Executive Director

• If you have attempted to apply since December 5 and you received a delivery failure notice, our info@wearedissenters.org email and our website should be up again as of today, December 9! We are so sorry for the inconvenience and we deeply appreciate the time that applicants took to inform us of the issue. If you experience any further issues, please reach out to yuni@wearedissenters.org

Overview

Dissenters is seeking a visionary Executive Director to lead our anti-militarist grassroots organizing and basebuilding efforts across the United States. Dissenters is in a transitionary period. The Executive Director will be expected to oversee significant growth of our staff, organizational departments and programs in collaboration with a dynamic group of volunteer leaders on the Advisory Board.

As the Executive Director, you will be responsible for developing and implementing strategic plans to build our base at the local and national levels, while offering clear direction that’s responsive to the emergent political context. This role requires a dynamic leader with a track record of visionary leadership in building scalable mass movements, exceptional organizing skills, strong people and project management practices, and a deep commitment to transformative student and youth organizing.

About Dissenters

Dissenters is a national anti-militarism youth organization, with youth members in 15 colleges and cities across the country. We are hiring an Executive Director to lead our organization to develop young leaders and launch and win local strategic direct action campaigns across the country.

Location

Remote with travel required about 6-8 times per year. Candidates may be based anywhere in the U.S.

Responsibilities

Organizational and strategic leadership (~50%): Ensure overall health and impact of the organization

• Serve on the staff leadership team to drive organizational direction, strategy, and decision-making, alongside the volunteer Dissenters Advisory Team.
• Maintain strong relationships, engagement, and alignment with Dissenters member committees and teams to steward the organization
• Help cultivate a strong organizational culture by modeling DNA principles at the highest level
• Drive team retreats, assessments, and programming with other staff and leaders
• Ensure that all organizational decisions are translated to and through the organizing team
• Serve as a helpful resource and support to other staff and members, provide guidance and feedback, “manage by influence” effectively

Team Management & Development (~30%): Set strong practices to ensure staff have what they need to succeed in their roles!

• Recruit, develop, and retain a high-performing team of five full-time staff and some part-time contracted support, ensuring the right roles, structure, and capacity needed to achieve organizing goals
• Drive team and individual goal setting and work planning; Monitor progress against goals on an ongoing basis, helping team prioritize and making course corrections as needed
• Provide ongoing coaching, training, supervision and support to the communications and development staff through weekly check-ins, regular feedback, work-plan development, and accountability support
• Delegate effectively: agree on expectations, stay engaged, create accountability and learning, and adapt to fit the context
• Bring an equity lens to ensure everyone on your team can succeed and thrive
• Develop the skills of your staff and support them to do their best work
• Ensure strong collaboration and coordination with other teams, staff, and members as needed; hold your team accountable to other teams that are depending on them
• Develop and model an effective, principled culture and approach to organizing and leadership development

External Relations & Partnerships (~20%): Build healthy movement partnerships and collaboration

• Identify and build key external relationships with allied organizations and coalitions as it supports our work and our goals
• Represent the organization in the community, media, and with other key external partners
• Support with fundraising, building relationships with key donors as needed

Qualifications: Must Have’s

Visionary and Strategic leadership

• Leadership that is both visionary and committed to wielding power and building mass movement organizations with care and enthusiasm. Dissenters seeks a Director who brings ambitious vision and is ready to step into high-level leadership to take the organization to its next level. This is a role suited to someone who appreciates the need for visionary leadership and is ready to step into it courageously with support from a vibrant volunteer Advisory Board.
• Creatively facilitate conversations about organizational goals and direction, handling tasks small and big with care. The candidate should have the ability to create clear direction that’s responsive to the emerging political context. The candidate must demonstrate an ability to stay grounded in the big picture -- of our social and political conditions, and of Dissenters long-term goals -- while facilitating thoughtful, effective strategic planning.

Political Alignment

• Committed to Dissenters DNA, mission, vision, principles, and points of unity, and aligned with the big picture interventions that Dissenters is well-positioned to make in the anti-militarism ecosystem.
• Must be aligned with a mass orientation: what it means to build a scalable mass movement organization with mass appeal in a moment of heightened fascism. Clear about the need to connect anti-militarism with anti-facism, and create an organizing program that can activate tens of thousands of young people into Disenters’ base of members and supporters.

Organizing & Base building expert

• Proven track record of leading campaigns and organizing efforts at the local and national levels, including the ability to shape campaign strategy from the ground up. Ability to develop and implement field plans, track/monitor/assess progress, troubleshoot and adapt as needed.
• Strong knowledge and experience with base building, centering those that are most impacted. Proven track record of recruiting, training, and developing member leaders at-scale. Drive to win without leaving people behind.
• Strong facilitation and training skills. Ability to coach and train others in a broad range of organizing tactics: including implementing campaign strategy, member recruitment/training/development, coalition building, event and direct action planning, media outreach and communications.

Effective People & Project Manager

• Demonstrated capacity to build and lead strong multiracial teams and invest in BIPOC leadership.
• Proven track record of effective coaching, training, and management of a national team of staff organizers.
• Practices equitable, sustainable, and results driven management. Creates conditions for teams to thrive in remote and hybrid environments, gives/receives feedback, coaches and supports people.
• Holds the big picture while managing the details; juggles competing priorities and makes smart judgements on where to invest resources.
• Strong problem solving & resilience, with ability to support staff to troubleshoot when issues arise.
• Coordinates and collaborates effectively across a complex and multifaceted national organization.

Skills & Commitment to multi-racial student and youth organizing

• Ability to connect with and organize our youth members, across lines of difference, and be relentlessly positive in order to provide them with the support they need.
• Recognizes how race and other identities intersect in the work, especially with communities we organize; centers those most impacted by the issues; actively works to minimize inequities in, decisions, policies, processes.
• Skills and commitment to building cross racial solidarity; the ability to forge connections between movements

Culture & Values Alignment

• Versatility, flexibility, and a willingness to work within a fast-paced workplace with frequently changing priorities with enthusiasm.
• Growth mindset: commitment to learning, experimentation, and evolution, both individually and collectively.
• Strong interpersonal & communication skills: builds strong relationships across lines of race, gender, and other identities; ability to engage in generative conflict, with internal and external stakeholders.
• Navigating complexity and conflict: Ability to hold multiple perspectives and tensions, seek out both/and solutions. Comfortable with conflict and operating within ambiguity and incomplete information, bringing good judgment to bear in solving problems where there are no clear or obvious solutions. Ability to make tough decisions when needed, stand by them, and move people forward.
• Models and inspires accountability: Inspires and motivates others to take action and meet goals. Delegates skillfully. Holds the team accountable and acknowledges growing edges (in self and others).

Nice to Haves (Super great bonus if you get there, but not required)

• Expertise with anti-militarism
• Understanding of anti-militarism ecosystem dynamics, and holds relationships in anti-militarism and/or youth organizing ecosystem
• Experience navigating organizational safety concerns in a time of heightened repression
• Familiarity with multiple organizing models, including direct action campaigns and Momentum’s hybrid model
• Digital organizing experience
• Comfortable with public speaking
• Experience with fundraising, both grassroots and foundations

Additional Information

Salary and Benefits

This is a full-time 40 hours/week position. The salary range is $80,000–85,000 for two Co-Directors or $95,000-105,000 for one Executive Director, with variability within these bands dependent on experience and the scope of responsibilities. We offer an extremely competitive benefits package and generous personnel policies.

• A 401K is offered, with Dissenters contributing 3% towards a retirement account in every permanent full-time employee's name, requiring a 0% employee contribution.
• Annual summer, fall, and winter breaks totaling 6 weeks* in addition to 15 days PTO; paid parental leave
• 100% employer-paid health insurance premiums, including dental and vision, with 50% coverage for dependents
• Employer-paid professional development opportunities and home office stipend
• While we strive for the timing of these closures to be as standardized as possible, due to the nature of our work, an unplanned trigger event may necessitate flexibility to ensure adequate coverage. In these rare circumstances, this PTO time will not be lost, but may be shifted to accommodate business needs while creating space for rest and work-life balance.

Hiring Policy

Dissenters is an equal opportunity employer. We uplift the leadership of people directly impacted by systems of war, policing, and militarism. Candidates with directly impacted identities are strongly encouraged to apply.

To apply

Applications are due December 28. We welcome applications from both individuals and pairs. Candidates may apply for the Executive Director role either as a single applicant or as a pair proposing a Co–Executive Director model. Pairs who apply together should demonstrate how they would collaboratively fulfill the full scope of responsibilities, outlining how they plan to divide leadership functions, communicate effectively, and ensure unified strategic direction. If applying as co-leaders, each person should submit an individual résumé and a shared cover letter explaining your partnership, how you complement one another, and how you plan to split the position into two full-time Co–Executive Director roles.

To apply, please submit the following:

• A cover letter (individual applicants) or a joint cover letter (paired applicants)
• Your resume(s)
• 3 professional references (each applicant)

Send materials to info@wearedissenters.org with the subject line DIRECTOR - Your Name. Applications are due December 28. Flexible start date in the first quarter of 2026.

Dissenters is leading a new generation of young people to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest them in life-giving institutions, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people around the world. We use decentralized direct action campaigns to force institutions and elected officials to divest from war and militarism. We have a long-term, multi-phase strategy to divest from militarism and war. wearedissenters.org/