Associate Director of Organizing

Essie Justice Group•South Pasadena, CA

1d•$110,000 - $120,000•Onsite

About The Position

Essie Justice Group seeks a strategic, relational, and systems-oriented Associate Director of Organizing to deepen the organization’s political impact during a period of historic membership growth. The role operationalizes Essie’s member strategy, strengthens engagement and leadership pathways, and aligns organizing work with campaign priorities, leadership development, and Oakland’s political landscape. It combines analytical work on data, systems, and metrics with relationship-building and care for team culture. The Associate Director serves as a systems-oriented and relational leader within the Membership & Organizing Team, driving Oakland and Bay Area-wide organizing and contributing political leadership. The role partners with the Director of Organizing Programs on strategy, goals, and annual work plans; coordinates execution toward defined outcomes; and supervises staff. The position is full-time, salaried, and exempt; based in Essie’s Oakland office; and supervised by the Director of Organizing Programs.

Requirements

5–7 years of experience in organizing, ideally in distributed, networked, or chapter-based models.
Experience in program design, implementation, and evaluation, including developing metrics and using data to inform strategy.
Skill in facilitating workshops, trainings, or popular education sessions.
Experience managing staff, preferably directly leading a team, with an emphasis on coaching and development; experience managing managers is not required.
Ability to support colleagues and members with direct experience of incarceration with empathy and accountability.
Collaborative leadership and ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced work environment.
Strong attention to detail and effective writing, editing, and verbal communication skills.
Proficiency with Mac operating systems, Google Suite, and MS Office Suite, especially Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
Commitment to Essie’s beliefs and values and demonstrated passion for progressive politics, particularly gender justice, race justice, and ending mass incarceration.
Ability to facilitate complex collective spaces, including extremely difficult moments.
Demonstrated integrity, trustworthiness, discernment, and follow-through in working with colleagues and partners.

Nice To Haves

Experience organizing in distributed, networked, or chapter-based models.
Direct staff leadership experience emphasizing coaching and development.
Experience developing directly impacted leadership and building relationships with partners across complex, high-stakes movement work.

Responsibilities

Operationalize and strengthen Essie’s membership strategy in alignment with the Director of Organizing Programs, using systems, data, and partnerships to drive growth, retention, and impact.
Strengthen organizing systems, member data infrastructure, and tracking tools to support increased development of member leaders.
Translate organization-wide member strategy into clear systems, plans, and team execution, and coordinate membership engagement approaches across campaigns and programs.
Assess the membership base’s strengths, gaps, and growth opportunities, and develop strategies to deepen engagement and retention.
Develop and manage organizing impact metrics, including member activation, leadership pipeline, retention, and political engagement benchmarks.
Strengthen feedback loops between organizing data, political strategy, and campaign direction; evaluate engagement strategies and develop standards, metrics, and outcome-oriented interventions.
Partner with the Director of Organizing Programs to identify training needs based on member strategy, campaign priorities, and base assessments.
Design, implement, or support organizing and power-building trainings for members and staff to facilitate member leadership.
Cultivate a politically sharp, relational, and accountable membership culture that reinforces shared standards and collective power.
Serve as the strategic driver of Essie’s Oakland and Bay Area-wide organizing and contribute political leadership in the landscape.
Lead pilot projects to test and deepen Essie’s constituency-building theory and practice.
Drive execution of Essie’s membership structure and political development strategy, including votes, elections, leadership appointments, and decision-making processes.
Partner with the Director of Organizing Programs to shape strategic goals, priorities, and annual work plans; coordinate team execution toward organizing outcomes and metrics; and supervise staff to support performance, growth, and retention.
Manage cross-functional staff project teams advancing high-priority organizing initiatives.
Directly manage 1–3 staff members.
Facilitate collective meetings and difficult spaces for members and staff, and build collaborative, mutually supportive partnerships with peer organizations.