Part-Time Lead Organizer (contract position)

Join the Movement for Racial Justice in Santa Clara County!

Showing Up for Racial Justice Santa Clara County (SURJ SCC) is calling in passionate change-makers ready to build a better, more just world. We organize white people and others with privilege to take bold, accountable action in solidarity with BIPOC-led accountability partners. Our mission: dismantle systemic racism and build true collective liberation — starting right here in our communities.

Founded in 2016, our local chapter includes approximately 50 active volunteers, including a dedicated leadership team (our Coordinating Committee). We use the PICO organizing model — rooted in deep relationship-building, research, and action — to grow people power and win meaningful local change.

We're expanding our team! Alongside our part-time administrative assistant, we’re hiring a part-time Lead Organizer to help guide and grow our organizing work and community.

This is a chance to step into leadership in a justice-driven grassroots organization at the local level — where your skills, values, and voice can make a real impact. You’ll work alongside passionate volunteers, help shape strategy, and build power for racial justice in Santa Clara County and beyond.

Job Description:

Join us as the Lead Organizer where you’ll concentrate on the health and well-being of our organizing collective and keep us focused on our goals and their implementation. This is a contract position.

The SURJ SCC organizer either directly, in partnership with or delegating to others is responsible for the following key areas:

Organizational Culture

• Maintains connections with accountability partners either directly or in cooperation with SURJ SCC member leader-organizers.
• Ensures prioritization of relationship building
• Reinforces and periodically assists with refreshing our strategic direction and capacity criteria
• Engages with the leader-organizer Coordinating Committee, which sets and monitors the progress of priorities, in consultation with the Organizer, for SURJ SCC

Base-Building

• Identifies and recruits potential community leader-organizers
• Maintains and refreshes our practice of identifying people’s “jam” (whether tasks, skills or stakes) and finds ways for them to use them in the service of our campaigns
• Facilitates relationships with other organizations/coalitions

Leadership Development:

• Works with the core leader-organizers of SURJ SCC to ensure their success either through 1:1s to set working/issue group priorities and/or through working/issue group meeting attendance.
• Helps direct new members into working/issue groups and oversees the personal development of members, campaign research, and actions associated with working/issue groups.

Policy and Campaign Development and Implementation:

• Helps drive appropriate issue-cutting and campaign implementation. Helps SURJ SCC build power through our campaigns, developing partnerships or allyships and/or strengthens them through the campaign. Uses media effectively.
• Trains leader-organizers on a variety of core organizing skills including basebuilding tactics, meeting facilitation, public speaking, media engagement, the campaign cycle, issue analysis, research meetings, campaign strategy and tactics, advocacy, and organizational development.

Research

• Conducts and/or manages policy and power research to inform campaign strategy.
• Does and/or manages intelligence gathering through research meetings with accountability partners, civic leaders, community leaders and key organizers.

Management

• Oversees fundraising activities
• Supervises the part-time administrator
• Manages volunteer efforts

Communications

• Manages and/or delegates the production and maintenance of communication deliverables including but not limited to the weekly newsletter and talking points for public meetings.

What We're Looking For:

• 2–5 years of experience in nonprofit, campaign, or grassroots organizing.
• A strong commitment to racial justice and equity, with lived or professional experience centering communities most impacted by injustice.
• Experience mobilizing people and building power through multiple strategies, especially those that challenge racism and white supremacy.