Head of / Associate Director of Organising & Campaigns (2 roles) in London

A cleaned up version of the job description.

SUMMARY

• Position Title: Head of / Associate Director of Organising & Campaigns (2 roles)
• Level: Level 6 - 7 (Depending on experience)
• Salary: £40,000 - 55,000 (FTE yearly/depending on experience/salaries under review as part of our ongoing pay review process)
• Reports to: Director of Organising and Campaigns
• Location: Liberation centre Brixton, London (New office in Brixton)/ Remote working within the UK with at least 2 days’ work from our office (Pro rata for part time)
• Contract: Fulltime (40hrs/weekly), fixed-term contract for 2 years with potential for Part time (e.g., 32hrs/weekly) options
• Hours: TAA has flexible working hours, with some expected evenings (e.g., one 9pm finish once every two weeks) and weekends due to the nature of the role. All extra hours are reimbursed as Time off in Lieu (TOIL).
• Start date: As soon as possible (with consideration for notice period)
• Benefits: TAA laptop and phone, (employee assistance and health cash package including staff supervision, counselling, dental, optical care and more.)

The Advocacy Academy is an activist youth movement. We serve as the political home for grassroots youth organising and the catalyst for collective action. The lives of the young people we work alongside have been directly shaped by living in an unjust world, and we exist to turn their anger into action and change.

Young people are often the catalysts for major social change, from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, to the Soweto Uprising mobilising young people to resist the apartheid regime's education policies, to the Sunrise Movement redrawing the electoral map across America, and more recently protests across the world protesting the genocide in Palestine. How successfully they achieve real and lasting change depends on whether they are organised and whether they have the right strategy and tactics to be effective.

Before you skim the job description, please remember you don’t have to tick all the boxes for each role to apply. We all experience a bit of imposter syndrome, including the staff here at The Advocacy Academy. Let’s name it for what it is - a manifestation of the oppression many of us face on a day to day. If this role pulls you and you believe you could make a difference, then apply anyway or reach out to us to discuss more!

ABOUT THE ROLE

In a context of the rise of the far right, increasing inequality, and climate disaster, The Advocacy Academy is growing to meet this moment. As part of this, we are expanding our Organising and Campaigns Team, looking to recruit two senior and experienced organisers and campaigners who are able to build the leadership of young people to enable them to turn the resources they have into the power they need to make the change they want. We have raised the funds needed to resource this growth and know what needs to be done.

There are three key areas of responsibility:

• Oversee and deliver TAA’s member-led organising campaigns
• Play a lead role in delivering our Coalition Campaigns
• Oversee our HOST programme, our in-house campaign accelerator and fiscal hosting programme

But there are several ways we could divide up the work into people’s roles. So, instead of splitting this up in advance of applications, we are asking candidates to apply first, and then dividing up the responsibilities into two coherent roles based on the best candidates that apply.

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

The following responsibility areas will be divided between the two roles based on candidates’ strengths.

1. Oversee and deliver TAA’s member-led organising campaigns
2. Play a lead role in delivering our Coalition Campaigns, including but not limited to our Climate Coalition (Roots to Rise) and Gender Coalition (name tbc)
3. Oversee our HOST programme
4. Be a key member of the Organising and Campaigns Team
5. Support our members to learn and grow as organisers in their own right
6. Culture, values and wider strategy and mission
7. Governance and Compliance

A BIT ABOUT YOU

You are passionate about, and committed to, creating a more fair, just and equal world. You believe in the potential of young people to challenge the status quo and are dedicated to helping them become more powerful citizens. You have a deep understanding of, and a personal connection to, issues of social justice. You are attuned to how injustice affects young people and marginalised communities, and are well-informed on the key challenges they face, and are committed to driving meaningful change.

You’ll be comfortable managing a “to-do” list of competing priorities and balancing your workload to meet competing deadlines. You’re a sensitive and thoughtful relationship-builder who is interested in building a network of relationships to support the Advocacy Academy’s work. You’re a great listener, and remember people’s names, faces, and stories.

You’re a confident written and verbal communicator, who is comfortable with tailoring communication to reach a diverse range of audiences and stakeholders. You’re proactive, organised, and eager to learn, whether that’s chatting with potential funders, researching new opportunities or collaborating with teammates.

IDEAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• At least 5 years of experience in organising and campaigning on issues of social justice
• At least 5 years of experience in supporting people to be more confident and comfortable developing and implementing organising or campaign efforts
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Experience working with different audiences or types of stakeholders
• Project management experience