Position Summary:

Are you a mission-driven leader with expertise in federal government personnel management? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring a Director of Government Workforce Reform to join our team.

Democracy Works 250 is a new initiative from Democracy Forward’s Civil Service Strong that is building the personnel systems and structures our democracy needs for the next 250 years, and we’re looking for a bold, strategic, and future-focused Director of Government Workforce Reform to help lead the critical workforce policy aspect of that work.

This is not a policy role for tinkering at the edges. It’s an opportunity to lead the most ambitious redesign of federal workforce policy in a generation—one that meets the scale of the moment and shapes how federal government institutions function for decades to come.

As Director of Government Workforce Reform, you will drive a transformational process to reimagine how government recruits, supports, and empowers the people who make it work. You will lead a national reform coalition and run high-impact working groups, and translate insights from public servants and cross-sector experts into a future-ready, field-informed reform options library.

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter.

The Director of Government Workforce Reform will report to the Director of Democracy Works 250 and work closely with staff and fellows on the Civil Service Strong team.

Our North Star:

Democracy Works 250 is working to deliver a coalition-backed options library for how government hires, manages, and empowers people in a modern democracy. This options library will serve as a roadmap for workforce transformation—defining the systems, protections, and incentives needed to build a federal workforce that is effective, fair, and prepared for what’s ahead.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

Architect Transformational Policy Reform:

• Lead the development of the Federal Capacity Solutions Lab—a comprehensive set of policy, operational, and structural reforms to modernize how the U.S. government manages its people.
• Build out bold, concrete proposals across key domains—hiring, pay, performance, flexibility, classification, talent mobility, AI integration, and more.
• Ensure all outputs are visionary but implementable—grounded in law, informed by federal experience, and ready for adoption.

Convene and Drive a National Reform Coalition:

• Serve as lead strategist and convener of a national table of civil service experts, labor leaders, civic organizations, technologists, and policy innovators.
• Facilitate shared alignment around key reform priorities, manage regular convenings, and turn consensus into coordinated action.
• Build and steward relationships with ecosystem partners to amplify and scale impact.

Lead a High-Impact Working Groups and Policy Tracks:

• Oversee policy tracks tackling the most urgent and structural challenges in the federal workforce.
• Supervise fellows leading policy track working groups across priority areas (e.g., hiring, performance, surge capacity).
• Support organizational leadership in cultivating a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and excellence, including through providing real-time support and skills-development for your team.
• Integrate outputs into a dynamic and evolving policy architecture that builds toward the options library.

Bridge Strategy Across Projects:

• Align the policy track with insights and infrastructure from the other projects in Democracy Works 250: federal oral history project, talent program, and agency redesigning efforts.
• Collaborate with legal, research, and communications partners to test, refine, and package reform outputs.
• Contribute to and collaborate across other DW250 projects.

Who You Are:

Strategic & Visionary:

• You are able to translate insight into systems change, and to design the levers that move from principle to policy to implementation.

Experienced & Impact-Oriented:

• You’ve worked on federal workforce systems, government modernization, or structural policy change—and know what it takes to move from white paper to real-world change.

Coalition-Minded:

• You’ve built coalitions, convened diverse stakeholders, and moved large, complex tables toward alignment and action.

Committed to People-Centered Government:

• You believe that government must serve all—and that transforming how it works starts with how it’s staffed, supported, and led.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• 10+ years of professional experience in  workforce policy, HR systems, reform design, or cross-sector coalition work.
• Deep working knowledge of federal personnel systems (OPM, Title 5, SES, hiring/classification, etc.).
• Demonstrated leadership in large-scale policy initiatives, reform campaigns, or systems design.
• Exceptional writing, synthesis, and facilitation skills.
• Comfort working across legal, narrative, operational, and movement-building dimensions.
• Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role will require occasional travel for team retreats, conferences, and partner convenings.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

 The salary range for this position is $150,000- $170,000 commensurate with experience plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience. 

Position Summary:

Are you a future-focused leader eager to reimagine the talent structures of the federal government? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring a Director of the Future of Government Talent Program to join our team.

The next era of effective government depends on the teams behind it—how they’re structured, how they work, and who’s on them.

Democracy Forward is launching a bold, multi-year initiative to reinvent how the federal government organizes and deploys its talent—and we’re seeking a visionary and operationally grounded Director of the Future of Government Talent Program to lead this work.

This is a chance to lead a systems transformation effort that will design the teams, skills, and staffing models our federal government needs to deliver—now and in the decades ahead. By building modern talent and team structures across government functions, this initiative will help ensure the government is ready with the people and capacity to deliver results when it is ready to build and hire. 

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter.

The Director of the Future of Government Talent Program will report to the Director of Democracy Works 250 and work closely with staff and fellows on the Civil Service Strong team.

Our North Star:

Democracy Works 250 is designing the teams—and finding the people—that will power a modern federal government.

This initiative will create the talent models and actually find the people needed to equip government with agile and interdisciplinary teams that can deliver on the policies and programs Americans expect. By transforming how government organizes its people, we aim to transform how government shows up for the people it serves.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

Design Interdisciplinary, Future-Ready Government Teams:

• Lead a team of fellows to redesign process across key federal functions (e.g. HR, procurement, regulation, customer experience, technology, AI, public engagement).
• Build and manage a small internal team of HR and technical experts supporting cross-functional design and research.
• Support organizational leadership in cultivating a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and excellence, including through providing real-time support and skills-development for your team.
• Convene and collaborate with external domain experts (AI, regulatory, HR, tech, etc.) to co-design staffing models that reflect how modern delivery actually works.
• Ensure new team models are agile, tech-enabled, interdisciplinary, and built to solve real problems, not replicate outdated org charts.

Build a National Strategy to Source and Prepare Talent:

• Develop and implement a strategy to identify and recruit mission-ready talent from federal alumni and state/local leaders to private-sector innovators and community-rooted practitioners.
• Define the skills, values, and lived experience needed for 21st-century public service and shape the strategies that bring those people in.

Oversee Development of a Civic Talent Platform & Training Curriculum:

• Lead the development or procurement of a digital platform to match individuals with redesigned teams and government missions.
• Lead partnership development with organizations to provide training on key, cross-cutting skills for future talent.

Co-Design with Communities and Institutions:

• Build and manage partnerships with academic institutions, public interest orgs, workforce programs, and civic tech networks.
• Lead co-design sessions with partners across the ecosystem—bringing in the lived expertise of those who know what functional teams must look like (e.g., regulators, procurement specialists, technologists).

Bridge Strategy Across Projects:

• Align the talent initiative with the other projects in Democracy Works 250: federal oral history project, personnel policy, and agency redesigning efforts.
• Collaborate with legal, research, and communications partners to test, refine, and package talent transformation and recruitment efforts.
• Contribute to and collaborate across other DW250 projects.

Who You Are:

A Builder with Bold Imagination:

• You design what doesn’t yet exist and know how to lead a team and partnerships to get there.

Fluent in Talent—from Government and Beyond:

• You understand the complexity of public sector hiring and the dynamism of modern private-sector team structures and you can translate across both worlds.

A Strategic Recruiter and Workforce Planner:

• You know how to define the teams a mission requires, find the people to staff them, and remove the barriers that keep good people out of government.

Collaborative and Equity-Driven:

• You bring humility, inclusion, and shared ownership to every partnership. You believe better government starts with better people—and better systems to support them.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• 10+ years of experience in workforce development, organizational design, talent strategy, or public sector innovation.
• Experience managing small, high-capacity teams in cross-functional and collaborative environments.
• Deep understanding of both federal hiring systems and modern, mission-aligned talent models.
• Demonstrated ability to build distributed strategies and work across technical, policy, and community-based teams.
• Excellent project management, facilitation, and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role will require occasional travel for team retreats, conferences, and partner convenings.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

The salary range for this position is $150,000 - $170,000 plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Position Summary:

Are you a highly organized and detail-oriented professional with an interest in nonprofit development? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is looking for a Development Associate to join our team. 

This position will be responsible for providing critical administrative and data management support for our Development team such as grants tracking, document management and preparation, record retention, and calendar management to ensure smooth operations of the development portfolio. The Development Associate will need to be a systems-thinker who can execute our development operations while also having an eye for process improvement.

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) for DC-based employees. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1–2 times per quarter.

The Development Associate will report to the Senior Director of Development and will work closely with all members of the Development team staff across the organization.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

Data Management:

• Manage grants data flow and documentation processes through Google Drive, accounting spreadsheets, and Customer Relations Software.
• Build and maintain file structures to retain development data.
• Manage compliance and record retention practices.
• Develop and track executive memos and deliverables.
• Assist the Director of Partnerships in developing reporting materials, tracking and recording financial transactions, and planning monthly and quarterly deliverables.

Development Support:

• Support the drafting of internal executive reporting products.
• Support the tracking of multiple grant obligations and reporting products.
• Manage a grantmaking calendar.
• Prepare reports and proposals through maintaining a document library.
• Manage version controls on drafted reports and proposals. 
• Other tasks at the direction of the Senior Director of Development.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

Required:

• 1-3 years of relevant experience.
• Strong organizational, communication, and time-management skills.
• Ability to meet strict deadlines across multiple simultaneous projects.
• Thorough and organized administrator.
• Detail oriented and independently motivated.
• Systems-thinker who can build on and improve our practices and systems for documentation, retention, department coordination, and deliverable execution.
• Meticulous thinker who can improve upon our data management and information system transition horizons.
• Willingness to learn new technical systems and capable of implementing best practices.
• High degree of discretion, sensitivity, and respect for confidentiality.
• Mission-focused and capable of flexing time/energy to meet the demands of a high pace and high energy work environment.
• High degree of ownership and accountability in managing a complex information ecosystem.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and document management tools (e.g., Adobe Acrobat, SharePoint).
• Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Preferred:

• Experience working in nonprofit development, fundraising, or donor relations
• Familiarity with grant tracking systems and donor management software

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role may require occasional travel for team retreats, conferences, or organizational meetings.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

The salary for this position is $72,100 plus excellent benefits. This role is overtime eligible. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Position Summary:

Are you a strategic and mission-driven attorney with experience in federal oversight litigation? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring an Oversight Counsel to join our team. The Oversight Counsel plays a key role in advancing Democracy Forward’s mission by driving legal and oversight strategies to protect against executive branch attacks on democratic institutions, threats to civil rights and liberties, abuses of power, and efforts to erode government transparency. The  Oversight Counsel will play a lead role in designing strategy for Democracy Forward’s open records requests and litigation, and will independently manage a caseload related to these requests and handle all aspects of federal open records litigation, including research, complaint and brief writing, discovery, negotiation, and oral argument. 

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter.

The  Oversight Counsel will report to the Director of Oversight, with active litigation matters managed by the Senior Oversight Counsel and the Legal Directors, or their delegates.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

• Litigate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in federal and state court and to a limited extent, other transparency-focused litigation, on behalf of Democracy Forward and other clients, with the highest standards of legal skills, and independently manage a caseload. This includes:
• Serve as lead counsel across an active, diverse caseload of federal open records litigation in courtrooms across the country, helping to propose cases, setting litigation strategy, and handling day-to-day case management.
• Research, draft, and edit court filings, including complaints, motions, and briefs at the trial and appellate levels, including, as needed, amicus briefs.
• Conduct discovery where appropriate, including written discovery and depositions, as well as participate in evidentiary hearings.
• Conduct oral arguments in federal and state courts at the trial or appellate level.
• Draft, as needed, other advocacy materials, e.g., demand letters, administrative complaints, and other tools for demanding accountability. 
• Proactively, creatively, and independently propose and develop ideas or candidates for future public records cases, including novel or creative litigation and non-litigation strategies for accountability and transparency. 
• Develop and draft (or consult on) FOIA requests designed to advance DF’s litigation strategy (independent of its FOIA litigation). Work closely with litigation case teams to accomplish this.
• Work with DF’s Oversight team to research and develop investigation strategies and opportunities consistent with relevant federal and state open records laws. Review investigative plans and public records request drafts and advise on FOIA and state open records laws as well as best practices for evidentiary development and reasonable request drafting.
• Negotiate with the federal executive branch and state or local open records officials in connection with a high volume of pending open records requests. Maintain active communication and follow up with FOIA or open records officers in government agencies as DF’s point of contact for assigned active open records requests, or manage such correspondence handled by other team members.
• Partner with DF’s communications and research teams to develop messaging materials, blog posts, or other non-legal advocacy materials, as needed.
• Represent Democracy Forward in meetings with partners, coalitions, presentations, training, and meetings with congressional staff, consistent with Democracy Forward’s 501(c)(3) status. 

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• J.D. from an accredited law school.
• Active membership in good standing in the bar of the District of Columbia, or membership in good standing in another state bar with the ability to become admitted in D.C. 
• At least 5-8 years relevant litigation experience
• Demonstrated excellence in performing legal research and drafting legal documents (including court filings such as complaints, dispositive motions, and appeals, and/or regulatory filings such as comments and petitions for rulemaking), in a professional, timely, and self-directed manner. Excellent writing ability is a plus. 
• Deep familiarity with FOIA, Federal Advisory Committee Act, Presidential Records Act, and/or federal ethics laws.
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest work.
• Demonstrated ability to think creatively and craft legal strategies to address difficult and complex social problems. 
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships with legal, academic, government and nonprofit networks, build coalitions, and develop strong client and stakeholder relationships. 
• Demonstrated excellence in performing and supervising legal research and drafting legal documents in a professional, timely, and self-directed manner. 
• Extraordinarily high level of attention to detail and follow through.
• High degree of confidentiality and discretion, professionalism, integrity, diplomacy, and ethics.
• Ability to be a thought leader. 
• Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role may require occasional travel for team retreats, conferences, or organizational meetings.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

The salary range for this position is $155,000 – $165,000 plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience. 

Position Summary:

Are you a state policy and legislative expert with strong communication and advocacy skills? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring an AssociateDirector, State Legislative Affairs to provide strategic leadership to advance pro-democracy and progressive policies and ideals though state government affairs efforts. The Associate Director is accountable for strengthening and scaling state advocacy infrastructure by providing strategic leadership, policy expertise, and hands-on technical support. The role serves as the staff expert and primary liaison between Democracy Forward and elected officials and partners in state executive and legislative branch positions providing policy expertise and technical assistance.

This position requires the ability to operate with a high degree of professionalism and autonomy, independently executing priorities, exercising judgment, building and maintaining strong relationships, analyzing bills and regulations, and collaborating effectively with staff and stakeholders across diverse political environments.

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter. This role also requires travel up to 50% of the time to support regional business needs, with most trips lasting 1-2 nights.

The Associate Director, State Legislative Affairs will report to the Policy Director, and will collaborate closely with the Policy and Public Affairs team, as well as the entire organization.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

• Lead the cultivation and maintenance of strategic relationships with state policymakers.
• Serve as the senior staff lead and primary point of contact for state policymakers.
• Provide strategic direction and leadership to state policymakers to align and advance Democracy Forward Foundation’s advocacy priorities.
• Monitor and analyze state legislative and regulatory activity; independently assess political landscapes and provide proactive, strategic guidance to state leaders.
• Lead the drafting and development of bills, regulations, testimony, fact sheets, and advocacy materials.
• Represent Democracy Forward as a leader at legislative hearings, stakeholder meetings, and regulatory proceedings, including providing expert testimony as needed.
• Collaborate with Democracy Forward Foundation’s Office of Regulatory Affairs and Strategic Initiatives to strategically elevate and amplify state advocacy initiatives and policy wins/losses.
• Deliver high-level briefings and presentations to Democracy Forward Foundation leadership, staff, and external partners on state government affairs issues.
• Travel to represent Democracy Forward Foundation at state-level events, meetings, and legislative days.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• Bachelor’s degree required. 
• J.D. preferred.
• 7-10+ years of experience in state government relations, public policy, or related field.
• Experience designing and executing advocacy strategies.
• Direct state advocacy or legislative experience required.
• Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously, manage complex portfolios, and deliver results with minimal oversight in a fast-paced advocacy environment.
• Proven collaborative, solution-oriented leadership approach when working with staff and external stakeholders.
• Experience leading and managing staff, consultants, and outside contractors/vendors with accountability for outcomes.
• Strong interpersonal, public speaking, and relationship-building skills.
• Established experience and strong professional connections with state legislatures and/or advocacy communities preferred.
• In-depth understanding of state legislative and regulatory processes.
• Excellent organizational and time-management abilities.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role requires travel up to 50% of the time to support regional business needs, with most trips lasting 1-2 nights. Willingness to accommodate non-standard hours will be needed.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

The salary range for this position is $110,000 - $145,000 plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Position Summary:

Are you a dynamic and motivated professional with experience managing paralegals and legal assistants in a fast-paced environment? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is looking for a Paralegal Manager to join our team.

We are seeking a Paralegal Manager who will pay an instrumental role in helping our Legal Team operate effectively and efficiently. This position will be responsible for the management, development, and support of the senior paralegals, paralegals, and legal assistants. This includes ensuring that legal filings in federal and state courts are error-free and timely, assigning and monitoring the progress of the legal support team’s work, identifying skill gaps and providing training, onboarding staff, regularly receiving and then sharing feedback from litigators and the legal support team, and providing back up paralegal support to litigation when necessary.

This position is full time and may require evening and weekend work when there are time-sensitive filings. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role.

The Paralegal Manager will report to the Managing Attorney and work closely with the Deputy Managing Attorneys, the senior paralegals, the paralegals, the legal assistants, and the litigators.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

Litigation:

• Partner with the legal support team and litigators to ensure that legal filings are excellent, error-free, timely, and meet the required standards for filing in federal and state courts.
• Partner with the legal support team to ensure that the litigators receive the support they require for their litigation.
• Collaborate with the managing attorney team to support litigation.

Management and Leadership of the Legal Support Team:

• Supervise a team of 7-12 senior paralegals and paralegals and 6-8 legal assistants.
• Manage, support, and develop the legal support team, including assigning work and serving as the primary point of contact for the legal support team on workflow.
• Conduct regular check-ins with the legal support team to ensure appropriate resource allocation and excellent work product and to solicit and provide feedback and professional development support.
• Identify skill gaps and provide training, development, feedback, and opportunities for growth for the legal support team, in collaboration with litigators and the managing attorney team.
• Develop relationships with the legal support team and the entire Legal Team to foster trust and confidence in the function and role of manager.
• Analyze and suggest improvements so that the legal support team provides excellent support to litigators and that legal support team members are integrated into litigation.
• Collaborate across teams at Democracy Forward.
• Support organizational leadership in cultivating a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and excellence, including through providing real-time support and skills-development for your team.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent skills or experience in a legal, government, or nonprofit setting. The role may also be appropriate for someone with a JD.
• 15 or more years of experience in the legal and legal support field 
• 5 or more years of people management experience. 
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to develop relationships of trust and confidence with colleagues across teams and departments.
• Demonstrated ability to creatively solve problems and improve and simplify systems.
• Significant experience managing paralegals and/or legal support professionals, including reviewing work, identifying areas of improvement, and providing feedback, support, and professional development opportunities.
• Ability to prioritize and work well under tight deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated ability to perform and train individuals on tasks required for filing in federal and state court, including cite checking, creating tables of contents and tables of authorities, organizing and preparing exhibits, filing complaints and ensuring effective service, admitting attorneys, and working in Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe Acrobat, PACER, ECF, and Westlaw.
• Experience hiring, onboarding, and supporting a growing team.
• Ability to work independently, within a team, across teams, and to be flexible in the face of changing demands.
• Well-developed collaborative and interpersonal skills including demonstrated self-awareness, commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role may require occasional travel for litigation or conferences.
• This role may require working evenings and weekends when there are time-sensitive filings.

The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $155,000 commensurate with experience plus excellent benefits. Compensation is commensurate with experience.

Position Summary:

Democracy Forward Foundation ("Democracy Forward") is hiring a Senior Legal Advisor to join our Legal team.

Senior Legal Advisors will develop their own matters, including being willing to perform at times, all aspects of DF's legal and regulatory work (matter development, outreach, drafting, strategy, and participation in all stages of litigation). They will also spend a substantial portion of their time supporting and/or supervising the development of matters by other members of the legal team. Senior Legal Advisors will utilize their expertise to assist in sophisticated matter development, legal work, and participation in the progressive legal sphere.

The Senior Legal Advisor will report to our Legal Directors and will work closely with the entire Legal team. This role will be based in the Washington, DC area and the individual should be available to work in Democracy Forward Foundation's Washington, DC offices multiple days a week.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

Litigation

• Draw on extensive litigation and legal experience, legal networks, and strategic judgment to develop and support the execution of legal strategies to challenge abuses of power by government officials at the state, local, and federal level.
• Draw on extensive litigation and legal experience, legal networks, and strategic judgment to develop and support the execution of legal strategies to empower the state, local, and federal government to address the needs of people and communities, including regulatory strategies and legal support strategies.
• Support organizational leadership in cultivating a culture of excellence, including through (as needed) supervising litigation, regulatory work, legal advocacy, and providing real-time support and skills-development for attorneys.
• Act as a thought-partner and provide needed support to the development of progressive jurisprudence strategies.
• Facilitate creative case development, brainstorming, and other strategic advocacy strategies through providing support, enthusiasm, research, and real-time feedback and judgment.
• Leverage deep relationships within the legal community to support the work of Democracy Forward and Democracy Forward's continued organizational growth and sphere of influence, including creating opportunities for Democracy Forward staff to build deeper professional relationships. 
• Partner with teams throughout the organization in the development of strategic narratives and other written pieces to help educate the philanthropic community, legal community, and progressive communities on pressing issues.

Qualifications:

We recognize that strong candidates may not meet 100% of the qualifications listed. If you believe you can contribute meaningfully to our team, we encourage you to apply.

• JD Required.
• 20+ years active legal experience.
• Deep legal networks in your area of expertise.
• Experience mentoring and supporting junior staff members.

Work Environment & Physical Demands:

• This role may require occasional travel for team retreats, conferences, or organizational meetings.
• This role may involve sitting for extended periods and working on a computer. Reasonable accommodations will be provided as needed.

The salary for this position is $245,000 plus excellent benefits.