Arena Careers

Title: Political Director

Organization: LGBTQ Victory Fund

Location: Washington, DC

Reports to: VP of Political Programs

Salary: $80,000-90,000

Summary

For over 30 years, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund has helped to elect thousands of openly LGBTQ public officials at every level of government. Our leaders have been catalysts for expanding legal rights for LGBTQ people across the country, and they have transformed our nation’s policies and shifted our political landscape towards equality, one election at a time. Today, more than 1,000 LGBTQ Americans are serving in elected office due to the work of Victory, including thirteen members of congress two U.S. senators, and three governors.

The Political Director helps manage interactions with the ever-increasing number of LGBTQ candidates. In conjunction with the Vice President of Political Programs, the Political Director creates and guides a long-term organizational strategy to boost Victory’s impact as the continued electoral leader in LGBTQ politics as envisioned in Victory Fund’s strategic plan. The Director identifies and maps strategies to grow the organization, target and prioritize key races, oversee the pipelining and endorsement process of LGBTQ candidates, and manage candidate and campaign services and the regional staff executing them.

The ideal candidate has experience in campaign management and/or knowledge of all aspects of successful campaigns (field, fundraising, polling, etc.) as well as general campaign finance rules. They are skilled in national stakeholder relationship management and understand the unique challenges facing LGBTQ people/minority candidates. Independent expenditure and experience with internal firewalls is also desired.

General Responsibilities

Developing and Executing Political Strategy

• Utilize existing national relationships and Victory’s political pipeline and partnerships to forecast priority races and efforts for Victory to engage.

• Execute a program to highlight and prioritize Victory candidates who will be top opportunities for higher and more impactful offices in cycles to come.

• Make recommendations for direct contributions to candidates and oversee internal process.

• Help fundraise into Victory’s PAC accounts.

• Lead partnerships with key electoral partners and stakeholders at the national and state level.

• Oversee endorsement presentations to the Victory Campaign Board, working with the Victory Campaign Board Manager.

• Manages endorsement application processing for candidates in geographic region

• Lead respective coordinated / independent team for potential IE efforts on behalf of Victory candidates.

Candidate and Campaign Services

• Provides in-depth support for all priority “Spotlight” candidates

• Ensure that candidate support efforts are tracked and consistent.

• Ensure that candidate interactions with Victory Fund are substantial and in line with set expectations based around level of endorsement.

• Grow services that can benefit endorsed candidates and LGBTQ candidates writ large.

• Conduct regular check-ins with staff to map and execute candidate engagement and opportunities.

• Supervise the maintenance of the Victory Fund endorsed candidate portal and the resources contained within, including lists of vendors, consultants, tools, and guidance on winning campaign messaging.

• Oversee the Political Managers and Political Associates in tracking all services provided to candidates by the Political department, including cross-organization efforts on behalf of those candidates.

• Occasionally deploy to assist key Victory Fund electoral priorities in targeted states and oversee all Victory led engagement in a campaign.

Cross Departmental Engagement

• In conjunction with the Communications department, leverage stakeholder relationships to garner support and earned media for our endorsed candidates

• In conjunction with the Development department, ensure alignment and focus of fundraising for candidates, PAC accounts, and fundraising events.

• Ensure Victory pipeline of candidates is strong and work to get candidates trained to run with partners, including LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university, plus at least six years of significant campaign experience, ideally with some portion of that time spent at a large PAC, statewide organization, party committee, or candidate’s campaign; or equivalent combination of education and/or experience.

• Wide range of electoral experience including campaign planning, communications, and fundraising and the ability to impart those experiences in an educative way.

• Excellent writing/editing and verbal communication skills.

• Ability to work in a fast-paced, campaign-oriented environment.

• Approaches work with commitment, flexibility and diligence.

• Sincere commitment to Victory’s mission.

• Able to work collaboratively with all constituent groups, including staff, volunteers, candidates, and partner organizations.

• Self-starter, able to work independently when needed.

• Remote possible with preference for Washington DC

The salary for this position is $80,000 – 90,000. Please include salary requirements in your materials. Full-time staff are eligible for Victory’s comprehensive benefits package including medical, vision, dental, health reimbursement account, medical flexible spending account, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, 401k, parental leave and generous paid time off.

To Apply:

Victory is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply. Please send a resume and cover letter, along with salary requirements and how you learned about this opportunity to [email protected]. No phone calls or walk-ins please.