HECHO Policy Director

Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors (HECHO) was created to help fulfill our duty to conserve and protect our public lands for future generations. We provide a platform for Hispanics to contribute knowledge and perspectives about public lands conservation issues, enhance leadership capacity of Hispanic leaders, and promote Hispanic cultural heritage and connections to nature. While our focus is on the protection of public lands in the American Southwest, our work has a national scope and impact. To achieve our mission of empowering Hispanic leaders to engage their communities in the conservation of our nation’s public lands, we are seeking a Policy Director who speaks conversational English and Spanish to work based out of our Denver, Colorado office.  This is a full-time position.

Reporting to the HECHO Executive Director, the HECHO Policy Director is responsible for leading the development of policy agendas at federal, state, and local levels that will drive HECHO’s advocacy work. This role is responsible for identifying, analyzing, and promoting public lands conservation policy opportunities and working with HECHO’s advocacy staff and advocacy network to translate policy opportunities into policy wins. The Policy Director will also support HECHO’s Executive Director as a primary ambassador for the HECHO program and provide direct support to the Executive Director to advance projects and campaigns.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

60% providing policy leadership for the HECHO program:

• Identify, analyze, and prioritize public lands policy advocacy opportunities at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Serve as primary advisor on policy for HECHO, informing and guiding public lands policy advocacy campaigns.
• Develop a policy action plan for HECHO.
• Work with HECHO Program Manager and Communications Coordinator to advise and assist on the development and delivery of educational, training, and advocacy tools, including: webinars, factsheets, opinion media, etc.
• Develop talking points for HECHO’s advocacy campaigns.
• Lead the development of reports that inform HECHO’s advocacy work and may serve as advocacy tools.
• Work with HECHO Advisory Board and Conservation Council to identify and analyze local or state public lands policy opportunities, recommend policy outcomes, and provide support for advocacy.
• Collaborate with National Wildlife Federation Public Lands program and National Advocacy Center to coordinate on federal policy opportunities.

40% supporting the HECHO Executive Director in both internal and external leadership for the program:

• Serve as a primary ambassador and champion of HECHO and surrogate for the Executive Director to external audiences as needed.
• Supporting Executive Director’s leadership for the HECHO team to assure projects and campaigns are advancing holistically.
• Build and manage relationships with elected officials, community leaders, government agencies, non-profit partners, etc.
• Identify funding opportunities and collaborate on securing funding for programs, and assist with writing grant proposals and reports.
• Carry out additional duties, as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS:

• At least ten years of professional experience
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with the review and analysis of public policy
• Familiarity of, experience with, and deep commitment to Hispanic cultural heritage
• Strong knowledge on how Congress, the Executive Branch, state and local governments work
• Familiarity with conservation issues, public land management agencies, and/or legislative and administrative processes
• Experience supporting inclusive teams and multiple stakeholders to achieve shared goals
• Understanding of non-profit management and operations
• Conversational Spanish language skills preferred

EXPERIENCE:

• Proven success reviewing and analyzing public policy
• Demonstrated ability to effectively navigate and understand government policy-making processes
• Experience working with people from different backgrounds and ability to bring people together to work toward common goals
• Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams to achieve results
• Ability to collaborate, coordinate, and communicate effectively and efficiently with both internal and external partners.
• Experience managing simultaneous work streams and tracking deliverables, through various organization systems and work flow processes.
• Demonstrated organizational skills and ability to establish priorities and manage activities independently.
• Competency in skills needed to secure and manage consistent grant funding.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Hispanic heritage, in particular cultural and historical connections to the land, air, and water, and ability to share knowledge in a culturally responsive way.

Travel Requirements

• Initially, the position will work remotely with an expectation for location in the Denver office in 2021.
• When travel is allowed, expect travel 4-6 times per year, 12-15 nights per year.

Salary Range and Benefits:

The salary range for this position is $70,000 to $80,000.

HECHO is a partner and program of the National Wildlife Federation.  The National Wildlife Federation values work-life balance and a family-friendly atmosphere. Our paid time-off includes 3 weeks of vacation leave, 10 days of wellbeing leave, 10 paid holidays, 3 floating holidays, a week-long winter break, and additional leave options, per year. In addition, our benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, company paid life insurance, AD&D, short- and long-term disability, 16 weeks of paid FMLA leave, 403b retirement plan with employer matching and annual contribution, adoption benefits, and flexible work options including telecommuting, non-traditional work hours, and compressed work weeks. Applicants are invited to learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s benefits package at https://www.nwf.org/About-Us/Careers.

Application:

Candidates should submit a cover letter and resume.

If you meet more than 75% of the qualifications of this description, we support your application. If selected, a background check will be conducted.

We strive to increase diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) in all elements of our work and with our partners to support the interdependent needs of wildlife and people in a rapidly changing world.  We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, of race, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, genetic information, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.  We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

If you have a disability and require an accommodation or assistance with our online application process, please tell us how we can help by calling us at 703-438-6244.

www.nwf.org