Director, Election Protection Hub

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Public Rights Project (PRP) is a public interest legal nonprofit with an all-remote team based throughout the United States. Our mission is to help local government officials fight for civil rights.

Since its founding in 2017, PRP has litigated in more than 100 cases (either as a party or amicus), trained 131 prosecutors and government lawyers in 24 states, built a partner network of over 670 government offices, elected officials, and community-based organizations in 43 states, secured court victories on police accountability, abortion, immigrant, worker, and voting rights, and helped to recover over $46 million in relief for marginalized people. Learn more about our work.

PRP’s Election Protection Hub (EPH) supports local election officials as they fight to protect the voting rights of their residents and secure safe and fair elections. The EPH provides legal assistance and representation, as well as training, technical assistance, and other support to election administrators to help them implement pro-voter policies, influence legal developments in the courts, and respond to election threats quickly and effectively.

In addition, PRP’s EPH participates in broader election protection and pro-democracy coalition work, both to support litigation by partner organizations and to more effectively coordinate resources to defend against efforts to undermine free elections, threaten marginalized communities, and threaten the rule of law. 

JOB SUMMARY

Public Rights Project (PRP) seeks to hire an experienced attorney and leader to serve as Director, Election Protection Hub (EPH). The Director, EPH oversees the EPH program and leads its strategy supporting election officials. This position will manage and run PRP’s efforts to support local election officials as they fight to protect the voting rights of their residents and secure safe and fair elections. 

The Director leads the EPH team, coordinates a cross-functional group of PRP staff involved in EPH work, and oversees all EPH activities. These activities include: fulfilling requests for technical assistance; filing amicus briefs; engaging in outreach to government and non-government partners; providing space for government collaborators to connect; providing insights for media and publications; supporting any development work pertaining to the EPH; and–in combination with the Director, Litigation–developing high-profile cases for litigation. This docket of legal services will relate to election administration topics, and involves matters in both state and federal courts.

The Director, EPH will work closely with the Chief Program Officer, the Director, Litigation, and the Director, Civil Rights Hub to identify and pursue opportunities for PRP to promote high-impact partnerships with state and local governments, as well as partnerships with peer organizations engaged in civil rights advocacy. This position reports to the Chief Program Officer.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Team Leadership and Management

• Ensure that the EPH operates as a high-performing, and collaborative, multi-functional team serving up to 250 local election officials across 10-12 core states;
• Hire, supervise, coach, manage, and develop six direct reports on the EPH team to achieve high performance.

Program Oversight and Service Delivery

• Recruit local election officials to participate in the activities of the EPH;
• Oversee all legal work and assistance provided by the EPH to local election officials, including tracking progress against EPH metrics;
• Provide input to and participate in training sessions relating to the EPH network.

Strategy, Advocacy, and External Engagement

• Coordinate a broad range of advocacy strategies that promote election administration and voting rights, alongside PRP’s government and community partners;
• Identify and potentially assist with litigation, amicus, regulatory, and other advocacy opportunities to defend state and local election administration efforts in coordination with the Chief Program Officer and the Director, Litigation; 
• Assist PRP with other advocacy efforts as needed.

Communications and Representation

• Provide timely updates on progress to goals for grant deliverables to PRP’s Development Team, and participate in funder briefings and meetings as needed;
• Represent PRP and the EPH at third-party coalition, conferences, presentations, and other networking-building events, including events that require travel;
• Represent PRP and the EPH in briefings and conversations with members of the media as necessary, in collaboration with our communications team;

Budget and Organizational Coordination

• Collaborate with PRP’s Chief Program Officer to oversee and manage the EPH’s budget, including tracking expenditures, forecasting needs, and ensuring alignment with organizational financial goals and grant requirements;

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

• Law degree and bar membership in good standing in one or more states;
• At least 12 years of legal practice preferred;
• 3 to 5 years of experience managing teams in a legal advocacy context; 
• Significant prior experience with voting rights and/or election law;
• Prior experience working on communication and public-facing materials;
• Prior experience working in coalition with government and non-government partners; and
• Prior experience working in government or directly representing government officials preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Substantial knowledge of election law, voting rights, constitutional law, and other relevant legal topics;
• Excellent judgment about both legal issues and strategy;
• Excellent analytical, legal research, legal writing, and communication skills, both written and oral; 
• Ability to build and manage strong, complex relationships with diverse partners across government, legal, and community settings; 
• Persuasive advocate who can gain support from potential partners and clients, courts and other lawyers as well as colleagues;
• Team player who can work with government partners, co-counsel, community-based organizations, and other advocates, as well as internal teams;
• Demonstrated positive and respectful attitude, capacity to show presence, self-confidence, common sense, and good listening ability;
• Ability and eagerness to be flexible to account for unforeseen challenges and opportunities in a fast-paced and evolving legal and political environment;
• Strong project management skills and ability to use tools, such as Asana and Salesforce, to support the participation and contribution of other team members; 
• Creativity and a problem-solving mentality;
• Patience and action-oriented attitude, an advocate who understand how to build for the long-term while also seizing on fast-moving opportunities as they arise;
• Commitment to building a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at PRP, and ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds;
• Belief in the power of state and local government to make positive change in the world; and
• Willingness to travel regularly.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIP

This position reports to the Chief Program Officer. This position will also work closely with the Director of PRP’s Litigation Team, the Director of PRP’s Civil Rights Hub, and other Program Team staff.  

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

Requires sitting, talking, and listening for up to 8 hours per day. Certain situations may require lifting items up to 20 pounds. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Fully remote organization and team. This role requires travel several times a year to PRP events, case hearings, conferences or meetings. On average, travel is once per month, but may be more frequent closer to November elections.

COMPENSATION

The determined salary range for this role is set between $154,652 - $231,987, exact salary will be based on candidate experience. For internal equity purposes, PRP will not negotiate with candidates outside of the role’s designated range.

PRP HIRING COMMITMENT

PRP is committed to the principles and practices of equal employment opportunity. A diverse and inclusive workplace, both at PRP and within the government offices we serve, is a key ingredient for achieving our mission of building equitable enforcement capacity within state and local government. 

We aim to assemble a team that reflects the world we live in and the communities we serve with respect to race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and immigration status. People with personal or family experience with the type of harms we seek to combat, including wage theft, predatory lending, fraud, discrimination, and environmental degradation are particularly encouraged to apply.