Location: New York, NY (Hybrid schedule; 2-3 days in office)

ABOUT IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS

Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) is the country's first fellowship program wholly dedicated to meeting the need for high-quality legal assistance for immigrants seeking citizenship, other affirmative applications, and fighting deportation. IJC’s two-year Fellowship program connects talented law school and college graduates to the best legal services providers and community-based institutions nationwide and leverages the latest technologies. Our program also fosters a culture of creative thinking that engenders new strategies to reduce the justice gap for immigrant families, ensuring that immigration status is no longer a barrier to social and economic opportunity.

Since launching in 2014, IJC has grown to a national footprint and championed an innovative model for serving immigrant families. We've mobilized 320 fellows who have served 100,000 clients in 15 states.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

IJC is on a rapid growth trajectory - in large part due to a sizable federal contract in partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice and Acacia Center for Justice – to place an additional 200 fellows over the next 4.5 years – and is seeking a Chief Program Officer (CPO) to lead the way for programmatic innovation and scale. Reporting to the Executive Director and sitting on the executive leadership team, this position will set strategic goals for programmatic growth, provide leadership for the entire program team, and operate from a viewpoint of coordinating multiple program areas. Specifically, the CPO will:

Provide strategic leadership and direction for IJC's fellowship programs.

• Design, articulate, and execute programmatic strategies that align with IJF's long-term goals of shoring up capacity for growth, scaling the fellowship programs, and refining and/or introducing new programs.
• Oversee the entire program department, inclusive of providing direct supervision, coaching, and support to Director-level staff who oversee fellowship, recruitment, training and technical assistance, and in-house legal services programming. Create training and learning opportunities to build team capacity and cohesion.
• Forecast and build-out staffing plans and ensure the right people are in the right roles, partner with the Director of Talent & Culture to implement high-quality onboarding and training for new hires, staff performance management, and year-round opportunities for training and professional development.
• Hold accountability for developing and managing the program aspects of the annual budget. Monitor revenue and expenses for all program areas and work on necessary budget adjustments, including review and adjustments of staff allocations to ensure contractual and budgetary compliance with program funding.
• In partnership with the Strategy Leader, Chief Operating Officer, and data and impact team, implement and lead a continuous quality improvement process and build out programmatic milestones, goals, and KPIs. Oversee high-quality data collection and reporting in NetSuite database system.
• Work closely with Finance, Development, and Program teams to ensure that programming is in compliance with requisite government contracts and other funding obligations; improve and monitor compliance and submission of grants and other required reporting materials.
• Build external relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., law schools, public interest groups, legal services partners, nonprofits) to develop opportunities for collaboration that address systemic issues faced by immigrant communities and work collaboratively to develop litigation and law reform initiatives.
• Support and ensure program staff participation in all IJC seasonal and special events.
• Partner with pro bono counsel and guide directors and other staff to navigate legal ethics questions as they arise.

Serve as a senior leader, dot connector, and champion for IJC's mission and vision.

• As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, operate as a positive advocate for change, modeling and fostering a culture where staff are well-informed and invested in IJC's evolving work.
• Work collaboratively across the Executive Leadership Team to ensure effective cross-coordination between program areas with all other organizational functions; guide the executive team on ensuring program priorities reflect overall organizational goals.
• Facilitate cross-training between departments including informal staff interaction, intra-organization communication, and team-building efforts, and ensure unity of vision, purpose, and mission identity for program leadership and staff.
• In coordination with the Executive Director, promote IJC's viability and impact, representing the organization’s program perspectives with a unified voice and presence and drawing on the strengths of other program staff as appropriate, through the communications team.

WHO YOU ARE

• You are a passionate advocate committed to IJC’s mission and values. You are inspired to work for increasing access to justice and advocating for the expansion of publicly funded legal defense. You thrive in an organization that values candor, trust, open communications, kindness, accountability, and a commitment to learning and growth. You have lived experience and/or demonstrated commitment to addressing racism and inequity in the immigration legal system.
• You are a seasoned legal professional with knowledge of the immigration field. You bring 15+ years of experience as an attorney or similar role, ideally with skill in managing removal defense and/or affirmative practice. You are highly motivated to apply your legal and managerial knowledge to lead a legal fellowship program.
• You are an analytical thinker with the ability to implement tactically. You hold the "big picture" and take a hands-on approach to translating strategy into tangible activities. You have a track record in setting priorities and creating structures, processes, procedures, and KPIs that foster programmatic excellence and measurable impact.
• You are a collaborative people manager who leverages others’ strengths and promotes teamwork. You have experience overseeing larger multidisciplinary teams (20+ staff) and in recruiting and hiring talent, building strong teams, and coaching and mentoring others for high performance and accountability. You bring experience supervising director-level staff and supporting them to hone their management skills. You have experience leading teams through change.
• You are an effective communicator who conveys information clearly and inspires trust. You translate complex legal concepts and engage with others working within different functional departments, as well as funders and other external partners. Fluency in a language other than English spoken by people impacted by immigration enforcement in the United States is a plus.
• You are a thoughtful relationship builder who develops rapport easily and fosters long-term connections. You have a warm, energetic, and authentic personality that translates to building lasting relationships both internally and externally. You are a deep and attentive listener and can work with a variety of personalities.
• You are a tech-savvy and well-organized doer. You have strong organizational skills and the ability to prioritize, multi-task, and work under deadlines. You are proficient in financial systems and use them to review and analyze data over time periods and suggest ways in which to improve operations. Experience with NetSuite and SharePoint is a plus.
• You are an adaptable, agile, and resourceful team player. You thrive in a lean nonprofit setting with the ability to stay focused and nimble in the face of growth and change. You have a “get it done” attitude, with the ability to drive innovation, solve problems, and maintain substantial flexibility and creativity in a dynamic environment. You think creatively and are excited to further develop an innovative model that will improve justice.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

IJC offers generous health benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, 401(k) plan, 175 hours of PTO, 12 paid Holidays plus the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and 4-day work schedules during the summer.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION MISSION STATEMENT

IJC is committed to protecting the human rights of immigrants by increasing the quality and quantity of representation. In fulfilling its mission, IJC is committed to fostering diversity at all levels of the organization. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our staff and Fellows, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. In striving always to achieve those goals, IJC embraces justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as core values and is steadfast in our commitment to: (1) ensuring that IJC management and staff members represent a broad range of human differences and experience; (2) providing a work climate that is respectful and that supports success; and (3) promoting the dignity and well-being of all staff and Fellows. IJC’s leadership is responsible for ensuring excellence, diversity, and inclusion.

TO APPLY

Please submit your resume and personalized cover letter that answers the question "What interests you about Immigrant Justice Corps and the Chief Program Officer opportunity?” Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and handled with confidentiality.

Immigrant Justice Corps is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran or military status, genetic information, gender identity, or sexual orientation as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other applicable federal and state statutes and organizational policies.