Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy, Legislative Strategy

Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy, Legislative Strategy

UnCommon Law fights to ensure that all people incarcerated for violent crime have access to effective legal representation and opportunities for healing. Through our unique, trauma-informed model of advocacy, we provide the space currently missing in the system for healing, accountability, and safe pathways home from prison. In developing new self-narratives, the people we serve are able to more effectively disrupt violence inside and outside prison and become leaders who change negative societal narratives about those incarcerated for violent crime. Our groundbreaking approach is changing policy and outcomes, driven by the voices and experiences of system-impacted communities.

UnCommon Law's values include accountability, audacity, authenticity, collaboration, community, empathy, imagination, joy, liberation, and sustainability.

The Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy, Legislative Strategy, leads the development and execution of UnCommon Law's legislative agenda. This role is responsible for setting legislative strategy, identifying opportunities for systemic reform, and advancing policies that expand pathways to release. Working in close partnership with the Co-Director of Policy and Advocacy, Organizing, this role ensures that legislative efforts are proactive, strategically aligned, and informed by community insight. The Co-Director anticipates legislative and political opportunities and risks, drives forward policy solutions, and positions UnCommon Law as a leader in parole reform and related policy at the state and national levels.

We encourage people who have been directly impacted by incarceration to apply. We do not require candidates to have a college degree, and we welcome candidates with non-traditional backgrounds and experience. The strongest candidates will let us know how their experiences and abilities relate to this role. We greatly value lived and related experience, and transferable skills. Applicants who submit cover letters that are not tailored to the position or the organization will not be considered.

This exempt position reports directly to the Executive Director and offers an annual salary range of $126,400 to $154,050. As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our values. New hires are typically placed between the minimum and midpoint range. Final salary offers are determined based on the candidate's job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as assessed during the interview process and aligned with our structured salary schedule.

Our office is based in Oakland, CA, and we offer a hybrid work model to our employees. If applying as a remote applicant, we ask that you share in your cover letter the strategies and practices you have used to build effective remote work, collaboration, accountability, and supervision. Applicants who submit cover letters that are not tailored to the position or the organization will not be considered.

Key Duties and Responsibilities: Strategic Leadership and Legislative Vision

• Develop and lead UnCommon Law's multi-year legislative and policy advocacy strategy, aligning priorities, goals, and success measures with the organizational mission, strategic plan, and long-term systems change objectives.
• Identify, evaluate, and advance opportunities for parole reform and related policy change through legislative, regulatory, administrative, and budget advocacy pathways, adapting strategy in response to political developments, emerging opportunities, and risks.
• Position UnCommon Law as a leading voice on parole reform and representation by shaping policy strategy, thought leadership, and external influence at the state and national levels.
• Contribute to organizational leadership and decisions-making including ensuring alignment between legislative policy advocacy efforts and broader programmatic, communications, and organizational priorities.

Legislative Advocacy and External Engagement

• Lead the development and advancement of legislation, amendments, regulatory comments, policy proposals, and advocacy campaigns that further UnCommon Law's policy priorities.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with legislators, legislative staff, executive branch officials, agencies, the Board of Parole Hearings, coalition partners, and other key stakeholders to advance advocacy goals.
• Represent UnCommon Law in legislative hearings, policy events, working groups, and other external advocacy forums, serving as a spokesperson when appropriate.
• Lead efforts including legislative negotiations, stakeholder engagements, and educational opportunities for policymakers and decision-makers designed to advance legislative priorities and strengthen understanding of parole and parole reform.
• Oversee direct lobbying activities and ensure compliance with all applicable lobbying registration and reporting requirements.

Policy Infrastructure, Research, and Organizational Alignment

• Develop and oversee systems for tracking legislation, budget developments, regulations, and administrative actions related to parole, including monitoring developments within the BOard of Parole Hearings (BPH) and CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
• Monitor emerging research, policy trends, and best practices related to parole and translate findings along with other insights, outcomes, and learnings into actionable advocacy efforts, policy implementation, and decision-making.
• Lead or coordinate policy research initiatives in partnership with staff, consultants, and external partners, including quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, public records requests, focus groups, polling, and other research efforts that inform advocacy strategies.
• Ensure alignment and coordination of policy advocacy efforts with other organizational teams, including identifying opportunities for coordinated advocacy, aligning legal and litigation priorities and strategies, and ensuring organizational policy positions are legally informed.
• Provide regular policy and legislative updates, analysis, and educational briefings to staff, coalition partners, impacted community members, and external stakeholders as needed.

Narrative Change and Communications

• Partner with Director of Communications, Organizing Co-DPA, and other relevant team members to develop policy-focused messaging, fact sheets, talking points, rapid response materials, and other communications that advance UnCommon Law's advocacy priorities.
• Support media engagement, rapid response communications, and external advocacy opportunities by serving as a spokesperson and subject matter expert on policy issues.
• Help shape narrative and communications strategies that advance UnCommon Law's policy agenda, ensuring public-facing messaging, advocacy efforts, and external engagement are grounded in research, policy expertise, and organizational priorities.

Team Leadership and Department Oversight

• Supervise, mentor, and support the policy team members (e.g., fellows, interns, staff) and contribute to hiring, onboarding, training, and performance management processes.
• Partner with the Organizing Co-DPA to establish team priorities, staffing plans, goals, and work plans that advance departmental and organizational objectives.
• Co-manage department operations, including budgeting, resource allocation, planning processes, consultant and contractor management, and other administrative functions.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve operational systems, processes, and practices that support high-quality project management, accountability, cross-team collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.
• Partner with the Organizing Co-DPA to establish team goals, priorities, and work plans, and oversee project management, communication, and accountability systems that support effective execution of team initiatives.

Organization-Wide

• Participate in bi-monthly staff meetings, with at least one in-person staff meeting each month.
• Participate in occasional in-person retreats, team-building activities, and organizational gatherings.
• Contribute to cross-functional projects and organizational initiatives as needed.

Experience:

• 5+ years of combined federal or state legislative and administrative advocacy experience, ideally in nonprofit or advocacy settings.
• Strong experience supervising staff and managing team operations, including work planning, project management, budgeting, communication systems, and accountability structures that support effective execution of organizational priorities.
• Deep knowledge of California legislative processes and political landscape (or equivalent experience working with state legislatures).
• Strong communication, leadership, relationship and coalition-building skills.
• Proven ability to work in diverse coalitions and with partnering organizations, and ability to grow these relationships.
• Evidence of volunteer or work experience supporting the core values of UnCommon Law's mission.
• Experience working in policy, advocacy, or legal service contexts, particularly related to parole reform, decarceration, criminal legal reform, and/or reentry landscapes.

Skills and Attributes:

• Effective project manager who can balance strategic vision with hands-on execution.
• Ability to give and receive regular formal and informal feedback in a timely, constructive, respectful, and consistent manner.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage teams and consultants.
• Collaborative, adaptable, and comfortable working across teams in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep commitment to racial equity, healing, and the dignity of people impacted by incarceration.
• Lived experience with the criminal