Director of US Policy (Remote)

Department: GTB US

Description:

In partnership with other Departments in the Social Impact Division and other WES teams, the US Policy and Strategy Department envisions a world in which individuals can thrive anywhere. The team works collaboratively with partners and policymakers to advance reforms that foster economic and social inclusion for immigrants, refugees, and international students and help receiving communities realize mutual benefit to build shared prosperity and resiliency. Our current policy focus areas include ensuring the recognition of occupational credentials (such as in healthcare) of internationally trained newcomers (refugees, other displaced persons, and immigrants); the creation and expansion of state-level Offices of New Americans to help build welcoming and integration infrastructure; and workforce access and inclusion. Our policy team aims to be proactive and strategic; future-oriented; impact-focused; and collaborative, especially to support state and local leaders and efforts.

Read more about our work here.

The U.S. Policy Department is looking for a Director to help guide our team. The Director will work closely with the Senior Director to drive towards desired impact and policy goals and will directly manage two policy managers, an advocacy coordinator, and an operations coordinator. Areas of focus include team leadership and management, priority policy and key project oversight and direction, and relationship management.

The Director reports to the team’s Senior Director but will work closely and collaboratively with other Social Impact (SI) Division team members and other WES departments.

Location & Work Environment  

The Policy team is a distributed, remote-first U.S.-based team with several colleagues working close to WES’ NYC offices and others working virtually from other cities in the U.S. Team members must travel to in-person meetings upon request, usually in the NYC area and usually no less than three times a year. Travel to DC or other locations may be required. Most WES team schedules reflect Eastern Time, and the candidate will need to make themselves available for meetings and collaborative conversations during this time, although the general work schedule may be flexible to accommodate team members in other time zones.

Duties included but not limited to:

Policy and Advocacy Strategy

• Develop and oversee the implementation of policy-making strategies in team priority areas, such as healthcare licensure or welcoming communities, and provide strategic guidance to team members.
• Drive Department policy and strategic priorities and outreach/partner strategies based on vision, strategic planning, and external landscape.
• Identify, develop, and maintain relationship with individuals, associations, policymakers, and partners that help drive desired policy changes and impact, with a focus on true partnerships across the political divide, in areas of consensus, and with non-traditional allies.
• Maintain and grow policy subject matter expertise in areas of focus, such as workforce access, licensure, immigrant integration, or displaced persons, with an eye to the landscape, opportunities, and needs of the future.
• Maintain and grow an in-depth understanding of the policy and political space that key stakeholders occupy at the state and federal levels, such as the White House, federal Departments, state Offices of New Americans or Refugee Services, and elected leaders.
• Cultivate and maintain strong interpersonal and professional relationships with critical stakeholders and allies, including other policy and advocacy shops.
• Identify, develop, and drive the creation of materials for internal and external publications that contribute towards advancing policy goals.
• Represent policy issues and WES in general at key conferences, webinars, meetings, and coalitions.
• Co-design and implement strategic communication plan(s), including through earned media and in partnership with the SI Comms team, to advance awareness of issues and policy reforms necessary.
• Set portfolio (e.g., issue area), team, and individual goals and identify opportunities to exceed goals through strong partnerships, an analysis of the political and policy landscape, and future-oriented thinking.
• Develop and maintain, in partnership with SI team members, robust and multi-year learning, monitoring, and evaluation plans that help advance the work of the policy team.
• Stay abreast of policy changes that impact the work and provide such expertise to internal and external stakeholders.

Team Leadership and Management

• Provide guidance and mentorship, including though the identification of opportunities for learning and professional development.
• Foster the ability of team members to understand how solving current challenges helps future-proof our policy landscape for future needs.
• Maintain accountability for portfolio, team, and individual goals, including by identifying risks, challenges, and opportunities, and coach team members towards impact.
• Provide clear instruction and guidance while balancing opportunities for team members to manage their own performance or the performance of their portfolio.
• Provide routine guidance and directions that help team members understand how their work contributes to the vision and strategy of the team.
• Set clear expectations to help maintain and foster a positive work environment, both withing the Policy team and with internal and external partners.
• Delegate effectively to team members and help build skills necessary for success.

 The Ideal Candidate will:

• Love the dynamic nature of work in this space and policy work in general and see each new challenge as an opportunity for change.
• Deeply understand that the arrival of immigrant and refugee integration, for displaced persons or internally trained professionals on work visas, happens because of policy at the federal level but the majority of the integration work, and the success of individuals, happens at and because of policies at the state and local level.
• Easily be able to identify policy details between the intersection of federal and state domains that can be reformed.
• Be comfortable with risk and failure as a natural part of long-term success.
• Be able to stay focused despite considerable noise in order to achieve desired outcomes.
• Understand the intersection(s) between policy and practice and policy and programs.
• Be excited about WES’ mission, the Policy team’s portfolio areas, and advancing equity, inclusion, and diversity.
• Have a high degree of comfort with rapidly changing ambiguous contexts and an ability to help craft a clear path forward in these environments.
• Have a demonstrated commitment to empowering immigrants and refugees and an interest in policymaking and systemic change.
• Possess an entrepreneurial mindset to generate new approaches, spot opportunities, and initiate action.
• Have a deep-rooted intellectual curiosity and an openness to diverse ideas and perspectives.
• Thrive in an environment that values transparency, collaboration, and a learning orientation.
• Bring a “can-do” attitude and have a willingness to stretch up and down in their role as needs evolve.
• Able to work collaboratively with people of different backgrounds, experiences, communication styles, and cultures.
• Communicate efficiently and effectively, with the intention to drive action but also with compassion and understanding.
• Build informal working relationships, quickly establish credibility in new areas of work, and mobilize people at all levels towards collaborative goals.

Requirements:

• At least 10 to 15 years of experience in public policy, government, government relations, nonprofit or public administration, immigration-related work or campaigns, with express and demonstrated expertise in at least 1-2 in WES’s policy portfolio areas such as internationally trained professionals, workforce access, licensure, immigrants, and refugees. The majority of the experience must be in the US, with a preference for engagement at both the state and federal levels.
• Demonstrated subject matter expertise in social and economic inclusion of immigrants, refugees, and international students.
• Demonstrated success in leading system change work, with a desire for experience in changing mainstream systems (such as workforce) to meet immigrant and refugee needs.
• Demonstrated expertise in driving policy reforms, such as through policy analysis, stakeholder mapping and engagement, bill or amendment drafting, testimony, communication strategies, and partner engagement.
• Experience in leading, managing, or supervising a team. Additional leadership training, such as through degrees or professional leadership training, is also desired but not required.
• Excellent track record of building and maintaining strategic relationships.
• Proven track record of successfully engaging policy makers and key stakeholders toward a desired goal or outcome.
• Commitment to the WES mission, our impact goals, and advancing justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• Commitment to confidentiality and discretion in appropriately handling sensitive information is required.
• Comfort with working in ambiguous and entrepreneurial environments.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong strategic thinking, planning, and analytical skills.
• Ability to build strong relationships and work with individuals at all levels of the organization.
• Highly efficient in managing multiple concurrent diverse tasks and projects.
• Bachelor’s degree or an acceptable equivalent combination of education and experience.

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