Organizing Strategy & Innovation Program Director

Position Title: Organizing Strategy & Innovation Program Director

Reports to: Deputy Director of Programs

About Us:

The Movement Innovation Collaborative (MIC) is a new time-limited e ntity that will deepen and expand the capacity, impact, and sustainability of California's grassroots movements for racial justice and social transformation. Through offerings that are additive and synergistic with existing movement efforts, the MIC will support changemakers and organizations in catalyzing innovations in movement strategy, power-building, intergenerational leadership development, and collective long-term sustainability and resilience. Through a network of physical and virtual "centers," the MIC will also contribute a key piece of infrastructure to fuel transformative structural change across California. This network will consist of new and existing centers serving hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of grassroots leaders in California. MIC will focus on six core strategies:

• Organizing Strategy and Innovation (OS&I)
• Healing, Sustainability and Culture (HSC)
• Network of Centers (NoC)
• Regional Ecosystems (RE)
• Movement Strategy & Innovation (MS&I)
• Learning & Impact (L&I)

Position Overview:

Organizing Strategy & Innovation, Program Director will design and lead initiatives and collaborative efforts that support the revival and evolution of transformative organizing approaches and organizer pipeline infrastructure. Reporting to the Deputy Director of Programs, this role will collaborate with partners to research key questions facing the field, facilitate collaborative learning, and resource cohorts, capacity-building, and major pipeline infrastructure projects across the state.

What You’ll Be Doing:

The Organizing Strategy & Innovations (OSI) program aims to accelerate base-building and grow governing power by investing in power-building organizations and networks through resourced cohorts, curriculum and capacity-building to support organizational experimentation and breakthrough thinking, and evolve organizing strategy on issues like upsurge absorption, intergenerational leadership, organizer pipeline infrastructure, digital strategies, and holistic approaches. The OSI program sits within the Transformative Organizing Team, along with the Healing Sustainability & Culture program.

Because this body of work intersects with the other program strategies, it must be carried out in alignment with MIC’s overall program strategy. A crucial responsibility of this role in this start up phase is designing and developing OSI with built-in integration and alignment mechanisms, and ensuring ongoing coordination with the Network of Centers, Healing Sustainability & Culture, Movement Strategy & Innovation, Regional Ecosystem and Learning and Impact strategies.

The Organizing Strategy & Innovation, Program Director will supervise a program manager and related consultants, and will have the following responsibilities in the MIC’s startup phase:

1. Program Design and Management

• Design and Launch Core Initiatives: Lead the comprehensive design, planning, and launch of programming that focus on the development of movement infrastructure that is responsive to the major challenges facing the power building ecosystem in CA and the innovation and strategy required to build the power we need – ensuring high-quality, cross-racial, and cross-sector participation.
• Manage Partnerships: Cultivate and maintain high-value relationships with anchor field partners, practitioners, subject-matter experts, researchers, capacity builders and other strategic partners, and lead collaborative teams to co-design and execute OSI program activities and research objectives.
• Budget Oversight: Inform, manage, and monitor the annual program budget for the OSI program, ensuring responsible resource allocation across research, convenings, and capacity-building grants.

2. Strategy Implementation

• Field Assessment and Research : Assess the development and current trends of Transformative Organizing, including models, frameworks and related infrastructure
• Experimentation: Lead programming that invests in and supports OSI related field innovation and infrastructure; develop and oversee experiments in building OSI related movement infrastructure and ensure they are evaluated and analyzed for cross movement learning and growth.
• Facilitate Collaborative Spaces : Design, facilitate, and manage cross-racial, intergenerational, and relational spaces (convenings, cohorts, internal containers) for collaborative learning, problem-solving, and strategic alignment across California’s power-building ecosystem.

3. Internal Collaboration with Program and Governance Leadership

• Program Coordination & Integration : Work in close collaboration with other MIC leadership to ensure alignment, cross-fertilization, and integrated programming across all program strategies; and provide reports to their direct supervisor, the Deputy Director of Programs, as well as all staff, the Board of Directors, and the Leadership Council
• Research and Analysis : In collaboration with the Learning and Impact and Movement Strategy & Innovation teams, oversee all action research for testing OSI models, collect data & facilitate gatherings for sense making.
• Knowledge Capture & Dissemination: Collaborate with MS&I on knowledge capture, framework development and evolution, materials development and dissemination related to OSI and elevate the leadership and lessons learned from the California ecosystem to the national field.

We envision that as we move beyond the startup phase, the responsibilities for this position will shift to address other growing and strategic needs of OSI in the power building field.

Who You Are:

While no one person will embody all of the qualities described below, in addition to alignment with the MIC's theory of change, mission, values and culture, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:

A track record of

• building relationships with progressive organizational leaders
• leadership that is action-oriented, entrepreneurial, adaptable, community-centered and brings an innovative approach to addressing challenges
• expertise in community organizing and program development, with at least five years of experience in coalition building in a power-building context and a minimum of seven years in base-building
• a combination of related curriculum development, training and work for minimum of seven years
• innovation, experimentation and integrating related approaches into processes for program development and learning
• a high-level of cultural awareness and experience working with different demographic and cultural groups

Demonstrated ability to

• translate theory to strategy, strategy to testing, and testing to actionable implementation; all in alignment with concrete goals and measurable outcomes
• maintain cross-functional collaboration and build strong and trusted relationships across diverse individuals and groups of stakeholders
• design and facilitate collective strategy development and assessment processes
• lead a robust program in/during a start-up phase of a state-wide organization
• lead a robust program with sufficient integration and alignment across several other programs
• take a flexible and resilient approach, with the ability to handle strong opinions/feedback well, and adapt to the dynamic nature of a startup environment
• tackle issues of race & equity both internally with colleagues and externally with the field
• link the development of people with achievement of organizational outcomes
• effectively facilitate, train, and provide consultation
• convene groups to interpret and examine data, make decisions, and move to action
• effectively write and verbally communicate; ability to:
  • effectively present information to diverse audiences (MIC staff, Board of Directors and Advisors, movement organizations, funders, etc.)
  • Synthesize, internalize and articulate new clarity, directives, and agreements
  • draft concise reports to governing bodies
• project management, prioritize, and plan, with a track record of success producing high-quality deliverables on time and with attention to detail and accuracy
• use online platforms for communication, project management, etc. (specifically Google Suite, Asana, CRM); willingness to learn additional applications and accessible technology as necessary

Employment Classification and Salary

• This is a full-time, exempt position starting as soon as possible. This role is remote; however, the candidate must be in California.
• The starting salary for this position is $160,000.
• The MIC has a 90-day trial period policy for all new hires. This allows both the organization and the employee to ensure a great fit. During this period, performance, adaptability, and cultural alignment will be assessed through ongoing feedback and a formal review.

Benefits

• 100% organization-funded medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees, their spouses or domestic partners, and their children. Coverage begins on the first day of employment.
• Paid Time Off: As a full-time employee, you will receive 15 days of vacation, 12 sick days per year, and a generous paid family leave policy. Accrual of this benefit begins on the first day of employment and becomes available upon completion of the 90-day trial period.
• Paid Holidays: 21 days total, including a 10-day Winter Break overlapping with Christmas and New Year’s Day. Additionally, 4 Floating Holidays will be made available upon completion of the 90-day trial period.
• Retirement Plan: MIC offers a 403b retirement plan. MIC contributes an employer-paid amount equal to 5% of your salary. Vesting for this contribution is immediate. Employees have a default 3% personal contribution rate and may adjust it at any time. This benefit becomes available after the 90-day trial period.

MIC’s salaries and benefits reflect our commitment to collective care and sustainability. They may evolve as the organization grows, and employees will be updated as changes occur. Additional details will be provided upon hiring.

Movement Innovation Collaborative is an equal-opportunity employer.

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage those who see alignment with our mission and believe they have the relevant skills and experience to apply. We commit to providing an inclusive work environment where everyone is treated with fairness, dignity, and respect.