Apply Now: Director of State Policy

About the role – Director of State Policy
iCivics seeks a Policy Director to assist with our CivxNow project and lead our state policy advocacy work. This individual will support policy and advocacy work, coalition-building, social media, event planning, research, state policy strategy, and other departmental needs. This role reports to Shawn Healy, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Advocacy and Strategy:
  • Facilitating virtual and in-person meetings with state policymakers.
  • Utilizing state-level policy knowledge to advance overall policy strategy.
  • Providing technical assistance to state affiliates, legislators, and public administrators.
  • In partnership with state affiliates, coordinating grassroots and grasstops outreach campaigns across multiple states.
• Communications:
  • Conducting outreach to partner organizations related to relevant projects of interest to their networks.
  • Assisting with the development of monthly newsletters and other initiative campaigns.
  • In partnership with the federal policy associate, managing and posting to the CivxNow social media account, and maintaining and updating the CivxNow website.
• Coalition Building:
  • Recruiting state partners to the CivxNow Coalition and responding to partner organization inquiries.
  • Managing grant opportunities to state coalitions.
  • Serving as a panelist and guest speaker for public programs and events and an interview source for journalists writing about state K-12 civic education policy.
• Research:
  • Developing and maintaining a database of existing state civic education policies.
  • Formulating model legislation for incorporation into prospective state policies.
  • Monitoring active legislation in states on an ongoing basis.

What you’ll need

• 10+ years of overall professional experience with a minimum of 5 years in state policy/politics.
• Passion for and/or experience in K-12 education policy is a plus.
• Demonstrated success at building and managing state-level coalitions, including grassroots activation in pursuit of a policy agenda, and effective relationship-building and maintenance skills.
• Strong communication skills, including media training, social media savvy, and an ability to build a compelling narrative for stronger state K-12 civic education policies.
• Ability to handle multiple deadlines and complete assignments with minimal supervision in a fast-paced workplace.
• Impeccable organization; you are someone who gets a real sense of satisfaction from producing polished work and managing smooth and orderly processes.

Who you are:

• An Effective Collaborator. You’ve successfully worked across cultural lines on a dispersed team, and you have the ability to operate in complex situations. You can easily gain trust from team members and are known for supporting them to ensure they are set up for success. You’re not afraid to ask questions.
• Flexible. You can manage a diverse set of team needs and aren’t afraid to step outside your job description or comfort zone to help the team reach its goals. You’re comfortable with shifting schedules and don’t expect every day to go “as planned.”
• A Self-Starter. You are ambitious in pursuit of aggressive goals and results-oriented.
• An Abundant Thinker. You believe that we are living in a world of abundant resources and that the right team of partners can make improbable things happen. You bring relentless curiosity and creativity to every task, project, and engagement.
• Committed to Inclusion. You’re always asking: “whose voice is not at the table?” You have experience working with diverse teams and successfully navigating cross-cultural communication in both local and global contexts, and you deeply value creating a workplace that is supportive of difference.
• Mission-oriented. You believe that lasting, meaningful change comes from the grassroots: from the organized efforts of people, communities, and organizations to enliven the social imagination, envision a better future, experiment with and scale new ideas.

Compensation and Location
iCivics provides its employees with a competitive salary that is benchmarked annually with other nonprofits. iCivics also provides a comprehensive benefits package, including generous health insurance for individuals and competitive rates for families/dependents, 24 PTO days and all federal holidays, a 3% match to retirement, and a collegial environment that supports professional development, wellness, and flexible telecommuting options.

Compensation for this role starts at $100K and can increase based on the candidate’s level of experience.

We are location agnostic when it comes to this hire, though travel will be an important part of the role with an expected 12-18 trips per year (most quick overnights). Living close to a major airport in the middle of the country will be advantageous to the candidate but will not weigh into our decision.

The Application Process
iCivics has engaged Equitable Hiring Group to support this hiring process. To apply, please complete the short form on the right of this page.

Individuals who apply by Wednesday, February 23rd, will be given priority; therefore, we encourage you to submit yours soon!

When you apply, please remove the names of your undergraduate and graduate schools from your resume. There is no need to reformat your resume, but simplify it to “B.A. Economics,” for example. This “bias-free” process is aimed at opening this opportunity to more candidates, reviewing applicants on performance assessments instead of resume proxies (e.g., where you went to school).

This evaluation process will follow best practices shown to reduce bias in decision making and may be different from other application processes you have experienced.

The overall evaluation process will look to follow this anticipated timeline:

• Late February: Selected candidates asked to complete short answer questions
• Early March: Phone interview with iCivics Staff
• Early March: Finalist candidates will be asked to complete a timed trial assignment
• Mid-March: Finalists will participate in a multi-team member group interview via video conference.
  • References will also be checked at this step.
• Late March: Offer extended.

If you have any questions about the opportunity, please feel free to email abe@equitablehiringgroup.com.