Job Description

A BIT ABOUT US

Elections are the foundation of democracy, and democracy depends on elections that are broadly trusted. VotingWorks is a non-partisan non-profit building technology that powers elections everyone can trust.

We use open-source software, modern product engineering, and advanced security to build:

• Auditing technology that increases trust in legacy voting systems
• Modern voting systems that are much more broadly trusted.

Our auditing system is used by 12 states, including Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Texas, Nevada, and Washington. Our voting system is deployed in 2 states, Mississippi and New Hampshire. Most notably, we are the first new voting system in New Hampshire in more than 30 years.

THE OPPORTUNITY

We are building voting technology. We believe in voting machines that can be trusted by the public, by election officials, and by security experts. We also believe in supporting robust and transparent post-election audits, to provide confidence in election results. If you’re like us, you’ve been thinking about the myriad problems and rough edges of our democracy for a while. We’ve decided that talking about it isn’t enough - we must do something. If you feel the same way, we hope you’ll consider joining our team.

THE TEAM

We work as a small, tight-knit team. We’re a flat organization when it comes to ideas and input, and we believe in good management, even as a small organization, so that every VotingWorks team member gets regular feedback, guidance, and an opportunity for personal growth. We strive to be both confident in the skills and knowledge we each bring and humble in our interactions with each other and other stakeholders in the election space.

THE ROLE

Your goal is to assist the Head of Compliance and Government Partnerships and the VotingWorks team in achieving Federal - and state - certification. Certification in the election space refers to testing voting systems - and sometimes other election technology - to a standard identified by the EAC (currently the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0) and/or additional requirements identified by a state. For federal certification, we work with a federally accredited Voting System Test Laboratory and the US Election Assistance Commission to gain certification. For states, there is some variability in certification programs, but those that require certification have a process and requirements set out that we would need to meet.

The successful candidate will be extremely detail oriented, but also be able to see the forest from the trees, be a strong project manager, and also be able to build rapport with stakeholders, both internal and external.

You’ll need to:

• Be available to be onsite for certification testing at SLI Compliance (Wheatridge, CO) and Elements (Longmont, CO) during test campaigns, to keep the project moving, troubleshoot issues as they arise, and escalate issues to the Head of Compliance and Government Partnerships. This will require (on average) two weeks of travel to Colorado per quarter.
• Support and later lead state certification efforts.
• Communicate solutions and mitigations to the test lab on behalf of VotingWorks.
• Assist the Vx team with managing development and revisions to technical data package (documentation) and other materials required for certification or customers.
• Lead the usability and accessibility testing process and work with members of VotingWorks hardware team to provide support/feedback/etc for user testing
• Participate in conversations regarding VVSG requirements and system functionality and communicate with EAC Testing and Certification Program
• Attend state and/or national conferences to represent VotingWorks and network with election officials, other vendors, and nonprofits in the election space. We will negotiate these needs and make sure the travel load is not burdensome, but the goal with this travel is to learn and build your network.
• Provide election day support (in person) and audit support (virtual) for VotingWorks customers. Usually 4 days in March/April and 4 days in November for in person support.

You may not have done this exact job before, but you will work closely with the Head of Compliance and Government Partnerships who has 20 years of experience in this space and will provide training, contacts, etc. to support your success in this role.

Preferred Experience:

• Demonstrated experience in project management, issue triage, and strong interpersonal skills.
• A tech savvy candidate is also strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with reading standards and working with regulatory agencies.

Required Experience:

• At least 5-7 years of experience in project management.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear, compliance-focused narratives.
• Excellent organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.
• High degree of integrity, discretion, and commitment to nonpartisan public service.
• Ability to work autonomously, but capable of identifying issues that need to be escalated for further discussion, strategy, or resolution.

WITHIN 1 MONTH, YOU’LL

• Get familiar with VotingWorks team, product, and certification plan
• Learn about our state certification goals and participate in researching needs for each state
• Receive training from customer success team and be prepared to support elections for customers in NH and MS
• Assist with managing details of ongoing certification campaign

WITHIN 3 MONTHS, YOU’LL

• Continue learning about VotingWorks and start gaining a solid understanding of certification process and players
• Work with Head of Compliance and Government Partnerships to prepare for future EAC submissions and ongoing state certification submissions

WITHIN 12 MONTHS, YOU’LL

• Be proficient with all VotingWorks products
• Manage the details of a Federal certification campaign with assistance and guidance from Head of Compliance and Government Partnerships
• Work with VotingWorks team to identify future customer target states and RFP options and prepare to support and/or lead state certification efforts
• Comfortably provide support on election day or with audits (as needed)
• Have built out your network of election contacts through attendance at national and/or state conferences, including relationships with federal partners

WE’RE mostly DISTRIBUTED

We’re a mostly distributed organization, with team members working from home in nine different states. For many of our roles, you can live anywhere you want. For some of our roles, we need you in specific geographies. If there’s a geographical requirement, it’s never “just to be in the same room as the rest of the team,'' it’s for very clear reasons like customer need or working on physical hardware together. For this role you’ll need to be able to travel to Wheatridge, CO and Longmont, CO, as well as making yourself available to travel to conferences and state certification efforts.

We offer a flexible work schedule and we're on board with schedule flexibility: many team members have kids, pets, family members they care for, extensive hobbies, and other personal commitments that don’t always conform to a 9-5 schedule. We get that, and we think we’re a better organization if we adapt to that. We work hard, we just don’t work hard on a strict schedule. With flexibility comes responsibility: you should be comfortable with significant autonomous work.

COMPENSATION

We’re a non-profit, so we compensate in cash and benefits exclusively. We won’t pay you as much as a big for-profit, but we’ll still pay you a very fair salary and competitive benefits. Compensation is commensurate with your skills and experience. The compensation range for this position is $104,000 - $150,000 depending on experience and location.

WE’RE BUILDING A DIVERSE TEAM

We never discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, background, ability/disability or really anything that isn’t about your skills.

We strive to go beyond that: we want to build a diverse organization that truly represents the people of the United States of America. We especially want to encourage women and members of under-represented groups to apply. You’ll always be judged on your skills and contributions, and we know that a more diverse team in all dimensions is a better team.