National Organizing Department (NOD) Director

Position Title: National Organizing Department (NOD) Director

Tier / Category: Tier 5 / Director I

Reports to: National Campaigns Director

Employment Status: Full-time

FLSA: Exempt

Location: Remote - In the US

NLRA: Management Role

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national organization that brings white people into fights for racial and economic justice. We work to undermine the power of the Far Right and build the white flank of multiracial majorities fighting for the things all communities need. We organize white people by engaging their shared interest - what they stand to gain by joining alongside people of color. We do this through 150+ local chapters across the US and Canada, a National Membership base, and local base building projects in the South.

Summary of Position:

SURJ is seeking a National Organizing Department (NOD) Director to drive the execution of the department’s organizing plans, supervise organizing managers, and ensure department-wide systems are operating smoothly so as to maximize external impact.

A successful person in this role will bring a resourced and grounded commitment to base building and organizing white people at scale, a genuine interest in working hands-on with a talented staff of organizers, and a systems approach to project managing big plans. They will be a skilled and experienced organizing practitioner who can function independently and who has experience running projects or campaigns that integrate and balance leadership development, campaign strategy, and winning change. The NOD Director must be an excellent supervisor and project manager who ensures that the staff team of organizers are coordinated, clear on division of labor and priorities, and able to work effectively at a high level.

This position will report to the National Campaigns Director, who bottom lines NOD’s high-impact strategy development, cross-departmental coordination, and electoral coalition partnerships.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES — Essential duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following:

Priority 1: Drive execution of programmatic priorities (50%)

• Work with the National Campaigns Director to translate multi-year strategy and goals into concrete and actionable NOD campaign plans that include timelines, priorities, and deadlines, and to develop clear parameters for managers and organizers to understand areas of autonomy and direction.
• Work hands-on with managers to sharpen and support their areas of the campaign plan and their personal work plans as well as supporting managers in engaging in this process with organizers.
• Write and share updates and analysis on campaign progress at regular intervals with the National Campaigns Director and other departments.
• Hold responsibility for ensuring the execution of multiple scaled, significant pieces of an organizing program (such as electoral campaigns, ongoing basebuilding work, major absorption moments, etc)
• Assist campaign, project, or team in evaluating effectiveness against goals and using debriefs to identify areas to refine or strengthen.
• With support from the National Campaigns Director, ensure programs within NOD align with SURJ’s theory of change including integrating a race/class analysis into programs.

Priority 2: Supervision (30%)

• Supervise assigned team members within NOD, supporting them in executing their work plans, coaching them as needed, and ensuring accountability for goals.
• Fully execute all duties of supervisors at SURJ, including leading the hiring process for any new direct reports, ensuring direct reports are properly onboarded and connected to the broader organization, modeling appropriate boundaries and communication, cascading information from senior leadership to your team, creating and monitoring work plans, and providing ongoing feedback, support, and regular check-ins with direct reports.
• Keep the NOD team focused and motivated in a high-stress, rigorous work schedule and environment.
• Closely communicate with the National Campaigns Director about the status of program/campaigns and project management needs for their supervisees.

Priority 3: Department-wide systems (20%)

• Deeply collaborate with the National Campaigns Director and directors of other departments, including Data, Communications, and Development on ensuring project management systems are in place for effective organizing, including tracking of progress to goal, collecting and sharing stories from the field, and ensuring grassroots fundraising and donor work is integrated into organizing plans.
• Supporting staff in NOD to establish strong relationships and the systems needed to ensure strong cross-departmental integration and working relationships.
• Collaborate with the National Campaigns Director to ensure that the “people systems” are in place and working well, including a balanced approach to time off, collective systems of resilience and care during difficult organizing conditions, culture of team meetings, sense of collective accountability for the department’s goals, etc.
• Use professional concepts and best practices to prioritize the department's approach to a broad scope of complex issues and competing priorities.
• Participate in communications or fundraising work when needed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum of 5 years experience managing base building work using on-the-ground organizing and/or online grassroots digital campaigns for progressive political or social justice campaigns for nonprofits.
• At least 3 years experience supervising organizers or staff doing similar work
• Alignment with the core values and strategy of SURJ and a heart for organizing in white communities.
• Experience working with grassroots leaders and building community in a social justice environment, and competence in working across lines of difference and power.
• SURJ policy requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to reasonable accommodation under federal, state, and local law. Accommodations may be not possible for positions that require in-person contact with other staff or members of the public.
• All those who drive for work must abide by our driving policy
• Experience working in a unionized workplace is a plus.

KNOWLEDGE:

• Experience navigating competing interests, multiple stakeholders, conflicting rules, a range of possible solutions and other complex elements
• An understanding of online grassroots digital campaigns for progressive political and social justice campaigns
• Experience in running social justice campaigns that are both online and offline, and experience in running online-to-offline campaigns as well
• Capacity to develop, write, and communicate long-haul organizing plans for multiple audiences including members, staff, partners, and funders.
• Experience organizing with white people using a race and class analysis.

SKILLS:

• Experience holding the big picture of an organizing campaign with very little external guidance.
• Experience managing complex projects with many moving pieces including personnel and budgets
• Competence and ease in developing and monitoring program-level budgets.
• Competence in managing “up” and “sideways” including ability to ask questions to get clear on tasks, communicate expectations clearly to others, and prioritize many competing demands.
• Deeply skilled in integrating political analysis with concrete organizing skills.
• Strong visual design intuition and familiarity with Canva (Photoshop/Illustrator a plus)
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to consult and coordinate among multiple teams to produce content that is engaging and powerful
• Demonstrated supervision skills.
• Advanced level of professional skills and an ability to develop these skills among direct reports and other team members.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with the skill and desire to to write compelling digital content. Experience writing for a wide range of audiences.
• Competent use of EveryAction (or similar database/CRM software)

ABILITIES:

• Flexible - open to new ways of doing things and experimentation
• Reliable - follows through on what they said they are going to do
• Ability to give and receive direct constructive feedback
• Ability to handle sensitive situations skillfully to avoid damaging relationships internally or externally
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Willingness to adjust hours to occasionally work on weekends or after hours based on rapid response moments.
• Willingness to travel for campaigns and group meetings, up to six times per year.