Managing Director

MANAGING DIRECTOR OVERVIEW Justice Democrats seeks a talented, committed leader to serve as Managing Director. This position is responsible for managing our staff and organizational structure; supporting the Executive Director; building and maintaining coordination and alignment across departments, projects and areas of work; and problem-solving major gaps in our organizational capacity to achieve our goals. The Managing Director will remain grounded in day to day operations while also driving forward our long-term vision by supporting staff at all levels and ensuring that our resources are properly aligned to achieve our outcomes. They will optimize our work across the organizations to keep us as healthy and effective as possible. The Managing Director reports to Hodari Williams, the Executive Director. This position will begin in January 2027, the application deadline is November 19th 2026. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES Drive long-term vision Work with the Executive Director and Directors team to ensure we have clear short and long term goals, and that these are clear and communicated to staff. Work with Directors team to ensure alignment between different departments in long term strategy and daily operations Ensure alignment between different departments in long term strategy and daily operations Identify short or long term strategic gaps or problems and work with the Executive Director and Directors team to solve them Lead the planning and implementation of the annual staff retreat. Serve as core support person to the Executive Director: Work with the Executive Director to ensure their time is appropriately prioritized and spent in the appropriate focus areas Support strong cross-organizational reporting Prepare meeting and event briefings (or delegate to other staff members), ensuring the ED is properly prepared for all engagements and anticipating needs before they arise. As needed, attend key meetings and events with or on behalf of the ED, ensuring timely follow-up on all action items. Draft correspondence on behalf of ED and review and edit correspondence and remarks drafted by colleagues. Serve as a support to ED’s direct reports, ensuring strong accountability, efficient flow of communication, and alignment with the ED. Provide executive-level support administrative and logistical support to the ED, as needed, including coordinating meetings, managing follow-up communications, facilitating scheduling, preparing materials, and ensuring the timely executing of organizational priorities. Organizational Management Systems Maintain the macro view of our organizational management structure and identify gaps and needs Manage onboarding of new staff onto our team Provide management training and/or support for everyone with management responsibilities (whether they manage volunteers, contractors, or staff) Convene, coordinate, and manage agendas for directors and all staff meetings and retreats Convene and coordinate ad hoc decision-making (when no one else is able to hold this effectively) about whether we need to “pump the brakes” on a major project, re-orient in a big way, or otherwise temp check the direction Work with the Directors team to ensure weekly, monthly, and annual priorities are clear. Manage staff to execute hiring processes. Maintain shared hiring resources. Lead on cross-team projects as needed, determined by the Directors Team. In this role support staff members to develop project plans, anticipate obstacles, and follow through on deliverables. Operations and Human Resources Work with relevant Managers to evaluate and implement performance management as needed (following our progressive discipline policy). Ensure the organization is operating in compliance with our handbook Manage the annual/biannual performance review process across the organization Identify management or human resource gaps or problems and work with the Executive Director to solve them. Improve and make sure internal communication and decision-making processes are clear within and across departments Work in collaboration with our operations consultant to ensure all organizational operations and compliance needs are being met. Work with the Executive Director and operations consultant to develop and approve the annual budget Work with legal counsel to ensure that all programming is operating in a compliant manner QUALIFICATIONS: Strategic planning and goal-setting: Depth of experience facilitating organizational goal-setting and translating vision into measurable departmental work plans. Executive advisory and support: Proven track record acting as a trusted advisor to an Executive Director or leadership team. Cross-functional leadership: Demonstrated ability to align a full team and drive cohesive organizational collaboration. Hiring & Onboarding Experience: Experience designing and executing full-cycle hiring processes, structured onboarding programs, and organizational staffing workflows. Performance management: Hands-on experience overseeing performance review cycles, progressive discipline policies, and management support interventions. Management coaching and training: Background in coaching, training, and mentoring people managers. Project management: Experience leading cross-team projects from conception to completion. Strong written and verbal communication: Exceptional communication skills with proven ability to draft executive correspondence, and synthesize organizational updates. Risk assessment and critical decision-making: Comfort with analyzing organizational risk with strong judgment and analytical problem-solving skills. Excited to collaborate with legal counsel to ensure programming and operations remain compliant. Budgeting and financial stewardship: Experience collaborating on annual budget development, resource allocation, and operational expense tracking. Discretion and emotional intelligence: High emotional intelligence, sound instincts, and demonstrated maturity handling sensitive personnel, operational, and executive matters. Ability to operate well in a high-pressure environment COMPETENCIES Mission Driven: Deeply aligned with our mission to build people power in our country by electing a bloc of working class leaders in Congress who meet the urgency of our political moment and serve the people’s agenda — not the interests of big corporate donors. You’re driven by the mission of racial and economic justice and the dismantling of institutional racism and wealth inequality. Possess a clear understanding that structural racism and economic inequality exist throughout all institutions and policies. Technical and Adaptive Skills: You are a curious and creative problem solver, collaborator and coalition builder. You have a 50ft view of the political landscape, with a clear understanding of the granular steps necessary toward accomplishing the mission of the organization. Exemplary at identifying systems and processes and identifying the skill set of staff members to complete identified tasks. You are an excellent communicator and can have difficult conversations and disagreements, respectfully and cordially, while remaining grounded in the values and mission of the organization. Has experience and interest in ensuring organizations operate in a legally compliant and functional manner. High EQ: You are both self aware and socially aware, understanding your strengths and growth areas, as well as your triggers, and emotional center. You have empathy and compassion for others both aligned and not aligned with us and you are willing to engage in debate and dialogue to create genuine new understanding. You are able to build trusting relationships with colleagues and stakeholders. People in your life describe you as a positive, empathetic, flexible, and curious person. You approach your work with a low ego and are not in the job to raise your own profile LOCATION We are a fully remote organization. Anywhere in the US is fine. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. SALARY & BENEFITS The salary for this position is $90,500 This is a fully remote position, with some travel Unlimited vacation with a 2 week minimum, all federal holidays off, and the organization is closed the final week of the year Unlimited sick days Fully paid Health, Vision, Dental (including dependents) 401K and 4% employer match Raise every two years JD/OFJ is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status. Candidates from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Questions about the position can be sent to View email address on click.appcast.io #J-18808-Ljbffr