Community Engagement Manager, Greater Houston Voter Engagement Project

Vital Impact • Houston, TX

8d • $95,000 - $105,000 • Remote

About The Position

The Voter Engagement Project, in its fourth and final year with funding from Houston Endowment, employs a nonpartisan, neighborhood-based strategy to boost voter turnout among lower- and mid-propensity voters in persistently low-turnout neighborhoods across Greater Houston. The project aims to contribute to Houston having the highest voter turnout per capita of any major metropolitan area in the U.S. The strategy is community-driven, centering the needs and interests of voters and local organizations. This nonpartisan effort emphasizes transparent decision-making. The project currently operates in seven diverse neighborhoods: Gulfton, Golfcrest, Southwest Houston, Westchase, and 1960 North in Harris County; Porter/New Caney in Montgomery County; and Rosenberg in Fort Bend County. Programs include text banking, phone banking, canvassing, mailers, digital ads, relational organizing, community events, and literature drops. The project focuses on building local ownership among community-based partners for all phases of civic engagement work, including community engagement, program design, implementation, and coordination. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors acts as the fiscal sponsor, contracting with community organizations for on-the-ground engagement and capacity building. Redstone Strategy Group supports the design and implementation of voter turnout efforts.

Requirements

• At least five years of related work experience, including project or program management, team leadership, and/or organizational leadership (e.g., nonpartisan campaign experience, philanthropy, community engagement, etc.).
• Ability to work independently, taking ownership of the work and timeline and looping in key stakeholders to provide updates and engage in the decision-making process as needed.
• Demonstrated project management experience and strong organizational skills, with a proven ability to coordinate and execute complex work involving multiple stakeholders, evolving workstreams, and simultaneous deliverables.
• Demonstrated leadership experience, with the ability to serve as a liaison and represent a project effectively to advisory committees, funders, and other senior stakeholders.
• Experience and comfort working with individuals of varied levels of seniority and from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
• Commitment to nonpartisan civic engagement and strong judgment about how to advance nonpartisan work in complex contexts.
• Knowledge of and experience with communities in the Houston metro area, especially those that tend to have lower voting rates.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Located in Houston, able to travel around the metro area as needed, and able to work productively without a traditional office.
• Flexibility to work weekends and outside standard 9-5 hours as needed (e.g., to participate in community events, stakeholder meetings, and program activities).

Nice To Haves

• Prior civic engagement experience is not required, but the ability to get up to speed quickly and build trust and credibility with all stakeholders is essential to be successful in the role.
• Experience working in direct client service settings.
• Working proficiency in Spanish.
• Lived and/or professional experience in any of the seven project neighborhoods.
• Familiarity with voter engagement and data tools, digital engagement platforms, or customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership, project management, and mutual accountability for ongoing nonpartisan civic engagement efforts in lower-turnout neighborhoods, working closely with community partners to set goals, timelines, milestones, and deliverables.
• Support community partners to develop and implement plans to gather ongoing community input (e.g. community council facilitation, focus groups, interviews, and surveys).
• Coordinate partner activities across neighborhoods and organizations to keep schedules, resources, and priorities aligned.
• Serve as the primary liaison to the Advisory Committee, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Houston Endowment, and potentially additional funders as relevant, maintaining a detailed stakeholder engagement work plan and reporting regularly on the interests, concerns, and capacity of community partners.
• Support Advisory Committee members to design and lead their engagement with initiative partners and activities (e.g., ensure committee meetings are set up, facilitate connections between committee members and opportunities/needs spotted during project management and partner engagement, help committee leaders establish systems to track commitments like fundraising activities).
• Help community partners prepare to deliver strategic updates, recommendations, and reporting to the Advisory Committee, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, and Houston Endowment.
• Manage relationships with local partners, holding regular check-ins to ensure ongoing alignment with voter engagement goals.
• Help local partners continue to strengthen project management and coordination capacity to develop data-informed neighborhood voter engagement plans and make strategic program selections, including support for data collection, analysis approaches, and alignment with program tools as needed.

Benefits

• Reimbursement for necessary travel expenses.
• Compensation will be based on experience, with a range of $95,000–$105,000.
• This is an independent contractor engagement and does not include employee benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed