The Role

Think of Us seeks a Director, State Lead to serve as the lead strategist and architect of TOU’s state and local engagement. This new position will design and implement the expansion of TOU’s state and local government affairs, advocacy, and partner relationships. The Director will hold TOU’s state and local relationships, including those with state administrators and legislators.

The right candidate will proactively identify potential challenges and develop recommendations to steer projects smoothly. They know how to build relationships with local partners, add value to existing local efforts, and have a keen eye for opportunities to use TOU’s core competencies in support of systems change in child welfare.

Reports to: Senior Director, Proximate Policy
Direct Reports: None
Location: Remote, with up to 20-25% travel
Category: Full-time; Exempt

Responsibilities

Strategy (20%)

• In collaboration with the Senior Director, Proximate Policy, build and own TOU’s organizational strategy to shift from engagement to real integration of lived experience in state and local policymaking including:
• Leading on state policy projects and providing strategic input on federal projects;
• Creating strong ties for Think of Us across the field to child welfare organizations and advocacy partners, establishing feedback loops between federal and state policymaking; and
• Building capacity to collect and disseminate lived experience data at scale to shape priorities and facilitate alignment with the field and with policymakers around the needs and experiences of people closest to the system.
• Contribute to strategic planning processes to establish TOU’s role in the policymaking sphere, including state relationship mapping, federal targets and national and state campaign creation.

Relationships (40%)

• Lead all aspects of state and local engagement and serve as TOU’s state and local subject matter expert in target states/jurisdictions.
• Hold TOU’s relationships with state legislators on a bipartisan basis, including deepening existing relationships and building new relationships with key offices.
• Own relationships with state and local policymakers and partners, including regular communication, amplification of TOU’s work, and identifying opportunities for TOU engagement.
• Grow TOU’s state and local sphere of influence with governments, thought leaders, policymakers, partner organizations, and communities.
• Build and strengthen relationships with local lived expert communities.
• Identify strategic opportunities for TOU engagement in state and local efforts that tie into organizational goals and position TOU as a thought leader and convenor.
• Represent TOU in state and local coalitions, including attending coalition meetings, developing campaign strategy, supporting virtual and in-person advocacy efforts, and sharing out key information across the organization.
• Create, grow and maintain state and local outreach lists that help connect TOU to all levels, including thought leaders, elected officials and their staff, partners, and community members.

Targeted Campaigns / Projects (40%)

• Work closely with partner organizations to develop and lead policy campaigns at the state and local level, including:
• Participating in coalition committees,
• advocacy target identification,
• policymaker meetings with legislative, executive, and agency principals and staff,
• developing outreach materials (e.g. toolkits, factsheets, talking points, presentations),
• legislative tracking,
• local events such as site visits, legislative advocacy days, staff lunches, and
• coordinating constituent and grassroots engagement.
• Proactively include and support lived expert policy participation through inclusive engagement that intentionally removes barriers such as limiting jargon, flexible meeting schedules, and providing preparation support as needed.
• Serve as programming lead for events and convenings with state partners
• Lead state and local engagement components to existing kinship care, prevention and older youth projects across the organizations.

About You

• JUDGMENT: You form sound opinions and make solid decisions using common sense to determine what is appropriate to the situation while keeping the focus on the key issues.
• ARTICULATE: You speak or write with ease, expressing complex ideas easily and effectively using a communication style suited to the subject and audience.
• PERSUASIVE: You present ideas and proposals in a convincing manner, influencing the opinions, ideas, or actions of others gaining commitment from them.
• RESOURCEFUL: You find alternative solutions to overcome problems or limitations, leveraging the experience, expertise and work of others to find a way when none seems to exist.
• PERSISTENT: You persevere in spite of opposition or difficulty, refusing to accept setbacks as failure.
• NETWORKING SKILLS: You form and sustain mutually beneficial relationships to attain a goal to share information across functional areas.

Experience

• Minimum 8+ years of work experience; 6 of job-specific experience
• You are mission-aligned and deeply passionate about our work with experience in and/or proximity to systems surrounding child welfare;
• Lived experience in the child welfare system strongly preferred;
• You’re just as comfortable engaging in rooms with executives as you are with community members;
• You enjoy interacting with and speaking to different groups of people;
• You have created outreach materials for wide distribution.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation

Our compensation philosophy is based on transparency and attentiveness to people's holistic needs. We believe that fair and competitive compensation is essential for attracting and retaining exceptional talent, which is crucial for achieving our audacious goals. Our compensation packages include both cash compensation and benefits and all decisions are made in accordance with our financial standing as a not-for-profit organization.

The annualized compensation for this role is $125,000-$150,000

Benefits

• “Build your office” stipend
• Medical / Dental / Vision Coverage - We cover 100% of your premium and 50% of your family's premium for our "base" plan
• Health Care & Dependent Care FSA
• Employer-sponsored Short Tem Disability
• Employer-sponsored Life and AD&D
• Voluntary Supplemental Life
• Voluntary Long Term Disability
• 8 major holidays + 3 Org wide Breaks over Summer, Thanksgiving, & Winter
• Flexible PTO
• Sick Leave
• Paid Leave of Absence
• 401k for pre-tax retirement contributions
• Individual ($1500 per person) & Organizational-wide Learning & Development
• We hold monthly learning sessions organization-wide to deepen our understanding of foster youth's Lived Experience. We also discuss topics outside of Child Welfare to foster curiosity and growth in our culture.
• We put you at the cutting edge of change in the child welfare system.
• We offer you the chance to engage with inspiring leaders in government, foundations, the nonprofit sector, and entertainment who are passionately committed to transforming the child welfare system.