Vice President of Strategic Projects

Who We Are

Think of Us (TOU) operates as an R+D lab for child welfare. We take on strategic projects with the goal of causing “good trouble” and, ultimately, driving concrete, structural changes in policy, practice, resource flows, power dynamics, relationships and mental models. Our ultimate goal is to integrate Lived Experience at every level, ensuring everyone touched by the system has the conditions they need to Heal, Develop and Thrive.

We work across the ecosystem of current and former foster youth, child welfare workers, philanthropists and policymakers to Spark, Support and Drive to systematically center lived experience touched by the system.

Examples of what this looks like include:

Building a unique digital wraparound model that gives kinship caregivers, adoptive families and young people direct access to traditional and non-traditional resources, creating a clearer pathway to support for those who need it
Providing technical assistance to state Chafee Teams to distribute $400M in emergency pandemic relief
Key advocate providing critical, real-time data on true needs of current + former foster youth
Leading groundbreaking participatory research to center lived experience in the national Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Program’s movement to eliminate unnecessary uses of congregate care

Note: Most of our roles are fully remote. A select few are based in DC or LA, which will be specified in the job description if applicable.

The Role

The Vice President of Strategic Projects will serve as a leader AND a doer, owning a portfolio of diverse projects positioned to drive systems change. Reporting directly to the Managing Partner, the VP of Strategic Projects is charged with building the strategy, contributing to the vision, and leading the team implementing projects - while simultaneously rolling up their sleeves to dive into the work themselves. This is an invaluable opportunity to be engaged in the breadth and depth of our work at TOU.

Responsibilities

Spearhead Strategy and Execution

Identify groundbreaking opportunities for TOU to influence the Child Welfare (CW) space through innovative initiatives, projects, and programming
Translate the vision of new opportunities and projects into strategic execution
Create, organize, and manage logistics needed to execute a strategic initiative, such as developing a project scope, creating a budget, and staffing a project

Lead a Diverse Team

Inspire a diverse and cross functional team to project success
Manage contributors and project consultants with variable expertise, experiences, and roles at TOU

Amplify Our Message

Leverage project work to amplify TOU’s message and mission
Engage the broader CW community to build awareness of our work or seek other strategic inputs
Serve as an external ambassador of TOU’s values and work, communicating results out to partners, stakeholders, and field leaders

Competencies for Success in This Role:

Problem Solver: You are adept at not only identifying problems, but also quickly finding solutions, or a path forward
Strategic Thinker: You can see the forest through the trees, and both anticipate future outcomes while also holding immediate needs
Collaborative: You can work with diverse stakeholders to find common ground in completing tasks and solving problems
Goal-Oriented: You use a systematic process to develop plans and achieve specific outcomes‍
Self Motivated: You initiate tasks, and achieve results with minimal supervision or feedback

Requirements

10+ year of work across child welfare or similar field with familiarity at local, state, and federal levels
Excellent communication skills, both written + verbal
Experience leading a cross functional team, including researchers, policy staff, and subject matter experts on short and long term projects
Flexible and hands-on working style
Fluency in GSuite + other tech tools like Asana + Slack
Strong critical-thinking and decision-making skills
Lived experience and/or proximity to child welfare, whether as former foster youth, kin caregiver, or other is a plus
Center the lived experience of those touched by child welfare in EVERY aspect of your work
Deep commitment to our mission and nuanced understanding of systemic, structural racism and inequity in child welfare and beyond

Perks / Timings / Salary

We provide generous health, dental, & vision coverage for you and dependents as well as a 401k plan for your pre-tax retirement contributions
We're a remote team with schedule flexibility
We have a flexible vacation policy
We hold bi-weekly organization-wide learning sessions to deepen our understanding of the Lived Experience of foster youth and also on topics outside of CW to build culture of curiosity and growth
We put you at the cutting edge of change in the child welfare system
We provide the opportunity for you to interact with leading voices in government, foundations, the nonprofit world, and entertainment working to reform child welfare

Salary:

This role has a salary range of $140,000 - $160,000. We are looking to fill this position immediately - applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

APPLY NOW

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