Campaign Director

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is an independent national nonprofit that uses science to protect our health, safety, and environment. We are scientists, engineers, economists, activists, and everyday people who develop and advocate for innovative, practical solutions to some of our planet’s most pressing problems—from combating global warming and developing sustainable ways to feed, power, and transport ourselves, to fighting misinformation, advancing racial equity, and reducing the threat of nuclear war.

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is seeking a Campaign Director for the Center for Science and Democracy (CSD). The Center campaigns for strong, independent science as a fundamental basis for better, more equitable and just public policies. We work for fairer, more transparent democratic institutions and systems; more just and equitable public health, safety and environmental protections, particularly for underserved communities; and an ongoing cultural shift in the scientific community to embrace activism for science-based policymaking.

 

The new campaign director will lead a talented and diverse staff to run bold campaigns and initiatives that channel four key strengths—cutting-edge research, policy advocacy, strong partnerships, and the ability to organize the scientific community. A core thread through all of CSD’s work is growing the scientist advocacy movement and advancing a culture of civic and justice-based policy engagement as part of being a scientist.

 

The Center is currently in its tenth year, the newest program in the 53-year-old UCS. The Center has grown in scope, resources, and influence to a staff of 22 including three fellows. Now is the time for new campaigning and organizing leadership that is bold, innovative, and inspiring for the program and for the broader community of science activists and partner advocates. The Center firmly embraces the need for scientists to be active and engaged on public policy issues from environmental justice and equitable public protections to democracy reform. The campaign director will have the strategy, creativity, and organizational skills to lead the CSD outreach team’s impactful campaigning, partnership collaborations, and scientist organizing efforts.

-       Develop, manage, and oversee the CSD’s long-term strategy, programming, and internal infrastructure processes and systems for its campaigning, advocate cultivation and organizing, and partnerships to advance the goals and values of the Center. Help identify and problem-solve campaign issues or needs, create a culture of growth and learning, and evaluate long-term strategic campaign visions.

-       Lead CSD outreach team to strengthen team culture; enhance project management and communications; foster learning and growth for staff and team’s collective capacity; and facilitate best practices on coordination among various initiatives with CSD and cross-programmatically.

-       Manage the CSD outreach team’s work and functioning to recruit, cultivate, and engage a growingly diverse network of UCS activists and experts. This includes working with the Science Network (SN) team and Communications to: enhance scientist advocate communications and recruitment strategies; to ensure CSD’s scientist engagement helps diversify the SN, prioritizing cultivation, engagement, and leadership development with scientists who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color or as members of communities most impacted by CSD’s issues; and, ensuring a lens of movement building and equity in all scientist engagement partnerships.

-       Guide and oversee the overarching strategy and internal capacity for CSD’s ability to build and sustain relationships with key partners and allies, with a focus on partners who are values-aligned and/or most impacted by the issues CSD addresses.

-       Help design and implement Center staff’s tracking systems and evaluative processes to measure and enhance program impact, develop a culture of learning and growth, and ensure accountability to our values and goals.

-       Oversee the Science for Healthy Democracy campaign design, implementation, and team coordination to meet the campaign’s goals.

-       Serve as lead in working with Communications to ensure CSD is making full use of appropriate platforms and tools for comprehensive member communication, education, and cultivation strategies. Stay informed of and ensure campaigns utilize new structures or platforms to enhance campaign outreach and engagement.

-       As a member of the Center’s Leadership Team, provide advice to Center staff to ensure the program’s priority projects are directly integrated in Center campaigns and are driving concrete outcomes to strengthen the Center’s long-term impact.

o  Help advance major programmatic efforts and provide input on decisions, planning, priority-setting, budgets and personnel to help drive concrete outcomes to strengthen the program’s long-term impact.

o  Co-lead the Center’s annual planning process with the Program Director, to ensure it is grounded in UCS’ campaign framework.

o  Play a key role on fostering, sustaining, and evaluating a culture of collaboration, clarity, cohesion, and community for the program; and support enhancements of program venues to put that into practice.

o  Provide leadership in program’s ongoing work to craft decision-making structures, processes, systems, and ways of working together that are rooted in anti-racist practice and that support a culture where BIPOC staff can thrive.

o  Help position the Center as a strong science-based partner within science policy, democratic reform, public protections, and environmental justice movements.

-       Ten to fifteen years of comparable and relevant experience in outreach, organizing, campaign, and/or advocacy positions is required including at least five years of senior-level management experience. Must also have several years of experience with sophisticated organizing strategy and tactics, organizing grassroots and grasstops activists, coordinating outreach events, preferably in a nonprofit organization; demonstrated ability to conceive, plan and implement effective outreach campaigns; experience supervising organizers and leading matrixed teams; demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with professionals who may be expert and/or prominent in their fields; demonstrated ability to use web-based information and sophisticated online tools to advance education and advocacy goals; and demonstrated ability to write for and speak with various audiences.

-       Demonstrated capability to manage multiple projects for extended periods of time, to build and maintain a healthy team culture and functioning, and to be flexible to respond to fast-changing organizational needs. Demonstrated understanding of science-based policymaking and advocacy within an equity-centered, antiracist framework is needed, as experience in fostering and leading collaborations with partners with a justice lens.    

 

-       A solid level of understanding of database maintenance, web management and on-line organizing tools, and Microsoft Office is required. Demonstrated experience working in project teams or on cross-departmental projects is a must. Supervisory experience is required.

 

-       At UCS, comparable training and/or experience can be substituted for degrees when appropriate.

This is a full-time remote/hybrid position based in either Cambridge MA; Washington DC; Bay Area, CA; or Chicago, IL, or in close proximity to one of these offices. For those who meet all position requirements, the salary range is $114,671-$129,000. *FOR CA RESIDENTS ONLY a 12% pay differential is offered*. UCS offers excellent benefits and a rewarding work environment.

Information about the organization is available at http://www.ucsusa.org.

Comparable training and/or experience can be substituted for degrees when appropriate.

Our team is made up of a dedicated group of researchers, scientists, communicators, campaigners, and advocates from wide-ranging backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and a collaborative and supportive work environment where all staff can thrive. We continually strive to create an environment that is a welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, parents, empty-nesters, and people with a wide variety of interests and backgrounds.

During the coronavirus pandemic, our staff is working from home. We will resume working from our offices, travel, and in-person meetings when it is safe to do so.

To Apply: We know there are great candidates who won’t check all of these boxes, and we also know you might bring important skills that we haven’t considered. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. Please upload a cover letter and resume. Upload materials in Word or PDF format only. No phone calls, please.

For roles that require in-person work or travel (including this one), UCS employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Employees are considered fully vaccinated as defined by the CDC. All new hires who will be reporting to an office location or conducting in-person work must provide notice of their vaccination status and vaccination documentation, on or before their first day of work. For all others, UCS strongly encourages full vaccinations among its employees, up to and including booster shots, even if working remotely.

All new employees must comply with the mandatory vaccination requirements outlined in UCS policies as soon as practicable. Union of Concerned Scientists will notify candidates for employment of the requirements of this policy before the start of employment.

Deadline: Until Filled.