Chief Programs Officer

The Chief Programs Officer is a member of the ALDF Senior Leadership Team who implements and oversees the legal programs necessary to advance ALDF’s core mission and values. The Chief Programs Officer primarily is responsible for managing the development and execution of ALDF’s legal strategies, while supervising the directors of the Litigation, Legislative Affairs, Criminal Justice, Animal Law, and Pro Bono Programs. The Chief Programs Officer role also is responsible for ensuring the impactful, effective functioning and administration of ALDF’s legal Programs work, advancing organizational growth, creating meaningful goals and benchmarks to evaluate success, developing annual budgets, optimizing program resource allocation, maintaining a positive and inclusive culture, participating in long-term strategic planning, supervising and coaching a team of leaders and professionals, and providing strategic guidance and support to the Executive Director, Leadership Team, and all staff members who report into and are stakeholders of ALDF’s programmatic functions.

How You Will Make a Difference:

• Leading the development and execution of ALDF’s legal strategies to maximize the organization’s impact in fulfilling its mission, both individually and with external partners.
• Supervising the directors of the Litigation, Legislative Affairs, Criminal Justice, Animal Law, and Pro Bono Programs––providing guidance on strategy, vision, and culture.
• Identifying opportunities to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of ALDF’s programmatic work by driving and supporting strategic synergies among the legal Programs.
• Ensuring that ALDF legal Programs and staff are well integrated across the entire organization and collaborating effectively to support the Communications, Development, and Operations teams in messaging the significance and impact of the organization’s work.
• Overseeing and participating in the development and execution of ALDF Programs’ annual and long-term business and strategic planning, determining and formulating Program policies, and providing overall direction for legal programmatic activities in partnership with Program Directors and team members.
• Working with the Leadership Team and Directors to execute the annual budget planning process for the legal Programs, overseeing Programs’ financial and budget activities throughout the fiscal year, ensuring that resources are allocated in a way that maximizes impact for animal protection in measurable ways.
• Cultivating a positive and collaborative working environment with fellow Leadership members and staff to support a positive, productive, and inclusive culture that reflects ALDF’s integrity and values.
• Serving as an engaged and active member of ALDF’s Senior Leadership Team, participating and contributing to ALDF initiatives and processes, conferring with fellow leaders and staff members to discuss strategy, coordinate activities, and resolve problems.
• Ensuring that ALDF and its Programs are operating in a manner that reflects sound controls, high mission impact, and manageable workloads for staff.
• Working with the legal program team leaders, Executive Director, and Leadership Team to advise on the organization’s programmatic matters and prepare reports for key stakeholders such as the Board of Directors.
• Working with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure that ALDF’s legal Programs and staff comply with all organizational policies, including record retention, technology use, employment and labor, communications standards, etc.
• Actively participating in fundraising efforts and providing strategic oversight.
• Maintaining a working knowledge of significant developments and trends in animal law and animal rights.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

We are Looking for candidates with:

• A law degree (JD, LLM, SJD) and license to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
• Preference for 10+ years of experience in a legal setting, and relevant practice experience in litigation or legislative policy. Strong preference for significant experience in a non-profit legal setting.
• 7+ years in a formal people leadership or executive role with a track record of modeling inclusive leadership for high performing teams.
• An understanding of and demonstrated commitment to the mission of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Additionally, a demonstrated understanding of how legal advocacy advances the organization’s mission.
• A collaborative partnership and solutions-oriented mindset.
• A commitment to building and participating in an inclusive workplace, and a strong understanding of, experience with, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles.
• Exceptional leadership skills and experience expressing a vision for the organization and inspiring alignment to that vision.
• Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills, including comfort communicating with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent problem solving, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities.
• Empathetic interpersonal and conflict resolution skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with others in a team-oriented environment and with external partners.
• A commitment to working with integrity and with exceptional judgment.
• Experience with basic software applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel and internet browsers.
• The ability to travel periodically for staff meetings and retreats (estimated 1-3 trips annually). Additionally, the Chief Programs Officer must be available for periodic travel to conferences, training, Board meetings, and donor meetings as required.