Associate Director, The Housing Lab

About Impact Justice

Impact Justice advances safety, justice, and opportunity through boundary-breaking work that honors and empowers people and is changing expectations about what we can accomplish together. We imagine, build, and scale innovations, leverage research and other knowledge to connect the desire for change with informed action, and work to shift the narrative so that decision-makers and the public understand what’s at stake and what’s possible.

About The Housing Lab

Impact Justice's Housing Lab nurtures and invests in innovative, proven solutions to strengthen support systems for people leaving prison, reduce recidivism, and minimize housing insecurity. The Lab's flagship program, the Homecoming Project (THP), uses a shared housing model to pair people returning home from prison with welcoming community residents (hosts) who have a spare room. THP pays each host a monthly stipend to house a participant for up to six months, while every participant is paired with a Community Navigator who connects them to the resources, supports, and wraparound services needed for successful reentry. Since launching in the Bay Area in 2018, this innovative reentry housing model has housed over 250 returning individuals and now operates in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Francisco County, and Los Angeles County.

The Housing Lab pursues two core priorities: matching formerly incarcerated people with safe, stable housing through the groundbreaking Homecoming Project in California; and, through technical assistance and training programs, helping communities across the country improve housing outcomes via shared housing — offering seed funding, expert coaching, advisor connections, follow-on funding opportunities, and consulting.

Check us out here.

Who You Are

You are an experienced people manager and operator who knows how to run a team. You have led multi-role, direct-service teams—ideally across more than one site—and you are energized by the work of setting clear expectations, coaching staff, building systems that make delivery consistent, and keeping a growing program organized and on track. You have an ethos of social justice, racial justice, community, and mutuality. You have a strong commitment to ending the criminalization of Black, Indigenous, Latine, and other people of color, financially disenfranchised people, and other marginalized groups. You have an orientation and belief that criminal justice involvement should not be an impediment to housing, employment, wellness, and personal growth opportunities.

This position serves as second-in-command to the Director, implementing program strategy and running the team's day-to-day operations. While the Director holds primary responsibility for external partnerships, fundraising, and expansion strategy, you will own the day-to-day: supervising staff, managing projects and work plans, leading internal communications, and using data and feedback to assess and improve the program. You will also know the program well enough to step in for the Director when needed.

You are organized, steady, and clear. You can translate a strategy into a work plan and a work plan into weekly priorities for each person on the team. You give direct, actionable feedback and follow through on what you commit to. You are comfortable with data and expect it to tell you something. You can hold both the details and the bigger picture, and you know how to move a team through change without losing people along the way. You have highly developed interpersonal skills and relate easily to a wide range of people, including individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, community hosts, criminal legal system staff and officials, and colleagues from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.

That said, we know there are great candidates who may not think they fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills we haven’t thought of. If that is you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself! We welcome all applicants, including formerly incarcerated individuals, those with family members that have been incarcerated, and persons with direct criminal or juvenile legal system experience.

What You Will Do

The anticipated start date for this position is early November. You will report to the Director of The Housing Lab. You will run the day-to-day operations of the THP team primarily and provide support with the TTA (Training and Technical Assistance) program as the portfolio builds over time. Your core responsibilities will be:

• Team Leadership and Supervision – Directly supervise THP program staff across sites (currently 4 direct reports and 14 total team members). Set clear expectations and priorities, hold regular 1:1s, deliver timely and actionable feedback, and lead annual reviews in coordination with the Director and the People Team. Lead hiring for THP roles, serve as hiring manager, and own onboarding and 90-day reviews. Build staff capacity through coaching and clear delegation, and address performance and personnel matters promptly and in line with Impact Justice policy.
• Team Culture – Create and sustain a healthy, accountable team culture. Plan and implement enrichment, engagement, and camaraderie-building opportunities so that each team member can thrive.
• Program Operations and Project Management – Oversee the day-to-day operations of THP across sites, including participant intake and placement, host recruitment and retention, and navigation workflows. Support the team in the development and maintenance of work plans, timelines, and deliverable trackers; assign ownership; monitor progress; and reduce bottlenecks so that commitments to participants, hosts, and funders are met on time. Build operating plans, staffing allocations, and standard operating procedures. Run team meeting rhythms and drive follow-through.
• Alignment and Execution – Partner closely with the Director to deeply understand THP's priorities, strategy, narrative, and commitments, and translate that direction into clear priorities and action for the team. Ensure staff across sites are informed and aligned; similarly ensure cross-functional teams are aligned on the program’s direction and priorities. Serve as THP's primary point of contact post-strategy development with other supportive departments (e.g. People Operations, Finance, Communications, Development, and Research) on operational, personnel, and reporting matters, knowing enough about the strategy to execute it well. Carry staff insights upward and directives from the Director out to the team. The goal is to be so in sync with the Director and the program’s priorities that the Director can show up to a meeting knowing that everyone is already moving in step.
• External Representation – Maintain full working knowledge of THP’s partnerships, funding commitments, and expansion strategy in order to step in for the Director as needed. Represent THP in internal leadership forums and, when needed, at external meetings, site visits, and speaking engagements. Participate in organizational and project-based fundraising efforts as requested.
• Program Assessment, Data, and Planning – In partnership with the Director and the Research in Action Center, oversee program data collection and quality in the case management system and use our CRM dashboard and staff reports to produce regular internal reports on enrollment, placements, retention, and participant outcomes. Use data, staff input, and participant and host feedback to identify what is and is not working and drive iterative program improvement. Coordinate with Impact Justice’s Research and Action Center and external evaluators. Contribute to THP expansion planning, including readiness assessments, staffing models, and implementation plans for new sites.

Education / Experience Level

Successful candidates typically have at least four years of professional training/education or closely related experience, and at least six years of relevant experience, including at least five years of program leadership experience and at least five years of people management experience.

Required Qualifications

1. Demonstrated success directly supervising and developing a multi-person, multi-role team, including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and coaching.
2. Experience running the operations of a direct-service program—reentry, housing/homelessness, case management, workforce, or a closely related field—including developing and documenting standard operating procedures.
3. An experienced project manager who can build and run work plans, timelines, and tracking systems for a program with multiple concurrent workstreams and hold a team accountable to deliverables.
4. Experience overseeing program data collection in a case management or CRM system and using data to assess program performance and drive improvement.
5. Experience contributing to program budget management, including tracking expenditures against plan.
6. An excellent communicator, in writing and verbally, who can communicate clearly and consistently with staff at all levels and prepare reports and documentation for leadership and funders.
7. Comfortable interacting with a wide variety of people, including individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, criminal legal system staff, officials, and individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.
8. An adaptive problem solver with sound judgment and a positive, solutions-oriented approach to ambiguity, competing priorities, and sensitive personnel or participant/host situations.
9. Able to work effectively with staff across multiple sites.
10. Tech-savvy: comfortable with Google Suite, Microsoft Office, project management tools such as Asana, and databases/case management systems.
11. Methodical, efficient, and able to synthesize and organize disparate information clearly.
12. Ability to pass a background check

Preferred Qualification (but not required)

1. Lived experience in the criminal legal system, or as a member of a system-impacted community, including being formerly incarcerated, a former foster youth, or having loved ones who are system-impacted.
2. Experience managing those with lived experience in the criminal legal system.
3. Experience in reentry housing, supportive housing, or homelessness services, and familiarity with CDCR, county probation, or parole systems in California.
4. Experience managing staff in a unionized environment.
5. Experience supporting program expansion or replication to new sites.
6. Experience contributing to grant reporting or proposal development.