About The Impact Project

Now more than ever, the states have a critical role to play in driving our country forward. The Impact Project does this by: 1) winning progressive economic and democracy policies, and 2) shaping the issue and political environment so these states become more progressive over time.

TIP is 100% focused at the state level, driving 365 days a year to shape the politics and win policies. Our work is currently focused in AZ, CO, GA, ME, MD, MI, MN, NV, NM, NC, PA, VA, and WI. We prioritize economic and democracy issues given their ability to change the rules of the game and improve the quality of life for working- and middle-class families. We are a campaign-style entity, we move quickly based on intel in the ground, and iterate strategy and campaigns as needed.

Our Culture

Our culture is fast-paced and we push for results. We love data, experimentation, and learning from both successes and failures (instead of fearing them). We seek team members who are creative, communicative self-starters who enjoy collaboration. We strive to ensure all roles on our team are manageable and sustainable, and invest in efforts to advance equity and belonging.

The core values that show up in our work:

• Agile – We move quickly and easily. We adapt.
• Bold – We take risks. We are fearless in the face of big challenges.
• Curious – We thirst for data and question assumptions.
• Creative Disruptors – We stretch beyond the norm and innovate. We bring new ideas, new partners, and new strategies.
• Dig Deep – We aren’t looking for surface wins, but fundamental shifts in power.

Summary of Position  

TIP is looking for a driven strategist and project manager passionate about figuring out the formula to win at the state level - whether that’s the right combination of messages to persuade middle and working class people or the right outreach to increase civic participation of historically underrepresented audiences. You’ll be the second in command on the team responsible for figuring out the strategy. Your role will be to bring ideas and data to the table and collaborate with partners and vendors to implement and test the best of those ideas. Much of our work focuses on persuading audiences in the middle so you’ll need a passion for figuring out what effectively moves people in a more progressive direction.  

The Deputy Engagement Director will report to the Director of Engagement. They will closely collaborate with our Data and Analytics team to ensure programs are set up to learn and build off the lessons we’ve learned in past sessions and cycles and with our Communications staff to ensure the latest and greatest messaging lessons are incorporated into education materials. You will support and provide resources to the teams in the states. The position is full time and considered exempt for overtime purposes.  

What You’ll Do  

Inform the strategy (30%) 

• Work closely with the Director of Engagement to drive state-level campaigns with rigor and quality control, establish systems to learn in real time, evaluate program efficacy, and tailor tactics and content based on how target audiences are responding.
• Have your finger on the pulse of best practices, emerging strategies and tactics including state-level research and experiments being conducted by other organizations. Package and elevate the most salient lessons for the team.  
• Work with the Director of Analytics to ensure all work ties back to answering key research questions identified by TIP.  
• Become familiar with lessons learned from previous years and ensure those are not lost as we move forward quickly. 
• Research and make recommendations on local issues that will inspire increased attention and engagement.  
• Explore new tools that can help identify what our target audiences care about and how their opinions shift over time.   

Support state-level campaigns  (50%) 

• Collaborate with state teams and vendors to implement state-level civic engagement and persuasion campaigns with rigor and quality control.  
• Ensure information flows smoothly between vendors, program team, and state teams  and the appropriate players are engaged in critical strategy discussions and materials review. 
• Track budgets and spending and the ultimate impact that expenses have on organizational and state goals. 
• Identify and help troubleshoot compliance questions in program development and deployment. 
• Collaborate with the Director of Impact to developand oversee systems to track metrics from state programs that assess progress to goals. Help program and state teams consistently compile the most relevant data points and qualitative markers of success.  
• Identify trends in response rates, survey answers, and digital program metrics that suggest course corrects. Package and elevate those to the team.  
• Scour the results of local polling and other research products for insights that can strengthen our work.  
• Create materials that capture key data points and lessons learned for briefings of donors and key partners.  

Proactively communicate  (20%) 

• Provide regular written and verbal updates to the state teams you are collaborating with and supporting. 
• Develop and deploy guidance resources for state teams that ensure effective program project management and key deadlines are met. 
• Ensuring staff are briefed on ongoing research and are looking ahead to how to incorporate our findings and experiments into their conversations and future work. 
• Work with the Director of Impact and Director of Engagement to write and package donor updates and reports that tell a compelling, data-driven story about our work, participate directly in donor briefings as needed. 
• Create materials that capture key data points and lessons learned for briefings of key stakeholders.  

Who You Are 

You will bring hands-on experience in civic engagement and persuasion campaigns. You have a strong understanding of what it takes to win a campaign and the systems and structures necessary to help the team flourish. In addition, to be successful at this job you will excel in these areas: 

• Innovative strategist: You generate new ideas and approaches that can help us achieve our goals.  
• People, Project, & Process Management: You set ambitious campaign and equity goals, guide strategic work plans, juggle multiple projects simultaneously, and meet tight deadlines. Your team gets results because you are adept at clearly defining expectations on the front end, taking slices of the work to gauge progress, measuring results, and fostering accountability and learning on the back end. You drive a coordinated effort across the finish line with no pieces left behind. You deeply invest in relationships across the TIP team and are comfortable having nuanced and complex conversations that may push staff outside of their comfort zones. You exercise diplomacy and flexibility when dealing with sensitive situations to develop cohesive solutions and orchestrate successful outcomes. 
• Race, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging: You recognize the ways that race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual orientation, class, and other identities intersect with the work. You are comfortable talking about identity and understand the historical context for racial equity and its present-day implications. You can identify decisions, policies, or practices that may have disparate impacts based on identity and are motivated to make changes in systems and practices to operationalize equity. You are self-aware about how your identities and positional power influences situations and are able to hear, reflect, act on and learn from feedback tied to identity and equity. 

What Else You Should Know

The Impact Project operates in a 100% remote work environment. You can expect to travel up to 10x a year, which includes all staff retreats and team mini-retreats or state visits.

The hiring range for this position is $100,000 - $122,500 depending on experience. We offer a strong benefits package. We pay 100% of medical, dental, and vision premiums for you and your spouse/partner and dependents. We offer an HRA to cover your deductible. We contribute 3% toward your retirement even if you don’t put in a dime and also match up to 3% of what you contribute to your 401k. We offer three weeks of vacation each year, two weeks of personal leave, nine paid holidays, and four additional floating holidays. We offer individual budgets for professional development, monthly cell phone reimbursement, and a basic home office setup.

The Impact Project is a project of Hopewell Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. Hopewell Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. Hopewell Fund’s work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which you are working.

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Hopewell Fund requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law by contacting human resources at HR @ hopewellfund.org.

While it is understood that no one candidate will bring every desired skill, characteristic, and experience, this job description offers a reflection of the ideal candidate profile. If you are a close but not exact match with the description, we encourage you to apply. Women, people of color, LGBTQ candidates, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.