American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Senior Electoral Strategist

Senior Electoral Strategist

The ACLU seeks a full-time, 12-month, term-limited position of Senior Electoral Strategist in the National Political Advocacy Department of the ACLU's National office in Washington, DC, or New York, NY. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. This 12-month term-limited position and may be eligible for remote work in the United States.

The National Political Advocacy Department builds power to achieve an accountable, representative democracy. We have ambitious goals across Reproductive Freedom, Democracy and Voting Rights, Systemic Equality, Immigration, Trans Justice, Criminal Justice, and other core issues in order to protect and expand civil rights and civil liberties, and advance the freedom, equality, ability to prosper, and humanity of all People.

Our department conducts analysis, develops policy, crafts world-class campaigns, and situates the ACLU to have impact across legislative, administrative, and electoral levers. We are policy experts, lawyers, community organizers, lobbyists, campaign strategists, electoral specialists, program managers, and more. We partner across the ACLU to drive national efforts and support and amplify the priorities of our affiliates. We work to center principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in our approach.

The Senior Electoral Strategist will report to the Director of Candidate Races.

• In close partnership with the Director of Candidate Races and at times the Director of Ballot Initiatives, develop robust campaign goals, plans, strategies, tactics, and budgets

• Design and lead complex, multi-tooled electoral campaigns from planning to execution, including but not limited to candidate races and ballot measures

• Lead electoral campaigns with minimal need for management level guidance

• Utilize a wide variety of sophisticated campaign tactics and tools

• Successfully employ constituent targeting, developing advertisements (TV, radio, print), polling, and developing creative campaign tactics for earned media or other purposes

• Retain and manage consultants

• Work closely with ACLU affiliates, the States Campaign team, the Organizing Team and Comms on developing plans for relevant campaigns

• Coordinate the day-to-day activities of the staff working on the campaigns in matrixed structure

• Work in coordination with other senior stakeholders, affiliate staff, and national staff, including policy staff within NPAD

• Develop and maintain relationships with partner organizations to further electoral goals, identifying strategic partnerships that expand the ACLU's influence in ways the ACLU would otherwise not have operating alone

• Convene and execute on-the-ground meetings, planning, and campaign events in priority jurisdictions

• Maintain awareness of emerging opportunities and challenges in the issue areas within the division's purview

• Maintain awareness of the work to facilitate representation of the Department internally and externally

• Exercise significant independent judgment to solve problems and determine creative solutions

• Demonstrate an ability to be flexible and adjust priorities as necessary in order to adapt to a changing external environment

• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned

• This position requires flexibility in work schedule and location, including the ability to travel nationally as programming demands and work nontraditional hours

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU

• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives

• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

• Significant demonstrated experience with electoral campaigning at the federal, state, and/or local levels, including campaign management experience

• Significant demonstrated experience designing campaign strategy and executing campaign plans and tactics

• Strong independent work ethic and team collaboration skills

• Excellent research, writing, analytical, and communication skills

• Experience with earned media strategies

• Experience building, leading, and working within coalitions

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, simultaneously handle many tasks; work efficiently, meeting multiple deadlines, while remaining composed under pressure

• Experience doing advocacy on both issue campaigns and electoral campaigns, a plus

• Experience doing grassroots organizing, a plus

• Experience doing legislative and administrative advocacy, a plus

• Fluency, expertise and experience in multiple ACLU issue areas, a plus

• Comfort with policy, including an ability to efficiently and effectively weave policy objectives into campaign execution

• Willingness to travel

The ACLU is committed to equity, transparency, and clarity in pay. Consistent with our compensation philosophy, there is a set salary for each role based on geographic work location. The annual salary for this position is $161,123 (Level E), reflecting the salary of a position based in New York, NY. Salaries are subject to a regional pay adjustment if authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.

For details on our pay structure, please visit:

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it's ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being.

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid time-off policy

• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)

• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match

• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

Accessibility, equity, diversity and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism, and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we're in the courts or in the office, we believe 'We the People' means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email View email address on click.appcast.io. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

The Department of Education has determined that employment in this position at the ACLU does not qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.