Athena works on delivering democracy by taking on a primary impediment to a democracy that represents us all and an economy that works for everyone: Amazon.com. We are a growing coalition of local, state-wide and national organizations tackling the corporation’s nefarious size, power, scope and operations, in particular: antimonopoly remedies; local and regional governance; data abuse, especially the racism of surveillance technologies; environmental and climate (in)justices; and working conditions. More about our coalition is at www.athenaforall.org

The political director is a wide-ranging position, reporting primarily to the coalition Director and housed at a member organization. The position also serves as a senior strategist to the coalition as a whole. 

This position can be part-time or, for the right candidate, be full-time by combining it with an Athena Coalition Organizer role, developing and supporting ongoing campaign work as well as the functioning of one of our five tables. See the Coalition Organizer job description here. 

Primary Responsibilities and Duties include:

Policy Advocacy

• Track and coordinate coalition members’ advocacy on state and federal legislative and regulatory policy

• Create and maintain an up-to-date reference of all relevant policy models

• Develop strategies that advance the policy goals of the coalition 

• Represent Athena to a wide variety of political stakeholders

• Identify opportunities for coalition growth 

Coalition development 

• Provide strategic advice to Athena members on evolving political dynamics and strategies that advance coalition campaigns and political mission

• Convene and organize a coalition-wide working group to regularly advise, implement shared political strategy and to discuss different table’s needs, with an eye toward identifying overlaps and connections

• Serve as a resource for coalition members undertaking their own policy advocacy

• Regularly report findings to members, leaders, and others 

• Participate in regular coalition staff, leadership and membership meetings 

Qualifications:

• Thoughtfulness, kindness, patience and good humor

• Leadership, conflict management skills

• Extremely detail- and systems-oriented

• Experience with data management

• Strong written communication skills

• Experience working with communities of color, working-class communities, under-resourced organizations and multilingual people for whom English is not a first language

• Commitment to developing one’s critical understanding of racial capitalism, patriarchy and the contemporary political economy

• Excellent writing, editing, grammatical, organizational and research skills

• Ability to work irregular hours; this job is national so both east and west coast hours are regularly required (though usually not on the same day) 

• Assessing and analyzing budgets to find ways to minimize expenses and optimize funds 

LGBTQ, women and people of color strongly encouraged to apply. Salary for this position is capped at $47,000 for half-time work and $97,000 if combined with a Coalition Organizer position as explained above. It includes excellent benefits. Like all Athena staff positions, this position is remote, and will be housed at one of the following Athena member organizations: ACRE, ILSR, or United for Respect.