Managing Director

Bay Rising

Managing Director

About the Organization

Bay Rising is a regional movement organization building grassroots power across the Bay Area to advance racial, economic, and social justice. Bay Rising anchors and coordinates a network of aligned local formations—including San Francisco Rising, Oakland Rising, and Silicon Valley Rising—working together to build regional political power through base-building, electoral organizing, issue-based campaigns, and coalition building.

Bay Rising serves as the organizational home for multiple projects, including Bay Resistance, a mass organizing network mobilizing communities to resist authoritarianism and defend impacted communities. Together, these projects engage tens of thousands of voters, volunteers, and community members across the region.

This position is shared with our sister entity Bay Rising Action, a separate 501(c)4.

Position Overview

Bay Rising seeks a Managing Director to provide senior leadership, coordination, and strategic management across its programmatic work. The Managing Director of Programs oversees Bay Rising’s projects, ensuring clarity and alignment of strategy, strong management, and measurable impact.

This role serves as the primary internal leader responsible for translating organizational vision into effective program plans, supporting the Executive Director and Project Directors, strengthening systems and culture, and ensuring programs are well-integrated across projects. The Managing Director of Programs works closely with the Executive Director and senior leadership team and plays a critical role in organizational decision-making.

This is a highly collaborative, cross-functional role suited for a seasoned movement leader with strong management skills and deep political analysis.

Key responsibilities

Strategic & Program Leadership

• Lead organizational strategic planning to advance Bay Rising’s mission and social justice goals.
• Translate long-term strategy into annual and quarterly priorities, work plans, and measurable success metrics, and oversee planning, pivoting, and evaluation processes across all programs and projects.
• Oversee Bay Rising projects, including Bay Resistance and Oakland Rising, ensuring programs are aligned with organizational strategy, values, and capacity.
• Support Program Directors and senior staff in execution, troubleshooting, and continuous improvement, establishing systems to track progress, assess impact, and integrate learning.
• Develop and refine staff structure, roles, and lines of responsibility to support organizational goals and operational effectiveness.
• Ensure clear decision-making processes and division of labor across senior leadership, projects, steering committees, and teams.

Staff Management, Supervision, and Organizational Culture

• Directly supervise senior program staff and managers;
• Establish and maintain clear expectations for supervisors, including regular check-ins, coaching/mentorship, feedback, and annual evaluations.
• Facilitate all-staff meetings, retreats, and organization-wide spaces.
• Foster a healthy, values-aligned organizational culture rooted in accountability, collaboration, and care.
• Partner with Operations/HR staff to support performance management, workload sustainability, and staff development.
• Hire, manage, and evaluate consultants as needed to support program and organizational goals.

Network and Governance Structure

• Ensure Bay Rising’s network structures are clear, functional, and responsive to organizational needs.
• Lead the ongoing development and evolution of network structures and decision-making bodies as needed
• Maintain strong, productive relationships with Steering Committees and other leadership bodies.
• Ensure alignment between staff leadership, network leadership, and organizational strategy.

Financial and Operational Oversight

• Manage the annual organizational budget in partnership with the Executive Director.
• Oversee financial reporting, resource allocation, and fiscal accountability.
• Ensure efficient use of resources across programs and projects.
• Oversee day-to-day operations and ensure legal, ethical, and regulatory compliance.

Fundraising and Resource Development

• Support and participate in organizational fundraising and development efforts.
• Build and maintain relationships with major donors and institutional funders.
• Support grant development, reporting, and foundation follow-up.
• Develop compelling pitches and narratives for fundraising across audiences.
• Support grassroots fundraising efforts, including the Bay Resistance membership program.
• Coordinate direct donations of non-monetary contributions and in-kind support.

Executive Director Support

• Serve as a key partner to the Executive Director, providing strategic, operational, and management support.
• Act as a thought partner and operational lead to ensure the Executive Director can focus on external leadership, fundraising, and movement relationships.
• Step in as needed to represent the organization internally or externally.

Optional: Advanced Digital Operations Leadership

If the Managing Director brings advanced digital expertise, this role may also include responsibility for building and managing digital systems and infrastructure to support organizing, operations, and communications.

• Lead the development and integration of digital systems that streamline program operations, supporter recruitment, and volunteer ladders of engagement.
• Build and maintain platforms for data tracking, reporting, and evaluation to ensure programs and projects operate efficiently and effectively.
• Use analytics, segmentation, and experimentation to optimize internal workflows, volunteer management, and resource allocation.
• Coordinate across teams to ensure digital tools and infrastructure support organizational goals, program priorities, and cross-project coordination.
• Oversee the adoption of digital tools, platforms, and processes across programs, ensuring staff and teams are trained and supported for consistent and effective use.

Qualifications and skills

Required

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in community, labor, or movement organizing, including senior-level program management.
• Proven experience managing complex programs across multiple teams or projects.
• Strong people management skills, including supervising managers and developing leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into executable plans.
• Deep political analysis and commitment to racial, economic, and social justice.
• Experience working in coalition-based, multi-organizational environments.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to align diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in fast-paced, politically dynamic environments.
• Willingness to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends as needed.

Preferred

• Experience with electoral organizing, mass organizing, or large-scale base-building.
• Familiarity with Bay Area political and organizing landscapes.
• Experience integrating issue-based, electoral, and narrative strategies.
• Experience in organizations with multiple affiliated entities or projects (e.g., 501(c)(3)/(c)(4) structures).
• Track record of leading organizations or programs through periods of growth or transition.

Work Environment / Physical Demands

This position will work out of the Bay Rising office in Oakland. Must be able to work on a computer including sitting at a desk for extended periods of time with or without reasonable accommodation; manual dexterity to operate a keyboard; able to see or read a computer screen and printed material with or without vision aids; able to speak clearly and in audible tones on the phone and in-person and be understood by others; able to hear and understand speech, including on the phone; able to understand and follow oral and written instructions; able to occasionally lift objects weighing up to 10 pounds, travel to and participate in protests, mass meetings, door knocking and phone banking.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Employment Terms

This is a full time exempt position. Salary range for a Managing Director is $90,000- $110,000 depending on experience. We offer a competitive health benefits package that includes: medical, dental, vision, and a generous paid time off schedule.

How to Apply

Submit resume, cover letter, and 3 references through this job portal https://workforcenow.adp.com/mascsr/default/mdf/recruitment/recruitment.html?cid=c858a322-00a0-4526-9713-59699ec1e4bf&ccId=9200135808800_2&jobId=576356&source=CC2&lang=en_US . Applications will be reviewed as received.

Bay Rising contracts with Resilient Strategies LLC for backend and operational support including hiring and employment. Resilient Strategies is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. Folks who are queer, trans, non-binary, Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, parents, are/have been system-impacted, are immigrants, and anyone who has experienced systemic oppression and/or gender-based violence are encouraged to apply. Pursuant of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records for employment.