Senior Pennsylvania Program Manager

ABOUT EVERYBODY VOTES CAMPAIGN 

The Everybody Votes Campaign, established in 2015, is a national coordinating body focused on narrowing the voter registration gap in communities of color. We are committed to creating a more representative democracy by building and supporting large scale, long term voter registration in communities of color. We partner with local organizations to support accessible, successful, and high quality voter registration programs that expand access to our democracy for people in communities of color.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY 

The Program team is responsible for helping to ensure partners and vendors on the ground have all the tools and support they need to run successful registration programs, and the Senior Program Manager (SPM) is at the heart of that effort. The SPM sits at the pivot point between EVC and the states - they are in constant communication and collaboration with partners, they understand better than anyone else the goals and plans and challenges of their state, and they serve as a conduit between EVC and partners on expectations, needs, questions, and concerns. 

The overall responsibilities of the SPM fall into two categories: first, they are the primary manager of one of the more complex EVC states, which can either be a new state in which the SPM will be responsible for establishing the campaign for the first time or one of the larger states of the campaign. The SPM will build relationships with our partners on the ground, co-lead statewide registration program planning and budgeting, ensure partner program receives all EVC tools, technology, and other support, and hold partners accountable to overall goals; second, they are assigned to manage a Program Coordinator (PC) to oversee the work in their state, to offer support to training and quality control at the direction and mentorship of the SPM. 

A successful SPM will be detail oriented, understand how to take in significant amounts of communication and information and organize, manage, use, and share it back to different audiences. They will be able to balance being responsible for the overall progress and success of a state’s effort while not being the direct decision maker or manager of the day-to-day operations being run by partners.

They will be extremely knowledgeable and conversant in field operations and, ideally, voter registration site-based programs, with the ability to talk canvassing numbers, discuss turf coordination, and promote and brainstorm field engagement techniques. They will know how to build and manage spreadsheets and  be familiar with standard field reporting metrics. They will have experience in creating and revising large budgets. 

Perhaps most importantly, they will be intentional and strategic on how to navigate and balance the different opportunities, challenges, needs, and expectations of EVC and state partners. This takes a deft hand at knowing when to push and when to pull, knowing how to talk to different people in the ways that make the most sense to them, in understanding how to prioritize different demands, and how to align the ideal plans and goals with realistic barriers and setbacks. 

WHAT YOU WILL DO IN YOUR ROLE 

• Manage the Region

○ Manage the Program Coordinators in their region. 

○ Manage multiple partners 

○ Work with partners to optimize their programs toward registering people of color

○ Ensure that there is adequate coverage for important conversations around program and budget through backstopping conversations 

○ Double check work and step-in, as necessary 

○ Help improve the quality of work in their region 

○ Edit documents and resources for their region, as necessary 

○ Provide leadership with state plans to reach program goals 

○ Oversee development and application of quality control standards for the region

○ Help to implement and troubleshoot registration tracking and administration of QC processes 

• Manage Program Coordinator

○ Act as a mentor to provide feedback, guide partner relationships, and support to partner and table work 

○ SPM will provide performance feedback and evaluations to Program Coordinator

○ Work with Program Coordinator to articulate and determine how to help program achieve field goals 

○ Manage with the Program Coordinator systems for regular reporting of key evaluation metrics to Senior Program Director or Program Director 

• Oversee Budgets

○ Ensure that their states have site based voter registration plans and budgets 

○ Assist with developing and designing multi-million dollar budgets for state table/s and partner/s 

○ Review and provide recommendations for approval of final budget/s for table/s and partner/s 

○ Provide recommendations on experimental programming 

• Build and maintain relationships

○ Identify emerging opportunities for additional partnerships in state/s 

○ Ensure that we continue to maintain relationships with tables and partners that is respectful, collaborative and productive 

○ Lead conversations on alignment and expectation setting with partners and tables, as necessary 

• Support Other Duties, as Assigned

○ Manage all components of the grant management systems in their state 

○ Support, help, coordinate and occasionally lead other aspects of the Program Department’s support of programs that need capacity. Some examples include, but are not limited to: 

■ Training 

■ Committee and working group management 

■ Troubleshoot, as necessary 

○ Occasionally assist in developing processes to operationalize initiatives and enable program facing staff to do their jobs more effectively 

CORE COMPETENCIES 

• Growth mindset: demonstrated ability to take and receive feedback with professionalism and grace from peers and staff as well as supervisors
• Relentlessly goal-oriented: enjoys working toward and achieving ambitious goals; willing to go over, under, around, or through any obstacle that gets in the way of meeting goals with a proven track record of creating and executing/managing comprehensive strategic goals
• Cultural competency: able to build relationships and collaborate with colleagues, partners, and stakeholders across multiple lines of identity difference
• Remains focused on problem solving: while balancing multiple priorities within a constantly evolving political environment.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS ROLE 

• Critical thinking and problem-solving ability

o Experience with field programs, direct voter contact programs or voter registration programs 

o Excellent analytical, mathematical, problem solving and organizational skills o Past success as a manager of people and programs 

o Experience tracking and setting field metrics 

• Highly organized, motivated, and detail-oriented

o Experience managing budgets and/ managing grants 

• Relationship builder

o SPM must have the desire to actively contribute to a more equitable and inclusive organization and facilitate REI discussions with partners, vendors, and tables to ensure collaboration is centered to builds authentic relationships across lines of difference, such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability, gender identity 

• Strategic Planning 

o The role requires expectations for maintaining field ramps and projections on a quarterly, annual, and cycle basis. SPMs and PMs are explicitly expected to build out state plans that reach EVC goals within budget. 

• Inclusive leadership and management 

o Ability to develop, coach, provide feedback and manage people 

o Experience and success collaborating in settings with multiple stakeholders with competing interests 

KEY REQUIREMENTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• 40% Travel Required: The role involves extensive travel, comprising 40% of the working time, to effectively manage and support on-the-ground registration programs in various states
• Location Requirement: Candidates must reside within 30 minutes of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, or be willing to relocate within three months of hire if not currently located within the required area.
• Driving Ability: A valid driver's license and the ability to drive are essential for this role, given the travel and on-site management responsibilities.

This is a great opportunity for someone who has: 

• A commitment to the idea of changing the nature of the electorate
• A commitment to voter registration as a key component for making change
• A commitment to promoting practices that encourage empowerment for traditionally marginalized individuals and communities
• An abundance of patience and a great sense of finding and building community in new spaces

Performance Metrics & Review Schedule

Your first review will be 90 days after your start date, then a six-month check-in and a development review annually for the duration of your employment. If the results of a reviews are unsatisfactory, more frequent reviews may be scheduled to monitor improvements. If assigned improvement goals are not reached, a warning schedule may be implemented including the possibility of termination. 

 

BENEFITS AND CULTURE  

We offer flexible remote work and a generous benefits package, including:

•  Flexible Paid Time Off
•  100% cost coverage of employee health benefit premiums
•  Dedicated weekly “Flex Day”
•  401K with an automatic employer contribution regardless of employee contribution level
•  $1000/yr toward Professional Development
•  Free virtual therapy
•  Stipend for ergonomic office setups
•  Generous extended medical and personal leave

 

All employees must be eligible to work lawfully within the United States upon the commencement of employment. The organization does not sponsor visa applications for prospective or current staff.

VACCINE REQUIREMENT

Under applicable legal guidance, an employer like VRP may require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID19. The CDC has advised that vaccines are one of the most effective tools to protect employee health and prevent disease. The CDC further strongly recommends that all individuals eligible to receive a booster shot promptly do so. VRP requires all employees to be “fully vaccinated” with their vaccines against COVID19.

”Fully vaccinated” means a person has received all recommended COVID19 vaccines.

 

Our work is centered on creating a deeply inclusive and significantly more representative electorate. In order to be successful in this role, the candidate must have the cultural competence to successfully work with a diverse group of staff, partners, and stakeholders. We especially strongly encourage applicants with close ties to Black, Latinx, Indigenous, AsianAmerican, Pacific Islander, non English speaking, disability, and LGBTQ+ communities to apply. We are proudly an Equal Opportunity Employer.