Job Title: National Distributed Organizing Manager
Department: Program Department
Unit: Grassroots Power Building
Location: Flexible/Remote. This position requires an ability to travel (Note that Sierra Club is currently in a multi-phased re-opening process)
Reports To: Distributed Organizing Director
Supervises: National Distributed Organizing Representatives

Context: At the Sierra Club, we believe in the power of togetherness. Together, we remain committed to the fight for a healthy climate built on a foundation of environmental, racial, economic, and gender justice – a future where all people benefit from a healthy, thriving planet and a direct connection to nature. As the climate crisis and deeply entrenched systemic racism all fuel inequity, we will continue to fight for a bold, transformational agenda that recognizes the interconnectedness between our planet, our humanity, and our democracy. By recognizing that our destinies are tied, we continue to name that all things are fundamentally connected, and the overlap between ecology, race, gender, and representative government will move to either advance our collective humanity or to oppress it.

Sierra Club is comprised of staff across the country and a network of local chapters that support our grassroots engagement. Grassroots engagement includes public education activities, issue based campaigns, administrative advocacy efforts, legislative lobbying and electoral politics. We are also proud to be a unionized employer - with two labor unions representing more than half of our employees.

Scope: This position is situated within Sierra Club’s work to build and support permanently organized, resilient and powerful communities and the organizing infrastructure to anchor a long term vision and strategy that stops the bad, builds the new and shifts power to communities.This position will work to build grassroots power, achieve concrete electoral and issue campaign victories as well as create permanent structural and cultural change in our country.

The distributed organizing manager supports organizers and programs that recruit, develop and train thousands of volunteer leaders who make Sierra Club their permanent organizing home. Managers are supporters, coaches and developers of people and programs. The manager works with colleagues within our “matrix” organizational system to ensure strong team collaboration and effective team work.

Additionally the person in this role will work with teammates and partners to build out the distributed organizing work internally and externally. The person in this role will dovetail distributed, digital, field and Chapter-based organizing strategies and will support organizers who work on a variety of campaigns. They will oversee the development of a distributed network of public support across the country and may focus on specific geographic locations and targets as needed and based on Sierra Club’s programmatic priorities.

Job activities include but are not limited to:

Seasonal Activities: Heavier seasonal workloads may occur as a result of project deadlines, staff absences and vacancies, and during peak activity periods. Frequent travel as well as weekend and/or evening work required. These should be balanced using compensatory time as needed to slow down. Travel expectation is to be determined and the Sierra Club is currently in the midst of a multi-phased COVID-19 reopening plan.

The successful candidate must have the following skills and experience:

• Experience managing in a distributed organizing environment - engaging volunteers, supporting leadership development, creating “networks of networks” and building strong partnerships that grow and deploy power to change policies, structures and cultures. Ability to leverage and dovetail organizing strategies at the distributed, digital, chapter, field and place based levels in service of power building for our communities and achieving concrete campaign wins that improve people’s lives. Willingness to support on the ground leadership.
• Experience operationalizing equity. Model effective equity analysis and practice and demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of how group dynamics impact supervisory relationships, organizational culture, partnerships, campaigns and coalition work. Decision-making is consistent, intentional, and committed to creating equitable outcomes at all levels. Have led high-performing and leaderful teams across group identities. Ability to intervene when challenging group dynamics play out, in ways that build understanding, trust, and deeper self-awareness of team members.
• Strong people management experience and/or demonstrated ability to supervise, develop, train and coach staff and/or volunteers.
• Model effective teamwork and project management within a complex and layered “matrix team” environment. Experience working within a team where there is collaboration, and mutual accountability for shared objectives.
• Experience with issue based campaigning. Desire and interest to connect change making at the federal, regional, state and local levels.
• Demonstrated emotional intelligence and ability to be values and results-driven while participating in and supporting teamwork with a flexible approach in a fast-paced environment.

The strongest candidates will also demonstrate the following experience, skills and competencies:

• Skillful at leading teams with a diversity of identity and skill sets.
• Knowledge and experience in movement building.
• Quantitative and qualitative data experience to inform and evaluate organizing and power building work (base building, leadership development, partnerships), measure progress and increase effectiveness all with a focus on learning and innovation. Comfort with current movement technology tools determined by the organizing department.
• Fiscal management, compliance with financial, employment and operations policies and external regulations.
• Ability to navigate change and complexity with flexibility, compassion and a sense of humor.

Compensation and Benefits

The final salary for this position is based on region. The range is $80,000-$89,000. ($89,000 for Salary Region 1 (e.g. Washington, DC or Oakland, CA)).

The Sierra Club offers a competitive salary package commensurate with skills and experience plus excellent benefits that include medical, dental, and vision coverage, and a retirement savings 401(k) plan.

This is a category 4 exempt, non-represented, supervisory position.

Sierra Club is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization. Sierra Club employees are not eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

Sierra Club values the expertise and talents of foreign nationals. Sierra Club sponsors both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas when certain criteria are met, based on immigration laws and organizational needs. Such sponsorship is at the discretion of the Department Head and Sierra Club Human Resources in consultation with the employee’s manager. The Sierra Club cannot guarantee the approval of a visa petition. The Sierra Club is an equal opportunity employer committed to workforce diversity.

To Apply

This position does not have an undergraduate education requirement. If you choose to include your education history, please remove your schools from your resume. You may leave your degree (e.g., “B.A. Philosophy”), but please remove any undergraduate and graduate school names.

This anonymous process is aimed at opening this opportunity to more candidates, reviewing applicants on performance assessments and mitigating bias in the decision making process.

Lastly, we are intentionally not asking for a cover letter, so please do not send one in with your application.

This position was posted in December. Due to a year end break applications will not be reviewed until mid January.

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.