Deputy Director, Democracy 2025

Position Summary:

Democracy Forward seeks an experienced attorney and manager to serve as Deputy Director of Democracy 2025. 

Democracy 2025 is Democracy Forward’s infrastructure to support the entire pro-democracy legal movement. The Deputy Director will work closely with the Director of Democracy 2025 to assist in managing the team, and in particular, manage, support, and drive forward work through the Democracy 2025 working groups. 

Democracy 2025 provides legal resources, support, thought leadership, strategy, and space for coordination to our 550+ partner organizations fighting against authoritarianism. One of our core workstreams is operating a network of interconnected working groups, which provide space for coordination, information sharing, and strategizing about litigation and legal advocacy, as well as identifying the legal resources needed for the field to litigate and advocate most effectively. The Deputy Director will supervise and drive forward the working groups, collaborating with and supporting working groups leads, maintaining coordination and integration across working groups, and ensuring that our working groups are best meeting the needs of our coalition. The Deputy Director will also support the Director of Democracy 2025 in supervising other areas of Democracy 2025 work and Democracy 2025 team members as needed. 

This position is full-time. 

Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC; the employee is expected to be in the office an average of 2 days per week. While candidates in the DC area are preferred, remote candidates outside of the DC area will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Coordinate among the leaders of Democracy 2025’s approximately 20 working groups to ensure that working group meetings are as strategically valuable and effective as possible, including:
• Identifying key legal issues and ensuring that the working groups are covering the most strategically valuable topics, based on emerging legal issues;
• Being held at the appropriate cadence;
• Ensuring that working group leads have the support and supervision that they need; 
• And overall operating effectively to serve as a force multiplier for the pro-democracy legal movement. 
• Develop and improve existing processes to ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and strategic alignment across all Democracy 2025 work. 
• Track emerging key legal issues and provide guidance on how they should be integrated into the appropriate working group meetings. 
• Help determine new working groups that should be created based on emerging needs and issues. 
• Regularly coordinate and communicate with coalition partners to better understand coalition needs.
• Help identify, based on working group meetings and working with team members, legal resources that would be beneficial to the coalition; tee up decisions on resource creation for the Director; work with team members to drive forward to create these legal resources. 
• Serve as a thought partner with the Director to supervise, coordinate, and drive forward all other Democracy 2025 workstreams to align with evolving priorities and goals as needed. 

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• J.D. required.
• 10+ years experience, including 5+ years of people management experience, and 5+ years experience working with or leading coalitions in the nonprofit, union, movement, or similar spaces. 
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Able to support the growth and development of more junior staff.
• Comfortable leading, managing and influencing in a non-hierarchical structure
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to develop relationships of trust and confidence with colleagues across teams and departments
• Ability to manage multiple, competing deadlines and priorities and be nimble and flexible in response to fast-moving threats.
• Ability to manage up and support principals as well as supervise team members. 
• Demonstrated commitment to democracy and social progress. 
• Self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds. 
• Commitment to Democracy Forward’s values of workplace inclusion and ability to contribute affirmatively to a just and equitable workplace culture.

The salary range for this position is $160,000-$180,000 plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience. 

Democracy Forward is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals. We strongly encourage people of color; lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people; women; people with disabilities; and veterans to apply. Please note that all lawyer positions require a law degree and active membership in the bar of a state or the District of Columbia. 

Not sure you meet all of our qualifications? Research shows that men apply for jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria. Yet women and other people who are systematically marginalized tend to only apply if they meet every requirement.  If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates, including those with diverse workplace experiences and backgrounds. Whether you are new to mission-based legal and policy work, returning to work after a gap in employment, or simply looking to transition or take the next step in your career path, we welcome the opportunity to have you on our radar.  Please include in your cover letter the nature of your interest in legal and policy work promoting democracy and progress and what you hope to bring to our team and the role for which you are applying.