Animal Policy Alliance, Program Specialist

WHO WE ARE

The Humane League (THL) is a global nonprofit ending the abuse of animals raised for food. THL fosters a high-energy culture of teamwork and mission-driven problem solving, and we have earned recognition as Top Charity from Animal Charity Evaluators for all of their rating periods. Over the past few years, we’ve grown to a staff of 100+ talented individuals dispersed across the country and around the world. At The Humane League (THL), how animals are treated in the food system is at the forefront of our everyday work. As such, many of our staff are vegan by personal choice, and all of our THL-hosted events offer fully vegan menus. We welcome all mission-aligned candidates to apply, no matter where you are in your journey to end the abuse of animals raised for food.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

In 2022, The Humane League launched the Animal Policy Alliance (APA), a national network of state and local animal protection and food policy advocacy groups in the US that include animals raised for food among their legislative priorities. Their mission is to unite to end large scale animal cruelty through policy change. To accomplish this mission, the APA works to facilitate sharing of resources and best practices, provide trainings, develop and coordinate strategies for public policy campaigns and provide the capacity building and support necessary for those strategies to succeed.

As the Animal Policy Alliance Program Specialist, you will play a key role in supporting the growth and operation of the APA. You will be accountable for working as part of a small team to develop and oversee the Alliance’s member support and recruitment strategies, coordinate and implement the development of resources and trainings, coordinate APA members around strategic policy objectives, and publicly represent the Alliance. This position reports directly to the Director of Public Policy.

This is a full-time, remote position. This position requires domestic travel for an annual staff retreat, conferences, and to meet with alliance members, this is equivalent to approximately 3-6 trips per year. 

We are only able to consider applicants who reside in the United States and possess United States work authorization.

We will be holding a webinar on January 30, 2024 at 5:00pm PT/6:00pm MT/7:00pm CT/8:00pm ET for you to find out more about the role and ask any questions you may have. The webinar will be hosted by Gabriel Wildgen, Director of Public Policy and Michelle Strickland-Kucerak, SVP, Programs and Public Polciy. If you’re interested, please register here. As a webinar, you’ll only be able to see the presenter and not others watching. The webinar will be recorded and available here by February 1, 2024.

Your responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Alliance Development and Support

  • Plays a lead role in developing executing the Alliance’s member support strategies, including hosting various events, trainings, mentorship programs, webinars, and other resources that will improve member group’s ability to effectively grow their political power and advocate for legislative change for animals raised for food.

  • Establishes and maintains relationships with APA member groups while employing a high level of emotional intelligence. This includes fielding incoming communications and sending updates to coalition members.

  • Advises on and contributes to the development of the APA website, and updates the website as needed. This includes supporting the development and maintenance of a resources database for local and state-level animal protection groups that will be hosted on the Alliance website. This database will include but not be limited to templates for legislative fact sheets, lobbying materials, action alert templates, capacity-building tools, and links to external resources.

  • Onboards member groups, including adding them to APA communication platforms, uploads member data, provides access to resource databases as well as other supporting materials and services.

  • In partnership with colleagues on the THL Public Policy team, supports the coordination of member groups around local, state and national public policy campaigns.

  • Assists as needed in the operation of a grant program for Alliance members, including communications with members about grants.

  • Uses and manages Salesforce to facilitate APA CRM.

  • Plays a key role in evaluating member groups’ capacity, capabilities, and needs. This includes collecting, organizing, and maintaining documentation and data on Alliance member groups.

  • Supports the launch of new organizations that will be members of the APA.

• Communications 

  • Manages communications platforms for the Alliance, including Google Groups and potentially Slack; maintains and updates communications protocols for the Alliance.

  • Curates content for and drafts a monthly newsletter for APA members.

• Events

  • In partnership with THL event planning staff, plans and implements the APA’s annual national summit, webinars, and training events, including development, procurement of content and recruitment of speakers for these events.

  • Recruits experts and manages contract work with them in developing specialized public policy advocacy trainings and webinars.

  • Plans and facilitates strategic discussions at the annual APA Summit, as well as on APA conference calls, Google Group communications, and online APA chat forums such as Slack.

• Other Responsibilities 

  • Eventually supports the work of a (yet to be established) 501(c)(4) advocacy entity affiliated with THL and Alliance members’ public policy work. This will include tracking all time spent working on tasks for the 501(c)(4).

  • Tracks and reports time supporting the planning and coordination of lobbying activities, and potentially registers as a lobbyist, where applicable.

  • Other duties as assigned. 

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Communication Skills: Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written; ability to communicate directly and respectfully with colleagues and external stakeholders. Exceptional listening skills and the ability to effectively communicate information to ensure comprehension and prevent or resolve disputes

• Share The Humane League's dedication to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the animal protection movement.

Additionally, the ideal candidate will possess most, if not all the following qualities, skills, and characteristics:

• Experience: Minimum of 5 years of professional or non-professional experience in positions related to public policy and/or animal protection advocacy, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience. Some level of experience in event planning. Demonstrated knowledge and comprehension or legislative and regulatory processes. 

• Interpersonal Skills: Outstanding relationship-building and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate directly and respectfully with colleagues and engage with a wide range of stakeholders and cultures, with a track record of effective external partnerships.

• Adaptability: Willingness to adjust plans in response to shifting strategic priorities, new roles and responsibilities, new systems and technologies, process improvements, and policy changes. Ability to quickly problem-solve and pivot to meet the demands of any given situation

• Project Management: Solid organization and project management skills with the ability to develop complex projects, plan backwards, and ensure quality end-results are delivered on or ahead of scheduled, without crises.

• Highly proficient in using contemporary office software applications. Demonstrated ability to learn new software quickly and objectively.

*This position will close on Thursday, February 8, 2024 at 1:00pm PDT/2:00pm MDT/3:00pm CDT/4:00pm EDT. Late applications will not be accepted; if you are experiencing technical issues, please contact careers@thehumaneleague.org prior to the deadline. Please submit applications and all supporting documents in English.

The initial application review will happen after the application closing date above. Once your application has been reviewed, you will be notified via email with further details on the status of your application. If a candidate is moved forward, the interview process will be as follows:

• Phone Interview (via phone)

• Work Simulation Exercise (completed remotely)

• First Interview (via video call)

• Final Interview (via video call)

• Reference Check

Compensation and Benefits

The compensation range for this role is $65,493 - $80,047. At The Humane League, we believe in maintaining a fair and equitable work environment for all employees. As part of our commitment to transparency and equity, we recently implemented a job architecture framework, which levels all of our roles according to size and complexity, as well as a compensation step system, which allows us to account for an individual's total years of related experience when determining their compensation. In addition, we have adopted a no negotiation policy for salaries. To determine a job's level, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including a job's size and complexity, required experience, knowledge, and/or skills, internal comparability, and market data. To determine final compensation, experience will be measured by considering prior work in jobs or activities that are related to the role at THL. These new practices are aligned with our organizational values and will help us ensure we maintain clear, consistent, transparent, and equitable HR processes.

Employees enjoy full medical coverage, optional dental and vision packages, a 401(k) retirement plan, pet care & Rx discount plans, working from home, up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave for eligible employees, paid holidays, flexible vacation time, professional development, and the supportive environment at The Humane League!

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Humane League is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with laws and in furtherance of our commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.

Accommodations

The Humane League is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. We trust individuals to self-identify and ask for the accommodations they need. An example of an accommodation might be extra time to complete a work simulation exercise, among many others. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the employment process, please complete this form to let us know the nature of your request and your contact information.

AI Policy

We value original work and thought in the application process; with that being said, please refrain from using artificial intelligence to generate your responses. By submitting this application you agree to comply with this. Violations of this policy may result in being dismissed from the hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to this policy, please see above for more information.

Please apply here