Associate Director, Build the Field

Associate Director, Build the Field
Full Time, Exempt
Location: Remote

Position Summary

The Economic Security Project seeks a highly skilled and motivated Associate Director to join our Build the Field team. The Associate Director leads our work to advance the idea that markets and industries can be shaped to deliver for the public good and not just for private profit. This includes our work on antimonopoly and public options—what we refer to collectively as “shaping markets”. With a keen understanding of political economy, we aim to legitimize bold ideas and provoke the conventional wisdom to expand what’s considered possible, creating the conditions to win bold economic policies.

The Associate Director is a key driver of our strategy and ideas in this portfolio. They design and lead projects to implement our strategy and represent the organization externally with partners, funders, and others. The Associate Director marshals the full range of ESP’s toolkit in building the field of actors working on shaping markets. Depending on the evolving needs, this can include mapping key players and identifying gaps, building coalitions, organizing funders, managing grantmaking, convening partners, elevating champions, commissioning research, and communicating with key audiences.

The Associate Director reports to the Managing Director, Build the Field.

About Economic Security Project

We believe in an America where everyone has the freedom and stability required to thrive. We are strongest when people are the authors of their own lives. But the inequalities in wealth and power created by bad actors, structural racism, and outdated ideas on how the economy should work have left us all more insecure and less resilient. We can make a different set of choices.

The Economic Security Project advocates for ideas that build economic power for all Americans. We legitimize bold ideas by supporting cutting edge research and elevating champions, win concrete policy victories for the communities that need to see change now, and provoke the conventional wisdom to shift what’s considered possible. Our team of academics, organizers, practitioners and culture makers disburse grants, run issue campaigns, develop creative interventions and research products, and convene to encourage investment and action from others. We pick our fights based on our analysis of where strategic mobilization of people and resources could turn emerging trends into concrete policies. Our current efforts include putting cash into people’s pockets with a guaranteed income and policies like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit; and keeping corporations out of them by checking the unprecedented concentration of economic power with antimonopoly action. We believe these fights will get us closer to a world where families can pay the heating bills and make the rent, where consumers have choices and small businesses, a fighting chance. A future where we all have a chance not to just survive, but thrive with dignity.

Our Track Record

We’ve convened thousands in briefings, workshops, and marquee events to strategize and set the agenda for a more just political economy. We passed policies in over seven states to modernize the tax code, won over $1 trillion in checks for families in response to the pandemic, and spearheaded the federal fight for a guaranteed income for kids in the form of the expanded Child Tax Credit. These cash-based policies reduced poverty in the middle of a recession, in the words of one observer, “defying gravity”. And we’ve built the field by investing over $25 million directly into groundbreaking research; pilots and task forces; coalitions and campaigns; new initiatives and organizations; and trend-setting narrative and cultural interventions to advance racial and economic justice and reset the conversation. As a result, ideas that were once considered impossible are now at the center of a vision for an economy where people are the authors of their own lives.

We’ve worked alongside thousands across the country exercising political muscle, moral imagination, and on- the-ground experimentation. It’ll take this and so much more in the years ahead; we are in a broader fight for a multiracial democracy and an economy that works for all. Our task is to deliver and we’re looking for talent to join us in the fight.

Our Team and Culture

Our successes are due in large part to the diverse team we’ve assembled from a wide range of fields – from campaigners to policymakers to activists to academics. We’re building an organization that supports and resources our staff to drive forward work that is critical to our mission. We are committed to creating a best-in-class staff experience that promotes growth and performance, which requires a culture of active problem-solving, feedback, communication, and accountability. As a fully remote organization, ESP staff can work from anywhere in the country. We actively support and encourage people taking time away from work, including two weeks of full office closures and a six-week sabbatical at 5 years of service, in addition to our standard PTO. You can find more information on our full benefits offerings below. Our internal work is deeply rooted in our values around diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring that our policies and processes are equitable and informed by a wide range of lived experiences. We invest in our people’s professional development and promote regular conversations about career goals and growth opportunities. We provide opportunities to come together in person for both strategic planning and relationship-building, and we’re always up to take a game of trivia a little too seriously.

Organize and build the field of actors working on shaping markets (60%)

• Design and manage key programs and projects to build the field through a range of approaches, including: cultivating and elevating champions; advocating with decision-makers; providing technical assistance and training to partners; building coalitions; connecting partners and supporting collaborations; managing grantmaking; organizing donors; and drafting public-facing documents, including fact sheets and briefs.

• Stay informed on trends, research, events, news, and opportunities in the field, and ensure ESP responds accordingly to advance its strategy.

• Coordinate the work of ESP colleagues and contractors related to market shaping.

External representation and communications (20%)

• Elevate the visibility of ESP, its views, and its partners with key external audiences, including through speaking at ESP and partner events.

• Represent the organization in strategic meetings with partners, funders, public officials, and other key stakeholders.

Strategy and leadership on market shaping work (20%)

• Lead strategy and goal-setting for ESP’s work on market shaping in collaboration with Build the Field leadership and colleagues across the organization.

• Serve as an expert resource to colleagues and partners on the politics and policy of market shaping.

• Support ESP’s executive and development teams to fundraise and curate a network of supporters and aligned donors committed to the broader field.

• Collaborate with colleagues on the Build the Field team and across ESP to connect work on market shaping with guaranteed income, tax credits, and other ESP issues.

While the following experience is strongly preferred, we encourage submissions from all candidates who can demonstrate a fit with the role, even if they don’t match every qualification listed below.

• 7-15 years of relevant experience in organizing, advocacy, movements, think tanks, philanthropy, nonprofits, government, or similar

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent additional experience

• 5+ years of experience organizing diverse partner organizations through coalitions, networks, communities of practice, or other structures to build the field.

• Some prior work or education on antimonopoly, antitrust, corporate accountability, public options, public service provision, or related fields with a power-building lens is strongly preferred.

• Existing strong networks within the market-shaping field and/or demonstrated ability to build new relationships and trust with partners.

• Demonstrated ability to set and execute strategies that advance economic, social, and racial justice.