
Website Alliance for the Great Lakes
Location: This position is remote and will be located within a Great Lakes state, with a preference for the Chicago area. For candidates outside the Chicago area, monthly overnight travel to the Alliance’s Chicago headquarters is expected. Proximity to a major airport is required.
Overview:
Role: The Vice President for Programs (VP) is responsible for all aspects of Alliance program implementation. They manage a team of policy and advocacy experts and work collaboratively to create new strategic initiatives for the organization. This is a high-profile position with leadership responsibility for internal program implementation and external advancement of the Alliance’s advocacy, research and relational work around Great Lakes and clean water issues.
Structure: The VP reports directly to the President & CEO. They are a member of the Alliance’s Leadership Team alongside the President & CEO, VP for Finance and Operations, and VP for Advancement. They supervise a team of five program directors with responsibility for various aspects of Alliance program implementation. The VP is an internal liaison to the Advancement and Finance & Operations teams.
Roles/Responsibilities:
The VP serves as Strategist, Program Leader, and Staff Manager.
Strategist
- Partner with the President & CEO to advance the organization’s current vision and strategy to achieve its policy goals.
- Identify and develop new program strategies for adoption by the Alliance and recommend improvements to achieve new policy outcomes.
- Track external Great Lakes and clean water needs, opportunities and trends relevant to organizational mission and vision, and make the case for organizational changes to meet those needs.
- Identify and nurture opportunities to advance program strategies through external partnerships.
Program Leader
- Develop and drive campaigns that address federal, state and local levels of government across the Great Lakes region.
- Lead and grow personal and organizational top-level relationships with institutions and partners that are most critical to the Alliance’s campaign success, such as government decision-makers, businesses, and a range of NGOs including philanthropies, academics, think tanks, civic and trade associations, environmental non-profits, and community-based organizations.
- Provide a voice of authority and insight to the media, partners and decision-makers on any issue relevant to Alliance campaigns.
- Maintain and grow relationships with local, regional and national institutional foundations that can support the Alliance’s work.
- Report to the President and CEO and Board of Directors on key performance indicators that demonstrate progress toward program goals.
- Make regular decisions on tactical changes to the strategic plan and incorporate into project management and work planning systems.
Staff Manager
- Manage a team of Director-level issue experts and advocates to implement Alliance programs.
- Ensure all program staff have access to the mentoring and development opportunities needed to excel in their roles at the Alliance.
- Identify, create and communicate regular short-term successes internally as the organization advances towards long-term goals.
- Facilitate effective collaboration between program staff and liaisons from communications, operations and fundraising teams.
- Solve cross-cutting programmatic challenges, fill identified capacity and decision gaps and give team direction on handling work that intersects across issues.
- Ensure organizational culture and values are present in day-to-day work of program staff.
Qualifications/Skills:
- Track record of designing and implementing campaigns that advance nonpartisan policy reforms at multiple levels of government over multiple years.
- Demonstrated success building winning coalitions of partners to drive policy outcomes across government decision makers, private businesses, and a range of NGOs, including philanthropies, academics, think tanks, civic and trade associations, environmental non-profits, and community-based organizations.
- Healthy, active personal networks in one or more of the Alliance’s priority issue, geographic, and philanthropic focus areas that enhance organizational reputation and fundraising ability.
- Ability to communicate a variety of issue facts and positions clearly, quickly and compellingly to various external audiences including media
- Commitment to ensuring Alliance campaigns, coalitions and policy outcomes reflect the stated needs of communities impacted by water challenges across the Great Lakes, with experience including community input in advocacy strategies.
- Experience working with staff and programs who are funded by philanthropic support and whose work must address funder priorities and grant deliverables.
- Track record of empowering, service-oriented leadership toward peers and direct reports while maintaining high standards of performance and accountability.
- Brings new methods of engaging staff and building buy-in and excitement around program strategy.
- Actively engaged in professional development and ongoing learning networks.
- Commitment to building and managing inclusive internal and external teams that cut across diversities of race, gender, culture, socioeconomic class, and geography.
- Commitment to Alliance values of community, relationships, courage, integrity, and optimism and principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice .
- Collaborative, collegial, humble, with a good sense of humor and ability to adapt to diverse work styles; adept at working in teams and independently in both virtual and in-person settings.
- Familiar with Microsoft Office Suite and project management software.
- Bachelor’s degree and 10+ years of experience, including at least three at the executive level, developing program strategy, implementing campaigns, and managing, hiring and retaining a team of multidisciplinary expert staff.
Application Process:
Please e-mail a cover letter, resume, references and writing sample to: [email protected]. Include job title in the subject line.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Materials should be compatible with Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat. Applicants will receive confirmation of receipt of their materials and further guidance and updates about the hiring process by e-mail, with interviews provided for finalists. No phone inquiries please.
To apply for this job email your details to hr@greatlakes.org