Position Title: National Organizing Department (NOD) Organizing Manager

Tier / Category: Tier 4

Supervised By: Director of National Organizing Department

Employment Status: Full time

FLSA: Exempt

Location: Remote - In the US

NLRA: Management role

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) is a national organization that brings white people into fights for racial and economic justice. We work to build the white flank of multiracial majorities fighting for the things all communities need. We organize white people by engaging their shared interest-- what they stand to gain by joining alongside people of color. We do this through 150+ local chapters across the US and Canada, a National Membership base, and local base building projects in the South.

Summary of Position:

Organizing Managers support people and program management within SURJ’s National Organizing Department (NOD).

Each NOD Organizing Manager holds some amount of responsibility for staff supervision, project management, and cross-departmental coordination. At the same time, each Manager has unique realms of work that will depend on who they are supervising, and what campaigns they are managing at any given time. Thus, Managers are expected to be “generalists” who can both execute on their specialized realms of work and also share in the collective management load for NOD-wide program work and team health.

A successful person in this role will understand their own shared interest in leading campaigns to organize white people; be excited to work in a collaborative, hyper-interdependent team; and be willing to try new things, learn from experiments, and strive for growth over perfection. Additionally, successful Organizing Managers will bring a low-ego attitude and be able to understand their role as “swiss army knife organizers” in a political moment that requires creativity and nimbleness.

This position will report to the Deputy Director of the National Organizing Department.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES — Essential duties and responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following:

Priority 1: Manage program work within the National Organizing Department (50%)

• Under the direction of the NOD Director and Deputy Director, set strategy for program plans and campaigns that stem from NOD’s department-wide plans.
• Write proposals and plans that include setting goals, tactics, timeline, and staffing for organizing programs and campaigns, and project manage NOD staff to execute those plans.
• Participate in high-level execution of program work, and maintain connection to SURJ’s base by building in periodic touch-points with leaders and members.
• Occasionally attend meetings with key partners.

Priority 2: Supervise and support National Organizing Department staff (30%)

• Supervise select staff members in the National Organizing department. This includes weekly supervision check ins; ensuring quarterly or phase-based workplans are created; tracking progress on work plans; and being point on all HR-related matters for those staff members.
• Support, mentor and cultivate the leadership of staff. This includes coaching, providing consistent feedback and opportunities for development, and developing organizing skills and political analysis.
• Deepen organizers’ ability across NOD to move and organize white people based on their material interests into a political commitment to fight against white supremacy as part of the multi-racial working class.
• Support staff to stay focused and motivated in what can be a high-stress, rigorous work schedule and environment.

Priority 3: Coordination and administration (20%)

• Maintain consistent lines of communication with other Organizing Managers and Directors from other departments when it comes to setting programmatic goals, establishing cross-team and cross-departmental work plans, and setting up systems of tracking and accountability.

• Participate in weekly meetings for NOD, NOD Leadership Team (NLT), all-SURJ staff, and as relevant, with other departments.

• Maintain excellent daily coordination with colleagues via our shared remote workplace communication platforms: Slack, Google Workspace, email, etc.

• Complete monthly timesheets, reimbursement requests and credit card expense submissions on a timely basis; ensure supervisees do the same.

• Complete requests to supervisor for time off (vacation, health & wellness leave, etc.) via BambooHR on a timely basis; ensure supervisees do the same.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 5+ years experience with campaign organizing, managing teams, and developing internal systems

• 5+ years experience with volunteer recruitment, training and management

• Experience managing complex projects with many moving pieces including personnel and budgets
• Experience holding the big picture of an organizing campaign with very little external guidance
• Has some experience supervising or overseeing others; ready to execute formal supervision.
• Willingness to work irregular hours: Typically, staff work on average one weekend day per month and one night per week. There will be political moments, like the lead-up to elections, that could require some members of our team to work multiple nights a week and/or weekend days a month. We will offset that by having weeks throughout the year where members of staff don't work a night or weekend. We provide flexible scheduling to ensure sustainability in the position and to allow for the ebbs and flows that come with any organizing position.
• While driving for work is unlikely, all those who drive for work must abide by our driving policy.

KNOWLEDGE:

• Experience designing and leading teams through processes of campaign or action planning, execution, and evaluation
• Experience designing and facilitating meetings, trainings, and/or group gatherings that move people into action
• Experience organizing volunteers and members
• Experience with rapid response organizing that builds toward longer-term campaigns

• Experience coordinating activities of colleagues for specific projects

• Experience organizing on issues of racial and economic justice

• Familiarity with constituent relationship management systems such as EveryAction
• Familiar working with a variety of digital tools to engage a diverse base
• Experience with organizing and political education curriculum development
• Deep understanding of SURJ’s work and theory of change

• Understanding and commitment to SURJ’s work of organizing majority white communities for racial and economic justice.

• An understanding of the strategic importance of the South and power dynamics between the South and the rest of the U.S. that can influence organizing efforts there

• Demonstrated track record of organizing and leading in multiracial coalitions
• Embodied ability to show up right-sized in multiracial space

• Ability to work in a cross-class environment while also holding a strong class politics that centers poor and working people
• Comfort with working with people with completely different levels of political analysis and orientations to organizing. Ability to meet people where they’re at.

SKILLS:

• Demonstrates an advanced level of professional skills needed for their position, as well as ability to develop those skills in their team.

• Excellent written, verbal and relational communication skills
• Excellent time management skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills

• Strong written communication including internal and external facing communications

• Experience doing public speaking, conducting trainings, providing technical assistance, and facilitation of large and small groups
• Willingness to speak up, suggest new ideas, receive feedback, reflect, and adjust plans to ensure successful completion of goals, and be part of the solution.

ABILITIES:

• Ability to supervise and manage the day to day work of staff members
• Demonstrated ability to develop members leaders into taking on significant responsibility and create systems for them to do so

• Demonstrated ability to integrate political analysis in program’s strategies and tactics.
• Ability to prioritize their personal work and the work of a team they manage
• Ability to manage multiple projects
• Flexible - open to new ways of doing things and experimentation
• Reliable - follows through on what they said they are going to do
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Ability to work in fast paced environment at times of rapid response
• Ability and willingness to travel

• Ability to work in a cross-class environment while also holding a strong class politics that centers poor and working people.

BENEFITS:

• Annual salary: $70,000
• Health, dental and vision insurance effective the first of the month following employment
• 401K retirement plan with up to 6% employer match
• Twenty (20) days paid time off per year, prorated
• Twenty (20) days of sick leave per year, prorated
• Thirteen (13) paid holidays during the course of a year
• Employer paid short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Employer paid life insurance
• All staff works remote from home
• Monthly technology support reimbursement (internet, phone)

APPLICATION PERIOD:

Applications will be accepted until the position has been filled.

SURJ is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.