Essie Justice Group is hiring a
The Opportunity
Essie Justice Group (Essie) is building grassroots power to dismantle the US incarceration system, the most egregious creator of racial and gender injustice of our time. We are a loving and powerful community of women with incarcerated loved ones. Our community includes cisgender women, transgender women, formerly incarcerated women, gender nonconforming (GNC) people, elders, and young people.
After eight years of building an active membership across California and beyond, Essie is deepening its base-building and leadership development strategies with the 1 in 4 women with incarcerated loved ones to propel bold decarceration agendas across the nation. We seek to transform the criminal legal system and create a Black feminist future rooted in care, equity, community safety, and liberation. At Essie, our values are foundational to how we operationalize our work. In the midst of significant organizational growth, we are seeking an experienced, strategic, and values-aligned Director of Operations to join our team.
The ideal candidate is a highly collaborative, seasoned, and confident leader who brings both operational acumen and experience, and relishes the opportunity to build and lead in implementing internal solutions across the organization.This person approaches their organizational responsibilities with rigor, precision, and a strong connection to our politic and movement purpose. As a part of the organization’s leadership team, the Director of Operations will help shape Essie’s present and future—contributing to strategic decision making in the present while helping to architect Essie’s internal growth in alignment with our values.
Core Responsibilities
Vision, Strategy, and Culture-Setting for Resources & Operations Team - Lead the strategic coordination of the team towards a collectively built strategy.
Operations Management - Lead the development and maintenance of internal administrative systems to keep Essie functioning smoothly.
Organizational Leadership - Serve on the Essie Directors Team in order to strategically steward organizational resources in alignment with Essie’s mission and vision.
Who We’re Looking For
Ideal Qualifications
Qualities
Sees infrastructure as their contribution to people power. You care deeply about the impact of systems and processes on people. You believe that by demystifying inaccessible systems, you can help organizations and teams be more effective, and individual team members be more confident in the process. Moving with a keen awareness of the organizational power inherent in your role, you can self-regulate in order to mitigate the harms of hierarchy.
Lends gravitas to the day-to-day of “back-office.” You understand exactly why and how seemingly small items – like a workflow for data entry or a clearly drafted rental agreement – can impact the successful pursuit of an organization’s mission and goals, and you are able to clearly explain that connection to others. You are accomplished in your field and consistently make strategic decisions that inspire respect and confidence from others. You bring clarity and calm to your collaborative practice.
Discernment and honesty we can trust. You are a thoughtful team member who acts in alignment with your integrity and are unfailingly trustworthy.
Committed to evolution. You are committed to continuously deepening and evolving your own understanding of systems of oppression through study, openness, and humility. And you easily recognize your own relationship to privilege and power, examining and shifting your behaviors as appropriate.
Values people, process, and results. You are an exceptionally hard worker. You have an uncanny ability to create an inspiring environment in which stuff gets done with speed, great impact, and focus.
The Position
The Director of Operations is a full-time, salaried, exempt position. This position is supervised by the Deputy Director. The salary for this position is between $125,000 - $155,000 depending on experience with full medical, dental, and vision benefits, optional 401(k), a substantial vacation package, and a monthly personal wellness stipend. The position is based in one of Essie’s offices in Oakland or Los Angeles, California. All Essie staff are required to be vaccinated against Covid-19, with limited exceptions for medical or religious reasons.
To Apply
Please address a personal, specific, and thoughtful cover letter to the “Essie Hiring Committee” and submit along with a resume through our hiring portal (https://essiejusticegroup.bamboohr.com/jobs). Your resume tells us what you can do; your cover letter should tell us who you are and why you want to work with Essie.
Essie Justice Group provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all staff members. Employment decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and skills. Essie does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, immigration status, socioeconomic status, ancestry, age, size, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, familial status, veteran status, disability, AIDS/HIV status, medical condition, prior conviction, arrest history, traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Essie values and specifically seeks applicants who are people with incarcerated loved ones; formerly incarcerated people; people of color; women; queer, transgender, gender non-conforming (gnc), and gender fluid people.
This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, performance assessment, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
About Essie Justice Group
Essie Justice Group is a non profit organization of women with incarcerated loved ones taking on the rampant injustices created by mass incarceration. Our award-winning Healing to Advocacy Model brings women together to heal, build collective power, and drive social change. Essie is Great Place to Work-Certified™ and a recognized leader in Black feminist institution building.
Learn more at www.essiejusticegroup.org.