What You’ll Do
The Director, Democratic Institutions will build the Roosevelt Institute’s portfolio of work on strengthening and rebuilding our democratic institutions. The Director will develop a portfolio on key governing institutions and their relationship to a functioning democracy and democratic economy.
This position will combine day-to-day management, long-range strategy development, and research and writing. The Director’s time will be divided roughly as follows: 40 percent personal research and writing; 30 percent managing the research and writing of fellows and contract authors; 20 percent promoting the work of the program; and 10 percent administrative and management tasks—for example, supporting Roosevelt’s development team. Included in the time devoted to research and writing and fellows’ research and writing may involve helping research associates and program managers support the program’s work.
Reporting to the Vice President, Think Tank, the Director will partner with team members and leaders across the organization to develop, refine, and execute program strategy. The Director will also serve as Roosevelt’s primary resident expert on democratic institutions representing Roosevelt in the media, among advocacy groups, with funders, and with elected officials.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Research and Writing:
Conduct research and author briefs, reports, and other products, such as blog posts, articles, and op-eds.
Engage fellows, external partners, and outside experts in the development of research agendas and products.
Program Strategy and Leadership:
Develop new lines of research and policy proposals, with a special focus on how democratic institutions have been weakened over the neoliberal era and new ideas for how to strengthen them.
Lead a team, potentially including both full-time staff, part-time fellows, and contract experts, aligning them around goals, overseeing research product development, and ensuring that the whole of the program’s work and products is greater than the sum of its parts.
Partner with the Think Tank Director to guide research by junior staff in support of program goals.
Partner with government relations and communications teams to develop overall programmatic goals and materials and promote work in service of those goals.
Where appropriate, represent the organization’s work among press, government officials, funders, and allied organizations.
Manage and review the research and writing of fellows, contractors, and staff to ensure quality and rigor.
Partner with development team to articulate clear goals, strategies, and deliverables for proposals to support program work, and to track and report out on progress.
Management: