YIMBY Action and Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) are seeking a seasoned organizer to lead grassroots and legislative organizing across our national chapter network in service of the movement for abundant housing. This role will ensure YIMBY Action’s volunteers and staff rack up regular wins across our three advocacy pillars: supporting housing proposals, championing pro-housing legislation, and endorsing pro-housing candidates at the local, state, and national level.

The National Organizing Director sets the strategy that turns YIMBY Action’s nationwide network of local chapters into an impactful political force. A successful candidate will know how to motivate volunteers, moving them from beginner organizers to strategic and powerful community leaders. They will also understand how to move people up a ladder of engagement—from list member to activist to volunteer leader—and how to point that energy at the specific legislative fights that unlock housing. This role owns the health and growth of chapters across the country and the pipeline of volunteer leaders who run them.

The Director will lead the Organizing Department, responsible for the strategic direction and meeting key organizational growth goals, as well as sharing responsibility for key legislative initiatives. This is a player-coach role that sets national organizing strategy while directly managing a portfolio of chapters and partnering closely with our marketing and implementation work streams. A successful candidate will demonstrate strong cross-functional collaboration skills.

An ideal candidate will have some familiarity with the YIMBY movement and recent legislative victories, such as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. This position will not require deep policy expertise, but candidates must be excited to learn and build their familiarity with the relationship between federal, state, and local governments.

This position reports to the Chief of Staff.

RESPONSIBILITIES

National Organizing Strategy and Chapter Growth (30%)

• Determine strategy and tactics for the Organizing Department in collaboration with executive leadership. Build and lead execution of a national organizing program that grows chapter count, grows chapter membership, promotes chapter activity, and activates volunteer leadership in priority geographies.
• Improve and maintain shared standards, systems, and metrics for YIMBY Action’s chapter network, including recruitment, onboarding, meeting cadence, leadership development, and activation. Continually iterate in response to outcomes, data, and dynamic, ever-changing political opportunities.
• Identify priority geographies for chapter launches, growth investment, or consolidation. Be prepared to regularly demonstrate progress to goals and "case make" to build buy-in for strategy among Executive Directors and other teams.
• Collaborate with the Marketing Department to ensure the pipeline of "list subscriber" to "member" to "highly engaged" to "volunteer leader" is optimized. Ensure organizing systems and membership data are operationally sound and consistently employed across the network.
• In collaboration with other Department Heads, implement a strategy to diversify and grow YIMBY membership and volunteer leadership.
• Execute and own the organizing budget, including travel, training, convenings, and chapter support, with an emphasis on priority geographies.
• Maintain and improve YIMBY Action’s candidate endorsement guidance documents and database; ensure endorsements are featured on the YIMBY Action website; collaborate with the Marketing Department to promote endorsements across key channels.

Legislative Organizing and Implementation (30%)

• Mobilize chapter members and volunteers behind local, state, and federal legislative campaigns, including action alerts, constituent contact, in-district pressure, and public comment at key decision points. Track the efficacy of advocacy and translate those insights into repeatable playbooks for the network.
• Coordinate with staff and stakeholders to time organizing activity to legislative calendars and to ensure chapters are equipped with accurate, compelling asks. Identify, develop, and distribute activation materials, trainings, and templates for volunteers and Leads in targeted geographies.
• Maintain and improve staff and volunteer-facing housing proposal support systems to ensure consistent engagement. Lead the housing proposal cohort, which motivates and trains volunteer leaders to support local housing proposals, with the ultimate goal of unlocking new housing units.
• Maintain impactful relationships with coalition partners, allied organizations, and legislative offices.
• Build and maintain policy and legislative implementation pipelines to identify upcoming/potential implementation needs, coordinate cross-functional work, and ensure timely follow-through on enacted policies at the state and federal levels.
• Organize cross-functional staff and volunteers to ensure successful execution of implementation-related tasks and campaigns, including coordinating in-district meetings at the state and federal levels to ensure active implementation of recently passed housing laws

Team Leadership (20%)

• Serve as Department Head for the Organizing Department. Train and manage multiple direct reports to high performance in executing strategy and determining tactics to achieve ambitious OKRs.
• Develop the team's expertise in both in-person and remote organizing methods, ensuring staff can build real relationships and promote durable volunteer leadership across a geographically dispersed network.
• Collaborate with organizational leadership to conduct yearly strategic planning. Select OKRs and metrics to track based on organizational objectives and set ambitious team goals.
• Serve as an organizational leader, including representing the Organizing Team in organizational decision-making, as well as helping to inform decisions in which the team's needs may be deprioritized in favor of other considerations. Help set and model a strong and inclusive organizational culture.

Chapter Portfolio Management (15%)

• Directly manage a portfolio of local chapters, serving as their primary staff contact and strategic advisor.
• Recruit, train, and coach volunteer chapter leaders. Support chapters through leadership transitions, internal conflict, and capacity gaps.
• Model the organizing practices the rest of the team is accountable to, and use direct chapter work to pressure-test national strategy.
• Motivate your portfolio of chapters to endorse candidates and ballot measures in critical campaigns, with the ultimate goal of building each chapter’s political power.

Special Projects (5%)

• Occasional initiatives that deliver on program service, donor expectations, chapter growth, professional growth, and/or team culture.

Requirements

8-10 years of experience in grassroots and legislative advocacy organizing, including the proven ability to:

• Build and grow volunteer-led chapters or affiliates, and develop volunteers into effective leaders across a substantial geography
• Build political power of local chapters, both in person and remotely, and train others to do both
• Convert grassroots activity into concrete legislative outcomes at the local, state, and/or federal level
• Collect, analyze, and act upon key data to drive strategic decisionmaking, as well as build necessary data systems where they don't yet exist
• Pivot quickly in a rapidly changing, dynamic work environment
• Lead teams to success by developing and implementing clear, effective OKRs
• Generate org-wide buy-in for key organizing campaigns and initiatives

Experience supervising, coaching, and developing organizing staff.

A demonstrated commitment to the YIMBY vision; previous work or volunteer experience that is aligned with YIMBY goals. A demonstrated passion for more housing and shelter of every type including subsidized nonprofit affordable housing, market-rate housing, transitional housing, navigation centers, and more.

Experience building positive working relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders; demonstrated ability to interact with stakeholders professionally, with poise, and with an orientation towards identifying and building on common ground.

Strong skills in public speaking, facilitation, and training, with the ability to serve as a compelling ambassador for the organization with members, coalition partners, and elected officials.

Location

Remote within the United States only. Employees must live in and work from a U.S. state for the full duration of employment.

Schedule

Full time 40 hours/week. Flexibility of schedule, though internal staff meetings are held 9am–3pm PT.

Compensation

$127,000 - $146,000 / year salary depending on experience and qualifications

YIMBY Action and YIMBY’s compensation is based on a comprehensive analysis of other nonprofit organizations, with an aim to offer highly competitive compensation in comparison to similarly sized nonprofits in the Bay Area. Salary offers within our posted compensation range are based on quantity of relevant experience and demonstrated success. In order to preserve parity in the hiring process, we make it a policy to lead with our best offer and not negotiate on salary.

Benefits

• Up to 100% employer funded comprehensive medical coverage
• 100% employer funded dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401k enrollment opportunities
• 3 weeks paid vacation time
• 23 paid holidays per year
• 9 days paid sick time
• Up to 12 weeks of 100% paid parental leave
• 12 weeks disability leave
• Significant professional development opportunities, including paid professional development stipend
• Flexible work hours within a 40 hour work week
• Membership in YIMBY Action nationwide activist network and vibrant 6,500+ member Slack community
• Access to YIMBY Action network of elected officials, journalists, and business leaders

All benefits are subject to eligibility requirements, applicable waiting periods, and the terms of employment policies in effect at the time.