill at turning large amounts of qualitative and quantitative information into strategic recommendations.
• Strong writing and speaking skills, including the ability to distill complex analysis into a clear point of view for senior leaders.
• Curiosity, sound judgment, and a strong ability to see complex social and organizational challenges as a system.
• Fluency in the social change, policy, and political landscape, and the ability to learn a new issue fast.
• Comfort as a senior individual contributor who leads through influence, including with senior leaders who do not report to you.
• A collaborative mindset: you support the team accountable for the strategy and use sound judgment about when to challenge it.
• High standards of professionalism, integrity, and discretion.
• Preferred: consulting experience, ideally embedded with a client team that kept ownership of its strategy, and a track record of turning complex ideas into frameworks or tools other teams can use.
• Ability to build professional, polished products — decks, documents, and materials that meet a high bar for clarity and visual quality, not just analytical rigor.

Responsibilities

• Advise Priority Initiative leaders: Partner with an issue leader from start to finish: point of view, strategy, resource planning, performance checks, and materials for partners and stakeholders.
• Lead research and insight: Direct research that draws on internal knowledge, outside data, and experts, so strategy rests on facts.
• Shape strategy with proven frameworks: Apply and sharpen proven models, such as audience engagement strategy, point-of-view development, and marginal analysis, to turn knowledge into clear recommendations.
• Set the standard for written work: Hold materials to our shared written standard, and bring lessons from across Priority Initiatives instead of starting from scratch.
• Lead through influence: Build trust fast with leaders outside your reporting line, and hold a well-reasoned outside view when the pressure is to align.
• Scale what works: Help build the standards, tools, and frameworks our teams use to plan and assess their work, so good work builds on itself.

Skills

Strategy experience

Qualitative & quantitative analysis

Strong writing & communication

Systems thinking

Policy landscape knowledge

Senior stakeholder influence

Collaborative teamwork

Professionalism & discretion

Consulting experience (preferred)

Project management

Job description

Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, thought leadership, a network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.

As a Senior Strategist on Stand Together’s Strategic Analysis team, you will be a trusted advisor to our issue teams on their hardest questions. Our team builds the research, insights, and standards behind our Priority Initiatives. These are the teams that lead our work on issues like Unleashing Economic Growth and Mobility and Bridging Divides. You will work embedded with one of them, from early strategy to finished materials.

You will use research, our internal knowledge, and experts across the organization to build points of view and strategies. Then you will write them up so our staff and stakeholders can act on them. You will bring rigor to the issue leader’s hardest questions. The issue leader stays accountable for the strategy.

This role fits a senior individual contributor who thinks like an advisor. You stay calm in ambiguity. You can turn a lot of data and information into one clear point of view. And you like helping other teams turn strategy into impact.

How You Will Contribute

• Advise Priority Initiative leaders: Partner with an issue leader from start to finish: point of view, strategy, resource planning, performance checks, and materials for partners and stakeholders. Serve as their trusted thought partner.
• Lead research and insight: Direct research that draws on internal knowledge, outside data, and experts, so strategy rests on facts.
• Shape strategy with proven frameworks: Apply and sharpen proven models, such as audience engagement strategy, point-of-view development, and marginal analysis, to turn knowledge into clear recommendations.
• Set the standard for written work: Hold materials to our shared written standard, and bring lessons from across Priority Initiatives instead of starting from scratch.
• Lead through influence: Build trust fast with leaders outside your reporting line, and hold a well-reasoned outside view when the pressure is to align.
• Scale what works: Help build the standards, tools, and frameworks our teams use to plan and assess their work, so good work builds on itself.

What You Will Bring

• 8+ years of experience in strategy, consulting, policy analysis, research, or a similar advisory role
• Proven skill at turning large amounts of qualitative and quantitative information into strategic recommendations
• Strong writing and speaking skills, including the ability to distill complex analysis into a clear point of view for senior leaders
• Curiosity, sound judgment, and a strong ability to see complex social and organizational challenges as a system
• Fluency in the social change, policy, and political landscape, and the ability to learn a new issue fast
• Comfort as a senior individual contributor who leads through influence, including with senior leaders who do not report to you
• A collaborative mindset: you support the team accountable for the strategy and use sound judgment about when to challenge it
• High standards of professionalism, integrity, and discretion
• Preferred: consulting experience, ideally embedded with a client team that kept ownership of its strategy, and a track record of turning complex ideas into frameworks or tools other teams can use
• Ability to build professional, polished products — decks, documents, and materials that meet a high bar for clarity and visual quality, not just analytical rigor.
• Proven ability to drive a project independently — setting clear goals and milestones, staying organized across multiple threads, and communicating progress clearly to stakeholders along the way.
• Enthusiasm to contribute to Stand Together’s vision and principled approach to solving problems, and a commitment to stewarding our culture, which champions values including transformation and innovation, entrepreneurialism, humility, and respect.

What We Offer

• Competitive benefits: Enjoy a 6% 401(k) match with immediate vesting, flexible time off, comprehensive health and dental plans, plus wellness and mental health support through Peloton and Talkspace.
• A meaningful career: Join a passionate community of over 1,300 employees dedicated to improving lives and driving innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
• Commitment to growth: Thrive in a non-hierarchical environment that empowers employees to discover, develop and apply their unique talents.

For this role, the anticipated base salary range is $140,000 – $175,000 per year. In addition to base salary, additional bonus earnings may represent a meaningful portion of total compensation. Total compensation will align with an employee’s overall contribution and the value created for the organization.

Our Principles-Based Management™ (PBM) compensation philosophy is grounded in an individualized approach that rewards the long-term value each person creates for the organization. Compensation decisions are informed by a variety of factors, including relevant experience, capabilities, demonstrated skills, role responsibilities, and expected contribution. Consistent with this approach, base salary may vary within or outside of the anticipated range based on these considerations.

Our Values: Working at Stand Together is different from many other organizations. Our culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom-up empowerment. PBM® empowers our employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.

We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success, and that’s why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, respect and sensitivity.

Our Values: Working for an organization within the Stand Together philanthropic community is different from many other places. The culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom-up empowerment. PBM® empowers employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.

We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. That is why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, and respect.

140000 - 175000 USD a year