Chief External Affairs Officer

Chief External Affairs Officer

ABOUT NDWA: The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) works to win respect, recognition, and labor rights and protections for the nearly 2.5 million nannies, housecleaners, and homecare workers who do the essential work of caring for our loved ones and our homes.

Every day, domestic workers do the work that makes all other work possible. They are the nannies that care for our children, the house cleaners that bring order to our home, and the care workers that ensure our loved ones can live with dignity and independence.

The majority of domestic workers sit at the center of some of our nation’s most decisive issues because of who they are and what they do: they are women – mostly women of color, immigrants, mothers, and low-wage workers. They are impacted by almost every policy affecting the future of our economy, democracy and country. We believe domestic workers can lead us toward a new, inclusive vision for the future for all of us.

ABOUT THE ROLE: This is an exceptional opportunity to join the leadership team of one of the country’s leading progressive social movement organizations. Over the last 16 years, NDWA has helped make domestic work visible by getting policies passed that enable rights and higher wages, changing public awareness and opinion about the dignity and value of care work, and building the capacity and leadership of domestic workers to advocate for their rights.

This role will be responsible for driving NDWA into the next chapter of its mission – one that moves domestic work from its newfound visibility toward transformation. NDWA intends to do that by securing meaningful improvements in wages and working conditions for domestic workers, building care consumer support by shifting public perceptions about care work through civic engagement and narrative change, and increasing the collective power of the workforce by growing a strong base of domestic workers.

The Chief External Affairs Officer will lead and oversee the development and execution of communications, development, and brand strategies across the organization. They will be responsible for crafting a narrative that continues to drive their mission forward. They will build relationships and devise and oversee the execution of tactics that broaden awareness and deepen the impact of the organization's programmatic work. They will do so by building philanthropic support, securing media coverage, and leveraging cultural opportunities. As a member of the leadership team, they will sit at organizational decision-making tables, contribute to the organization’s aspirational vision, and help secure its sustainability.

The Chief External Affairs Officer will report directly to NDWA Executive Director, Jenn Stowe and create and oversee a three-team division consisting of the Communications, Development, and the Brand, Marketing, and Culture Change teams.

Required skills

NDWA seeks a passionate results-oriented visionary leader, communicator, and relationship builder with deep experience in the social justice movement for this role. They must have leadership experience with a proven ability to build buy-in across teams, organizations, and coalitions. This role additionally requires:

• Strong analytical skills and strategic thinking ability, with a proven record of developing and implementing effective strategies to achieve organizational objectives.
• Experience sitting at the highest levels of leadership (C-suite level) to inform programmatic as well as operational decisions to secure sustainability and impact for the entire organization.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute an aspirational vision; an idea generator who follows through, effectively delegates and leads a team to successful outcomes.
• Comfortable in both crisis and rapid-response situations that require internal cross-divisional alignment; strategic thinker who is able to shift quickly and manage and redirect teams accordingly.
• Ability to oversee the work of various departments while ensuring harmony and collaboration across teams; maintains a big-picture view to ensure the work of each division ladders up to the organization's strategic priorities.
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills; collaborates effectively with diverse stakeholders and inspires teams toward shared goals.
• Demonstrated ability to model organizational values through how they show up internally, setting the tone for a new internal culture that allows for grace and compassionate accountability.
• Adept at achieving alignment and building buy-in across internal teams as well as building consensus across organizations externally.
• Comfortable expressing disagreement, fostering diversity of thought, and pushing back on peers – even at the highest level – in a respectful and productive manner.
• Ability to accurately forecast potential brand risks and strategize to mitigate or eliminate those risks.
• Unafraid to take big swings on innovative ideas in an environment that allows space to fail and learn from one's mistakes; ability to model that mentality for the rest of the team.

Ideal qualifications

• Minimum of 10+ years of progressive experience in strategic communications, development/fundraising, with at least five years in senior leadership roles.
• Strong communications background and expertise, skilled at developing strategies that make an impact and directing teams to drive results.
• A robust understanding of the philanthropic landscape, particularly as it relates to movement spaces (in gender equity, racial justice, and workers’ rights).
• Experience crafting and executing a revenue strategy for a program, project, or organization; established record of closing major gifts.
• Demonstrated track record of shifting challenging narratives and passing progressive policies.
• Deep understanding of politics and proven ability to influence decision makers towards wins.
• An eye for marketing, branding, and advertising; can connect communications strategy and messaging to creative vision, direction, and execution of branded campaigns, ads, and assets to appeal to a wide range of traditional and non-traditional audiences. Understands how to leverage culture to shift narratives and drive legislation.
• Deep knowledge of and experience working in overlapping and intersectional social justice movements with a clear professional and personal passion for making the world a better place, ideally with an understanding of community building and organizing; organizing experience a plus.
• Deep and demonstrated understanding of racial equity and justice.
• Spanish fluency (strongly preferred).

Core responsibilities

• Develop an integrated strategy to build stronger connections between teams and across NDWA departments, across NDWA (c3) and Care in Action (c4), as well as coalitions. Inspire effective collaboration supporting overarching goals and priorities – in service of impeccable and steady storytelling, positioning and building resources for the organization.
• Leverage and steward strategic partnerships and relationships that help ensure the success of NDWA; cultivate new relationships and networks to broaden the awareness and deepen the impact of the organization’s programmatic work, especially in the spheres of philanthropy, media, entertainment, technology and the care industry.
• Represent and speak on behalf of NDWA in public settings and to press, accompanying the president to public events serving as lead on her public affairs.
• Meet with legislators and policymakers to advocate for progressive policies as it relates to care work.
• Drive and lead strategic decisions around our organization’s high political orientation and high social responsiveness – owning our need to be acutely attuned and responsive to both political and social issues around us, as well as brand risk.
• Develop a strategic narrative, aligned to NDWA’s strategic plan and priorities, and ensure narrative consistency throughout the organization’s messaging and materials, as well as owned and paid content. Generate creative and effective strategies for getting that narrative into the world.

Salary: 175k-190k

To apply: Please submit a resume and respond to the application questions. This search is being supported by NRG Consulting Group. Please reach out to megan@nrgconsultinggroup.org with any questions.

We value a truly diverse workforce and a culture of inclusivity and belonging. People from historically disadvantaged communities, such as Women, People of Color, People with Disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people, are strongly urged to apply. NDWA is a union employer; this position is a senior management position.

NDWA participates in the E-Verify program and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.