Tech Community Lead (consultancy)

Help us advance digital rights in Europe!

The Digital Freedom Fund works to advance digital rights through strategic litigation in Europe. We do this through grants that support the legal, advocacy, research, and other costs involved in litigation as well as through facilitating skill development and networking of organisations working on digital rights issues, among others. DFF co-drives a process towards decolonising the digital rights field, which informs all our work. The initiative focuses on the need to tackle how uneven power dynamics, exclusion, and systems of oppression play out in the current digital rights field, to increase our capacity to foster change for all.

With digital rights increasingly under threat from sophisticated and complex technologies, from machine learning algorithms to intricate data processing practices, identifying and challenging digital rights violations can require a truly interdisciplinary team that spans law and technology. At DFF, we have observed that public interest technologists and digital rights litigators are currently not well connected or have had certain preconceived notions of what to expect from each other and this has hindered their ability to forge coalitions. This has presented a barrier to stronger litigation being brought by interdisciplinary teams that can identify the opportunities and risks in litigation from both a legal and technological perspective.

In order to address these challenges, DFF is looking to work with a Tech Community Lead who can assist its efforts in bringing together legal, policy, technologist, and research communities to collaborate and mutually support each other’s work, particularly around evidence gathering on digital rights violations.

The Tech Community Lead will work closely with the Legal Adviser and Legal Officer, under supervision of the Director. DFF’s team is based in various cities in Europe. Its office is in Berlin, where the Tech Community Lead will preferably be based (other locations can be considered).

Role description

The Tech Community Lead’s role will be focused on helping bridge the gap between technologists and digital rights litigators/campaigners, including the following main tasks:

• Conducting a mapping to create a network list of public interest technologists and litigators interested in exploring mutually beneficial models of working together on digital rights litigation;
• Taking a lead in delivering meetings/workshops that bring together tech and legal expertise. This will include, among others, the conceptualisation, design, organisation of participant outreach, documentation and follow-up to the events;
• Drafting, alongside the participants of the aforementioned meetings, a research and investigation framework for platform accountability litigation/ campaigning to assist the consistent and centralised storage of information which can be leveraged by multiple stakeholders working on these issues;
• Co-creating a project plan for improving information sharing and increasing litigation partnerships between public interest technologists and litigators which plots out the next steps for further collaboration and coordination on projects, and potentially, also for the creation of a central repository for data, information and other evidence;
• Devising other concrete activities in order to strengthen these partnerships and networks;
• Continuing working with DFF in designing a plan for building and sustaining this community of technologists and litigators/campaigners for the medium- and longer-term.

Candidate profile

The successful candidate will:

• Think strategically about how DFF can help bridge gaps between technologists and those working on digital rights litigation, campaigning and advocacy;
• Have a solid understanding and in-depth knowledge of data-driven technologies and/or artificial intelligence/machine learning systems, as well as a strong interest in the different ways in which these technologies have a societal impact and intersect with human rights considerations;
• Have a strong existing network of public interest technologists who can work closely with DFF’s established network of digital rights litigators;
• Have experience in organising and bringing groups/communities together, as well as in planning and executing convenings, meetings or workshops;
• Have good consulting, problem-solving and project management skills, as well as the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously alongside ongoing tasks and responsibilities;
• Be able to analyse complex technical issues and translate them in relatable terms to a non-technical audience, including by structuring and systematising information in an accessible way;
• Work independently and use their own initiative to progress projects, striking a balance between independent and team work;
• Be willing to work remotely and self-support in terms of various administrative matters;
• Be fluent in written and spoken English;

The successful candidate will also:

• Critically reflect on their own work and implement feedback as a way to constantly evolve and improve;
• Have experience or willingness in working with people whose mother tongue is not English;
• Be passionate and committed to work on digital rights issues using an intersectional lens;
• Considerately navigate power dynamics and have a strong interest in racial and social justice issues;
• Be motivated in working towards an anti-oppressive workplace.

Conditions

This is a short-term consultancy contract (12 months). The consultancy fee is negotiable but will likely be in the range of 300-350 EUR/day.

Deadline for applications is 1 July at 23:59:59 CET. Interviews will be conducted in July, and the preferred start date is in August/September 2022.  

We specifically invite application from persons who, due to historical dynamics of exclusion, are under-represented either in legal professions and/or in the non-profit sector.

How to apply

Please visit our job portal to apply: https://digitalfreedomfund.bamboohr.com/jobs/

Be prepared to provide your CV, desired hourly rate, time availability for the consultancy and 2 references. Please also be ready to respond to the following questions:

-       What about supporting strategic litigation on digital rights interests you both personally and professionally?

-       What do you think are the key challenges to digital rights litigators and individuals with tech knowledge collaborating on digital rights litigation, and what could organisations like DFF do to help overcome these challenges?

-       Can you describe a time when you have organised a convening and/or brought groups or communities together around an issue? How did you go about organising this, and what were your key learnings from the process?