Senior Director of Protective Strategies

ABOUT EVERYBODY VOTES CAMPAIGN

Everybody Votes Campaign (EVC) is a national non-partisan, not-for-profit hiring staff for a large-scale coordinated civic engagement campaign active through the 2024 election cycle. The campaign aims to create a more representative democracy by registering millions of underrepresented voters across the country. This effort focuses on voter registration in a targeted fashion by conducting at-scale, effective, efficient, metrics-driven registration work. Through this work, we seek to fundamentally change the make-up of the electorate and to increase the political power of traditionally underrepresented communities in our democracy. 

We directly fund organizations who execute voter registration and run quality control operations. We are dedicated to being active participants with the organizations to ensure their programs are effective and promote an investment in the future of emerging communities.

Position 

The campaign seeks an individual with experience in crisis management and strategic communications to serve as the Senior Director of Protective Strategies. The Senior Director of Protective Strategies will be responsible for protecting the organization’s reputation and ability to pursue the campaign’s core goal of maximizing civic engagement among communities of color from both substantive and perceived communications risks. Reporting to the organization’s Chief of Staff and working closely with the organization’s external legal counsel and crisis communications consultants , the ideal candidate will be a communications and political expert who is clear eyed about the assault on voting rights, is a relentless problem solver, and embraces being the first line of defense in a crisis for an organization that believes our partners should be the face of the work. 

The Senior Director of Protective Strategies will:

• Manage coordination and tools of the organization’s external communications and messaging

• Manage and facilitate the process of each relevant stakeholder’s crisis communication plan, including the creation of templates and the tracking of the crisis communication plan approval process

• Be the primary point of contact for communications within the organization and manage a team of experienced consultants and potentially a support team 

• Look ahead to state and federal laws and policies, understand each environment, and support partners by providing resources, expertise, and guidance

• Investigate potential overreach and disenfranchisement on the part of government actors, including law enforcement

• Review formal agreements and new partnerships/ventures for risks

• Drive the development of comprehensive cross departmental processes for quickly and effectively identifying and responding to potential risk

• Advise on the development and implementation of organizational digital and physical security measures

• Consult and help on the production and analysis of informational briefs and slides for reports and research as needed, including within-cycle, ad hoc, and post after-election reports 

Core Competencies for EVC 

• Growth mindset: demonstrated ability to take and receive feedback with professionalism and grace from peers and staff as well as supervisors

• Relentlessly goal-oriented: enjoys working toward and achieving ambitious goals; willing to go over, under, around, or through any obstacle that gets in the way of meeting goals with a proven track record of creating and executing/managing comprehensive strategic goals

• Cultural competency: able to build relationships and collaborate with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders across multiple lines of identity difference

• Remains focused on problem solving while balancing multiple priorities within a constantly evolving political environment.

Required qualities for the Senior Director of Protective Strategies:

• A deep understanding of the risks associated with running voter registration programs designed to increase participation among historically racially marginalized communities in the United States 

• Familiarity with the full range of security threats facing organizations that seek to create a fairer and more representative electorate in the United States 

• Strong communication and strategic planning skills with the ability to organize complex ideas for others to understand 

• A mindset that hopes for the best but never stops preparing for the worst

• Ability to train and motivate others on effective communication, crisis management, security, and risk 

• Ability to be available on short notice outside of standard work hours and manage a system of coverage for all times, including weekends, so we’re able to quickly respond to specific incidents as required 

• Exceptional judgment on the appropriate ways to communicate in a crisis response situation, including when to include counsel 

• Solutions-oriented approach grounded in making actionable recommendations and practical assessments of realistic options 

• A collaborative approach to managing crises that balances the interests of the organization with the interest of partners and allies to find the best solution for all affected parties

• Proven ability to manage the organization’s crisis communications efforts and manage a team of experienced communications consultants 

• Demonstrated ability to utilize a project management system (e.g. Monday.com)

• Demonstrated ability to lead collaborative projects with allied organizations, vendors, and consultants

Helpful but not required:

• Experience working with VAN, Catalist, Civis, or other individual-level data and tools used to target and implement civic engagement programs

• Experience with databases and technologies used to target and implement civic engagement programs 

• Experience directly managing or running voter registration drives in the field 

• Experience using data and analytics to effectively drive decisions

BENEFITS AND CULTURE

We offer flexible remote forward work, and a generous benefits package; including 100% cost coverage of employee health benefits, 401K with an automatic employer contribution regardless of employee contribution level, virtual therapy, stipend for ergonomic office set ups and generous vacation and leave policies.

All employees must be eligible to work lawfully within the United States upon the commencement of employment. The organization does not sponsor visa applications for prospective or current staff.

Salary Range:  $152,000-$172,000

Our work is centered on creating a deeply inclusive and significantly more representative electorate. In order to be successful in this role, the candidate must have the cultural competence to successfully work with a diverse group of staff, partners and stakeholders. We especially strongly encourage applicants with close ties to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, non-English-speaking, disabled, and LGBTQ+ communities to apply. We are proudly an Equal Opportunity Employer.