Work Equity Program Manager

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) seeks a dynamic, experienced, and skilled person to join our Work Equity team to advance NELP’s programs and policy campaigns, with a particular focus on addressing the impacts of occupational segregation for communities of color and directly impacted people with records.  We are seeking an experienced manager with deep competency in coordinating complex processes that elevate the impact of our research, capacity building, narrative and strategic communications, policy, and advocacy. This is an extraordinary opportunity to leverage your talent to join a team who are at the forefront of ensuring people obtain good jobs where equity is built into the policies and culture.

Who We Are

Founded in 1969, the nonprofit National Employment Law Project (NELP) is a leading advocacy organization with the mission to build a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs. Together with local, state, and national partners, NELP advances its mission through transformative legal and policy solutions, research, capacity building, and communications. Our victories over the last decade have impacted the lives of an estimated 100 million workers and their families. We lead and collaborate in fights for higher pay and just benefits, secure and safe jobs, and support at each stage in a worker’s life. We build worker power and we challenge rules that allow corporate harm and undue power. We are transforming precarious work by raising the floor so that every job is a good job and everyone who wants a job can have one. Together over the next decade, we will build Black, immigrant worker power and advance transformative solutions to achieve racial and economic justice. For more information, read our annual reports and explore our website: www.nelp.org

NELP has a team of 45 staff people based across offices in New York City, Washington D.C., and Berkeley, CA, with a 12-person Board of Directors, an annual budget of $14M, and hundreds of partners in the field with whom we work to further our mission.

What You Will Do
You may be based in any of NELP’s three office locations (Berkeley, California; New York City; or Washington D.C.) and will report to the Director of Work Equity. You will work in conjunction with NELP’s staff of lawyers, policy experts, researchers, and strategic communications experts. As a member of the Work Equity team, you will advance our long-term vision to ensure people obtain good jobs where equity is built into the policies and culture—that we advance at work inclusive of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, social class, conviction record, family or immigration status, and disability.  Your work includes:

• Managing the development and execution of the team’s occupational segregation strategic framework including: coordination with other teams; developing written materials and talking points; planning and executing coordination meetings; co-leading the development of a national occupational segregation learning project in partnership with two other national anchor organizations.
• Cultivating and managing thoughtful and strategic partnerships and stakeholder outreach, particularly as it relates to capacity building, research and evaluation, and narrative and strategic communications projects.
• Creating a robust and effective system of project coordination, documentation, and tracking integrated into platforms and using digital tools.
• Seeding and launching new narrative projects in partnership with the communications team that undergird our vision for innovative policy design, research, and worker-power building.
• Supporting development and implementation of ambitious new research projects.
• Advocating for local, state, and federal policies that will raise the labor standards for all workers by centering Black, immigrant workers and people with records. 

• Conducting media and literature reviews to support occupational segregation projects.
• Representing NELP in coalitions, public forums, legislative and agency hearings, and in the media.
• Sharpening the vision of our work equity strategic priorities with a racial equity framework in collaboration with our team.

Who You Are

• You have seven+ years of coordination and advocacy experience in criminal justice reform, labor and employment rights, civil rights and racial justice, or other social or economic justice issues.
• You have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• You have strong racial equity competencies and center your role in an analysis and understanding of how race, class and power shape systems in our society and culture and are continuously learning, reflecting, and growing; you support a feedback culture and operate constructively across lines of difference.
• You have strong and demonstrable project management skills. You are a strategic, creative and clear-headed thinker and doer, have experience independently managing multiple projects, overseeing, and tracking details, and a track record of achieving timely results. Project management professional certification a plus.
• You take an organizing-based approach to logistics and operations, including motivating others to respond and conducting the necessary follow-through.
• You are a relationship-builder and have strong interpersonal skills, enjoy connecting individuals, and have a track record of developing and maintaining alliances.
• You have a proven track record of working in coalition with diverse groups, such as: community-based organizations, legal advocates, labor, and worker centers.
• You are a skilled and effective communicator in written products, with a demonstrated ability to convey complex concepts in compelling and digestible work products such as memos, reports, op-eds, toolkits, or issue briefs; and you are skilled in presenting, testifying, or engaging with the media.
• You are self-aware, curious, and respectful, fostering a sense of purpose and community and have high standards for holding yourself and others accountable.
• You operate with a commitment to excellence, integrity, diplomacy, and camaraderie.

Start Date, Location, Compensation and Benefits:  In response to the pandemic, all staff are currently working remotely and are not traveling. When conditions are amenable, the position will require some travel. Candidates must be able to work from one of our three offices (Berkeley, New York City, or Washington D.C.) at the point that we return to working in the office. The start date will be as soon as possible. This position is in NELP’s bargaining unit, represented by National Organization of Legal Service Workers, UAW Local 2320. Classification and compensation for NELP bargaining unit positions is commensurate with relevant experience and education and based on NELP’s collectively bargained scales. Based on our union scale, here are some examples of salaries for this position:

• with a relevant Bachelor’s degree and seven years’ relevant experience, the salary will be $77,000; at nine years, then $80,900.
• with a relevant Master’s degree and nine years’ relevant experience, the salary will be $89,000; at 11 years, then $93,100.

Based on the union scale, if an individual candidate’s education or experience is higher than an example, the salary will be higher; conversely, with less education or experience, the salary is lower. Compensation also includes an excellent comprehensive benefits package, including full coverage of family health insurance, a medical reimbursement plan, generous vacation and sick leave, plus additional organization-wide holidays, significant contribution from employer to a retirement plan (both an unelected contribution and employer match), 12 weeks paid parental leave, and student loan repayment assistance for qualifying participants.

To Apply: Go to our online application system at https://nationalemploymentlawproject.applytojob.com/apply to submit a cover letter and resume. If you have questions regarding this announcement, please forward those to nelp@nelp.org, noting “WE Program Manager” in the subject line. No phone calls or other email inquiries please. We will consider applications on a rolling basis; interested applicants are encouraged to submit sooner than later.

NELP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and an equal opportunity, fair chance, affirmative action employer, committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.