Managing Director, Policy & Advocacy

Job Title: Managing Director, Policy & Advocacy

Organization: National Endowment for Financial Education

Reports To: Senior Vice President, Research & Policy

Location: Downtown Denver, Colorado – Up to 50% remote work is offered

Type: Full-Time

Organization Overview

At the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), we champion effective financial education. We are the independent, centralizing voice providing leadership, research, and collaboration to advance financial well-being. We do this by mobilizing and inspiring educators, researchers, and advocates nationwide to maximize the impact of financial education. We work hard to remove barriers, amplify outcomes, and elevate effective models through leadership, research, and collaboration. We believe this is important because everyone deserves the opportunity to live their best financial life and that equitable and effective financial education makes it easier for everyone to navigate the financial system, creating a more just society.

Position Summary

The Managing Director, Policy & Advocacy, is responsible for the strategy, operations, outreach and staff for NEFE’s public policy, advocacy, and government affairs work.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skill, or ability required.

Policy & Advocacy leadership:

■     Work with the Senior Vice President, Research & Policy, and the NEFE Executive Leadership

■     Team and Managing Directors team on strategic direction and implementation of NEFE’s strategic plan.

■     Oversee projects and initiatives that advance NEFE’s mission and realize its vision.

■     Oversee learning activities for staff, including maintaining a “learning organization” framework, supporting staff acquisition of specialized knowledge, and facilitating knowledge-sharing activities. Maintain a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

■     Lead and develop the policy and advocacy team to achieve NEFE’s policy goals. This work includes people management, development, and hiring decisions.

■     Support the development of the organization’s strategic messaging and communication efforts, ensuring they align with policy goals and resonate with key stakeholders.

Public Policy, advocacy, & government affairs activities:

■     Develop and implement organizational policy and advocacy strategy to influence policy decisions related to financial education.

■     Provide expertise on relevant policy developments, potentially in collaboration with outside consultants, and use it to drive the organization’s approach and agenda regarding legislative activity.

■     Formulate insights to share with stakeholders in the financial education and financial well-being policy field.

■     Foster strategic alliances and partnerships with influential organizations, governmental agencies, foundations and academic institutions to advance NEFE’s mission and influence.

■     Facilitate the formulation of NEFE’s stance on issues and developments in the financial education field.

■     Represent NEFE at conferences, panels, meetings, webinars, keynotes, and other relevant engagements, including:

o   Building relationships with conference organizers and thought leaders who present or attend;

o   Speaking on relevant topics or NEFE’s initiatives; and

o   Distilling and disseminating relevant information back to NEFE.

■     Steward NEFE’s capacity building on policy and advocacy activities via people management, skill development and sourcing of internal tools.

Research-to-policy activities:

■     Collaborate with research staff to democratize research findings by curating citations and findings into themes; translate individual findings into insights and synthesize trends for dissemination.

■     Assist in dissemination of messaging and facilitation of feedback loops from stakeholder groups relevant to public policy, advocacy, and government affairs.

■     Sets agendas, coordinates logistics, and facilitates stakeholder engagement for NEFE thought leadership convenings.

■     Highlight relevant findings from key policy-related reports from organizations, government, and industry (e.g. PISA, NSFC, surveys, etc.)

■     Develop the research-to-policy dissemination strategy in coordination with research and marketing staff.

Supervisory Duties:

■     Directly supervises 2 Policy & Advocacy staff

■     Oversees other Research and Insights staff in the context of projects or initiatives.

Required Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

■     Interest in personal finance and financial well-being.

■     Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

■     Excellent public speaking and presentation skills.

■     Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders.

■     Skilled in outreach and relationship management.

■     Comfortable collaborating with a team as well as working alone. ·

■     Demonstrated ability to synthesize key information for a variety of stakeholders within and external to NEFE.

■     Able to act strategically and responsively in a changing environment.

■     Excellent organizational skills; ability multi-task and meet deadlines.

■     Demonstrated effectiveness in managing projects from development to completion. \

■     Ability to communicate progress, risks, timelines, expectations, and deliverables clearly and effectively on multiple ongoing projects, both internally and with vendors.

■     Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft collaboration tools; ability to rapidly adopt new software tools as needed.

■     Ability and willingness to travel

Required Experience, Education/Formal Training:

■     Five to 10 years of experience leading a team, division, program or organization in the nonprofit, foundation, government or private sectors.

■     Master’s degree in public policy, nonprofit management, education, communication, business, or related fields; or Bachelor’s degree in similar discipline and equivalent experience.

Physical/Mental Demands of the Job

Work hours are generally 8:30 AM -5:00 PM Monday – Friday – up to 50% remote work is offered under normal circumstances. Employees work directly with their supervisor and HR to determine the best work schedule, providing sufficient overlap with other NEFE employees. NEFE consistently monitors the environment to maintain the health and well-being of our staff.

At NEFE we focus on possibilities not limitations. To do your job effectively, you need the ability to communicate with people; move about a workspace; utilize a computer, job-related software and a telephone; and travel. We will attempt to make reasonable accommodations to support the fulfillment of the physical and mental requirements of this position.

Travel Required

Up to 20% expected

Compensation/Benefits

The base salary for this position ranges from $102,000 - $114,000, with the final offer reflecting the candidate’s experience and qualifications. NEFE provides a comprehensive benefits package, including vacation, sick leave, holidays, six weeks of paid parental leave, and health, dental, vision, long-term care, and life/AD&D/disability insurance. Additional benefits include an EcoPass, paid parking in Downtown Denver, professional development opportunities, tuition reimbursement, an employee assistance program, a 403(b) employer match, and contributions to a defined benefit plan.

Application Instructions

Please use the link below to submit your resume. Please also discuss your interest in the organization, appropriate skills, and background in a cover letter—no phone calls. All applications must be submitted by 5:00pm Mountain Time on January 14, 2025.

https://nefeorg.bamboohr.com/careers/41?source=aWQ9MTk%3D

Not sure you meet 100% of our qualifications? We understand that some candidates who could excel in this role may not have all the qualifications precisely listed above. If you believe that you could excel in this role, we encourage you to apply. We are dedicated to considering a broad array of candidates, including those with diverse work experience and backgrounds.

NEFE is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

• Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.