Position Announcement: Senior Director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress

The Arizona Center for Economic Progress (AZCenter) seeks a Senior Director. Launched in 2017, the AZCenter is an affiliate of Children’s Action Alliance (CAA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization in Arizona for 34 years. The AZCenter works with advocates, policymakers, and communities to connect the dots between the inequities in our economy and solutions to create a fair and socially just Arizona. The AZCenter is a leader in advancing policies at the state and federal level that create fairer tax codes which raise the revenue needed to invest in education, affordable housing, health care, infrastructure and other supports needed to build thriving communities and better economic opportunities for all Arizonans.

We recognize that many of the barriers and disparities that block the path toward better economic opportunities for people of color can be traced to a history of discriminatory and racist policies, the impacts of which continue to be felt today. As an organization, we are committed to advancing race equity and inclusion both through the policies we seek and throughout the internal workings of our organization. You can learn more about our work and our partners at azeconcenter.org.

About the position:

The Senior Director will report to the President and CEO of CAA. The ideal candidate is a collaborative leader who has the vision and skills to continue the growth of the AZCenter as a trusted source of information, an influential mover of policy, and as an agent of transformational change for traditionally marginalized populations.

The senior director works with the directors of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress to shape and implement the short- and long-term strategic plans for the AZCenter.As a member of the CAA leadership team, the Senior Director is responsible for keeping the CAA-side of the organization informed of the work and plans of the AZCenter team and serves as the point of contact for the CAA Vice President of Development and Engagement and Vice President ofFinance and Operations to coordinate so that the AZCenter has the communications and operations support necessary to achieve its strategic plans and goals.

Responsibilities:

• Focus the AZCenter’s work on developing community-centered policy solutions that address inequitable and oppressive structures, systems, and practices to build thriving communities and better economic opportunities for all Arizonans.
• Build long-term relationships and collaborative partnerships with community and grassroots organizations throughout Arizona who have a vested interest in the issues we work on, especially organizations that work with BIPOC people and communities that have been the subject of inequitable and oppressive structures, systems, and practices.
• Serve as the direct supervisor for the AZCenter Director of Fiscal Analysis, and Directors of Economic Policy.This includes hiring and onboarding for those positions, managing work load, providing weekly check-ins, conducting performance reviews, managing time-off requests, and connecting to professional development opportunities. This also includes being informed and knowledgeable of the work performance of the other AZCenter staff that are being directly supervised by the directors and providing supervisory skills mentorship and training to those directors.
• Achieve new funding to sustain and grow the AZCenter’s work—namely through writing grant proposals, gaining new individual donors, and implementing fundraising campaigns.
• Craft and implement AZCenter’s strategic plan by collaborating with directors, forming an advisory board, and listening to and engaging with communities and key stakeholders to inform the organization’s goals and work plans.
• Build and sustain the community-centered campaigns and movements including the strategies and tactics necessary to advance policy priorities at the state and federal level.
• Serve as the project manager for all of the AZCenter’s workflow to ensure that the AZCenter is releasing to the public regular, consistent, and quality work product that advances the AZCenter’s short- and long-term strategic plans.This includes managing the overall work capacity of the AZCenter team, providing AZCenter staff with deadlines to complete work and ensuring those deadlines are met, coordinating with communications staff and with the CAA Vice President of Policy.
• Meet regularly with the CAA Vice President of Policy to keep each other informed of the work being done and planned by the AZCenter team and vice versa by the CAA policy staff.
• Routinely represent the organization and actively collaborate with national partners, including the State Priorities Partnership (SPP), the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN), and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
• Produce written materials such as blogs, fact sheets, and policy briefs as needed and in coordination with AZCenter directors.
• Ensure that AZCenter team is following the principles set forth in the CAA/AZCenter Equitable Policy Tool when establishing policy priorities and that all AZCenter communications are consistent with the CAA/AZCenter Style Guide.
• Serve as the leading public face of the AZCenter in the media, at the State Capitol, and speaking at events across Arizona while also increasing the visibility of the AZCenter Directors so that they become identified as go-to experts in their policy areas.
• Work with the CAA VP of Development and Engagement to shape a consistent AZCenter brand and communications to achieve short- and long-term goals and objectives.
• Serves on the leadership team of CAA along with the President and CEO; Vice President of Policy; Vice President of Development and Engagement; and Vice President of Finance and Operations.
• Work with the CAA VP of Finance and Operations to manage and monitor the AZCenter operating budget.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field plus at least seven years of relevant work experience.
• Demonstrated expertise or knowledge in: state fiscal policy, K-12 public education funding, postsecondary education and job training programs, affordable housing policy, and child care programs; nutrition assistance state-tribal relations, and/or federal safety net programs.
• Knowledge of and experience with the state and federal legislative process.
• Knowledge of the systems-level challenges facing low-income Arizonans and communities of color.
• Have state and federal political knowledge and acumen to create and implement effective short- and long-term strategic plans and tactics to achieve the AZCenter’s policy objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects at once, including setting deadlines; clearly establishing who is responsible for the work product, and maintaining appropriate work capacity levels.
• Demonstrated ability to independently convey complex policy and data to with various audiences at differing levels of specificity.
• Demonstrated aptitude for building and cultivating strong relationships with external partners and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated leadership experience, particularly supervising and developing highly effective professionals.
• Demonstrated commitment to AZCenter’s vision and mission.

Compensation:

Salary range $95,000-$105,000, depending on experience and qualifications.

Major medical and dental insurance, life insurance, matching retirement contribution.

Competitive leave policies for vacation; sick leave; family, medical and personal leave; and earned sabbatical.

Location:

CAA operates a hybrid (office and home) working system that allows employees to work in the most productive location based on job description, project or task. We provide employees with the resources to work effectively from either the CAA office or remote locations. We have occasional in-person meetings at our office located in central Phoenix. For that reason, we are looking for the candidate to reside in the metro Phoenix area.

To Apply:

Position will remain open until filled. Send cover letter, and resume to: hr@azchildren.org

The Arizona Center for Economic Progress strongly encourages members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including people of color, LGBTQ identified people, gender-nonconforming people, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and people who speak a language in addition to English.