New Conversation Initiative: Data Director

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JOB DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE NEW CONVERSATION INITIATIVE

Our mission is to win bold change for our communities, and turn the tide against divide and conquer tactics based in fear, scarcity and dehumanization, by scaling deep canvassing.

Deep canvassing is a form of person to person outreach developed by community organizers over the course of the last 17 years. It is one of the only methodologies that has been scientifically proven to change how people feel about deeply held issues in a lasting way.

At The New Conversation Initiative, many of us were part of the team that first created deep canvassing in the LGBTQ rights movement. We have helped lead the field ever since, directly organizing programs as well as helping a wide range of partners build deep canvass programs of their own - on issues from immigration to trans rights, abortion, policing, renewable energy, economic justice and more. Working with leading political scientists we have helped conduct nearly all of the landmark experiments that have quantified deep canvassing’s powerful effects.

THE OPPORTUNITY

NCI is hiring our first Data Director but data has long been a vital part of our work. Strong data systems, that allow for nuanced in-program feedback loops and learning, are one of the essential pillars of our process. They have been key to every persuasion deep canvass that has ever scaled and made an impact.

Our goal is to bring someone onto our team who:

• is excited to learn the rigorous organizing approaches and data practices that have made our work effective

• brings new expertise, perspectives and insights

• will collaborate with us to evolve our systems to increase efficiency, open up deeper analysis and learning, and capitalize on the capacity offered by new tools over time

• will develop the data infrastructure that will allow us to operate at an increasingly ambitious scale

OVERVIEW OF THE POSITION

In the immediate term, the data director will help create the systems to support our newest program: a nationwide conversation effort around immigration for which we are also developing a first-of-its-kind hybrid online and in-person volunteer organizing approach.

The data director will also oversee the implementation and management of systems to support our membership and fundraising work, as well as help us advise and support the data work of partners who are building programs of their own. They will work in collaboration with the entire NCI team to carry out an integrated and powerful vision.

The New Conversation Initiative Data Director will:

• Develop and maintain data systems

• Set up and maintain a data warehouse.

• Manage the data within, and the integration between, NCI’s tools and platforms.

• Help establish practices that will ensure high quality, clean, useful data over the long term

• Create and maintain robust systems for reporting and analysis

• Set up dashboards and analysis tools that enable real time or rapid reporting, frequent evaluation and tight feedback loops across our programs (including the analysis of persuasion and other metrics that NCI has long relied on but that are not as commonly utilized in the field)

• Lead specialized data projects and the development of new tools

• Lead high level, unique data engineering projects in service of NCI’s innovative nationwide conversation and field programs.

• For example: the creation of precinct or census tract datasets that make it possible to cross reference metrics on walkability and density with other demographic data and scores.

• When needed, manage external consultants to support these efforts.

• Train and support team members

• Train and support NCI staff on data systems and best practices

• Support staff to troubleshoot data and tool problems

• Support volunteers to help execute data work (when the need and opportunity arises.)

The most qualified candidates will have:

• A strong appetite to operate in a highly collaborative, relational working environment as part of a nimble team (with co-workers who are not data experts)

• Strong communication skills and a willingness to work across various forms of difference.

• SQL expertise

• Expertise with designing, implementing, maintaining database and warehousing systems (Big Query)

• Expertise with data dashboarding systems (Looker, Periscope)

• Experience with spreadsheet and data management systems used by non-expert users (Google Sheets, Excel)

• Experience with tools and platforms commonly used by field and campaign organizations, including:

• Voter file databases (Targetsmart, Catalist)

• Campaign-focused CRMs (EveryAction, Action Builder)

• Canvassing/Field outreach platforms (OpenField, VAN)

• Dialer Systems (Scale to Win, CallHub)

• Membership/Fundraising-focused CRMs (Salesforce, Hubspot)

• Event and Recruitment Platforms (Mobilize, Winnable)

• Email and outreach platforms (Action Network, MailMeteor)

• Significant experience working in organizing, campaign, and advocacy spaces

• Experience relating to and managing external consultants and vendors

• Strong ability to work proactively / self-direct