Description

Title Vice President of Policy & Campaigns

Location (Remote) Must reside in California

Compensation $150,000 + benefits

Timeline The position is open until filled. Expected start date: Q2 of 2026

Reclaiming the California Dream….California Calls is looking for a Vice President of Policy & Campaigns—a strategic and politically savvy leader—who is energized by our work of building a movement to reclaim the California Dream of equality, opportunity, and prosperity for all Californians.  

The Vice President of Policy & Campaigns is an organizational leader who furthers our mission by shaping and driving the overall strategy for our policy agenda. They will hold both  decades-long movement strategy and manage the day-to-day details of moving a policy agenda across our organization and with partners. The position requires the ability to craft statewide ballot and legislative strategy and tactical plans, represent the organization to external audiences, and lead strategies to exercise grassroots power.  Reporting to our CEO, and serving as a critical thought partner to her and other leaders across the organization, this position is part of our executive leadership team. The VP  supervises two senior leaders: Political Director; Policy & Research Director. The VP works closely with the program directors, our executive leadership team, Board of Directors, anchors, and external partners to ensure that policy agenda is grounded in our values and strategic objectives, connected across teams, and moving shared objectives across our alliance and other partners.

Full position announcement and how to apply can be found at this link: https://bit.ly/VP_Policy_CaliforniaCalls

To learn more about California Calls and other opportunities to join the team, visit our website: https://cacalls.org/careers/

About California Calls

California Calls (501c3) and its sister organization California Calls Action Fund (501c4) is a powerful alliance of 27 local community-based organizations spanning urban, rural, and suburban counties across the state. We engage, educate, and motivate new and infrequent voters, including young people, communities of color, and poor and working-class communities to ensure that the electorate represents all of California. Through our bottom-up approach, we organize people most impacted by decades of disinvestment, deteriorating public services, mass incarceration, and growing inequality in support of systemic policy solutions. Working together and building the power of communities who are often left out of policy decisions, we believe we can reclaim the California Dream for all Californians. 

Founded in 2009, we have an annual budget of $11M and a talented team of 27 staff members. With our headquarters in Los Angeles, remote staff across California, and partner organizations anchored in 14 counties, we advance state-based structural battles that strengthen democracy, fully-fund schools, affordable housing and local services, and expand racial, gender, and economic justice. Knowing no one organization alone can win the bold policies needed to address California’s biggest issues, we strengthen the capacity and build collaborations with organizations across the for a strong movement capable of winning structural change.

In this moment of peril and possibility, we are holding the urgency of now while also creating space to dream expansively about the future. We are growing our power toward a broad-based multiracial movement of Californians united behind our shared values of authentic democracy, racial solidarity, corporate accountability, and interdependence. 

Requirements

Who You Are

•  You have 10+ years of progressively responsible leadership experience in areas relevant to the work described here (e.g. campaign, legislative, organizing etc.) at a  nonprofit organization, ideally at both 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) entities. 
• You have a heartfelt connection to California and are energized by our mission.  
• You have 5+ years of supervisory team management experience, including the ability to develop team performance and build relationships that foster trust through direct feedback with compassion and clarity of purpose. 
• You have a demonstrated commitment to social, racial, gender, and economic justice and to building power with communities of color. 
  You have  expertise in high-level policy, campaign and strategy development for statewide or regional ballot and/or legislative campaigns. Understanding of the California political landscape is preferred. 
• You are highly-collaborative and have experience working in coalition, and/or with other complex partnerships while building trusting relationships and alignment across different settings, communities, and issues with people of different backgrounds, perspectives, and cultures.
• You are a creative and flexible thinker with an orientation towards problem-solving; able to maintain a sense of hope and possibility that provides direction and inspiration for others, building momentum and moving initiatives forward despite ambiguity or obstacles.
• Strong facilitation, public speaking, and written communication skills, including writing policy briefs, contributing to and editing reports, summary memoranda, correspondence, etc. and experience with the use of  communications as a tool to support advocacy work and/or campaigns and/or fundraising and/or public education and/or power building.
• Bonus Qualifications We are open to drawing candidates from a wide range of professional backgrounds and aligned issue areas (e.g. housing justice, climate justice, economic justice, immigrant rights, education, worker power, LGBTQIA+ rights, reproductive justice, criminal justice reform etc.) Other not required, but welcomed experiences are: experience as a community organizer, experience working with state and local elected officials, and connection with the broader landscape of social justice organizations in California and across the nation.