Field Director

Full-Time Through November 2022
With Potential To Extend Beyond 2022

About the Carolina Federation

The Carolina Federation is a statewide organization that brings local people together across race and the rural-urban divide to build political and electoral power in their own communities and across North Carolina.

At a time when the right-wing still holds power in North Carolina and far too many campaigns overlook the importance of long-term investment in local communities, we are developing a bold approach to multi-racial organizing and voter engagement for our state. Our approach to building power is defined by our relentless commitment to bringing new people into political action, our deep investment in local leadership and our intentional integration of cultural work with community and electoral organizing. By unleashing the full potential of our diverse communities we can create real change in the lives of our people, win elections that were previously unwinnable and transform the political terrain. And by rooting ourselves in our movement traditions, our grassroots democratic practice and our solidarity with each other, we can dismantle the concentrated corporate power that seeks to control our government and our economy.

Our Challenge and Opportunity

North Carolina remains a key national battleground between the white nationalist infused right-wing and our vision of multi-racial, progressive left populism.

Over the past three years, we have launched three new county-based chapters, trained hundreds of member leaders in our core organizing principles, developed local democratic governance, created a grassroots statewide policy platform and built one of the largest volunteer-driven electoral efforts in North Carolina outside of the major political parties.

While we are incredibly proud of these successes, we also know that the work of our first three years is only the beginning of our effort to fundamentally change the direction of our state. Indeed, we are clear that several challenges still lie ahead of us.

First, we must work to refine, expand and deepen our approach to our multi-racial base-building at scale — one that centers the leadership of working class folks and people of color while bringing in new members in the thousands and thousands.

Secondly, we must harness our grassroots political power in the electoral arena through large-scale voter contact to deliver key electoral victories needed to build the long-term political and electoral power of our people. Indeed, in this moment we are contesting for the survival and flourishing of our own people. Our ability to demonstrate the power of transformative electoral organizing to move new people into action — in the face of ongoing community crisis — will be put squarely to the test this coming year.

About the Field Director Position

In this moment of both challenge and opportunity, we are looking to bring on a talented and experienced Field Director who can guide our 2022 field and engagement program, with a particular focus on planning and managing our paid canvass voter contact efforts across multiple North Carolina counties — while closely aligning those efforts with our long-term, local power building efforts.

Broadly, our Field Director will be responsible for all aspects of our field engagement, including:

• Establishing offices in up to four counties across the state, each with lead coordinators and a core voter contact team.
• Hiring, training and supervising coordinators in each office, developing their leadership as supervisors while holding them accountable to daily, weekly and monthly goals.
• Managing systems for tracking contact progress to goal, including daily and weekly reports and working with Federation leadership to make necessary adjustments mid-stream.
• Working alongside our Federation leadership to refine and expand our 2022 electoral and field plan, including determining universes and targets for our voter contact teams.
• Tracking expenditures and budgets.
• Working with Federation leadership to implement relevant political education, leadership development and other training for county-level coordinators and voter contact teams.
• As legally permissible, working to ensure alignment and coordination between our paid canvass efforts and the chapter building efforts led by our local organizers and member leaders in each county.

In addition, we would be excited about a Field Director who would:

• Be thrilled to help grow an innovative political organization alongside an extraordinary team
• Fit our culture of courageous leadership and playful camaraderie, and
• Share our deep love of people and ferocious commitment to power and transformation.

Skills and Competencies We’re Looking For In A Field Director

These are the types of skills and competencies that we’d be looking for in our Field Director:

• Experience with staff management, including at least two electoral cycles managing teams and / or directly supervising others, including holding them accountable to quantitative and qualitative goals. Ideally, this would include having previously managed one or more canvass teams or having served in a role as field director or the equivalent.
• Experience with targeting, metrics, database management and the VAN / Votebuilder.
• Experience leading skills training, narrative training or leadership development training in a field organizing or base building context.

Please note that we require applicants for this position to have previous experience in supervision. Applicants without previous experience in supervision will not be considered for this position.

Qualities We’re Looking For In Our Field Director

Our organization values the recruitment of staff with strong political alignment and key leadership qualities that match both the role and the kind of work we do. Because the work we do is political, fast-paced, deeply relational and about power, we look for many of the following qualities:

1. Politically Clear: You know why building power through elections, issue campaigns, and transformative organizing is essential. You are convinced that racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice are what we need and you lift up the leadership and dignity of working-class people and people of color.
2. A Leader Who Unleashes More Leadership: You take responsibility for motivating others, coordinating effective collective action and building powerful teams — even in the face of obstacles. But most of all you unleash leadership in others, igniting responsibility and ownership in those you lead.
3. Interdependent: You bring your best, rely on the strengths of others and know that we are responsible for each other’s well-being.
4. Courageous and Determined: You draw from deep values and beliefs so you continue to take action towards goals, even in the face of change, fear, loss, conflict, and uncertainty
5. Ambitious, Innovative, Relentless: You believe that you and others are capable of greatness. You believe not only that we can win but that we have a duty to win. When things get difficult you get creative and keep trying and learning until we succeed.

Benefits and Compensation

This is a full-time, salaried position at the rate of $6,000 to $8,000 per month, based on equity, experience and qualifications. We offer employer-based health care and a generous paid time off policy. This position runs through the end of November 2022 with the potential to transition to a permanent staff position following the November elections.

Location and Travel

The ideal candidate for this position would live in the Triangle or Triad region of the state. However, other locations within North Carolina are possible. This position will require regular travel to locations within North Carolina, including in the Triad, the Triangle and Eastern North Carolina. This position requires flexible and (at-times) long hours (including nights and weekends), especially during the height of the campaign season.

How to Apply

Please upload a cover letter, resume, and at least three references

In your email or cover letter, please include how you heard about this position.