Director, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program

                                                                         

Director, Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program 

Department: Strategy and Impact 

Reports to: National Director, Programs 

Direct reports: N/A 

Location: DC 

Category: Regular Full Time 

Level, Salary Range:  

Work Hours: M-F, 35 hours/week. Occasional evening and/or weekend availablity required 

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the global organization’s presence in the United States. We engage people in the U.S. to fight injustice all around the world, while we also work to protect people’s human rights here in the U.S.  AIUSA has more than a million members and activists in all 50 states and the District of Colombia, who are part of a larger global movement of 10 million people in 150 countries. We are a non-partisan, democratically governed, grassroots membership organization, which means that our members vote on key governance and policy issues, elect our Board of Directors, and serve in various leadership roles throughout the organization. Members work together with our staff, deployed across six departments to deliver on our mission.   

Job Summary 

The Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity (GSI) Program leads the organization’s efforts within the United States to make impact on women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and sexual and reproductive rights. This Director also manages our work on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights with an emphasis on sexual violence against Indigenous women in the USA. The GSI Program Director will create and implement a program strategy with stakeholders to make human rights impact and help achieve organizational goals through advocacy, coalition building, grassroots activism, and other effective tactics. The GSI Program Director will serve as AIUSA’s expert and spokesperson on issues covered by the program; create effective grassroots actions and materials to engage the public; influence state, federal, and multilateral officials and others; and oversee an annual work plan and budget. The program’s current focus areas are: defending the right to abortion in the USA, ending sexual violence against Indigenous women in the USA, and ending gender-based violence (GBV) in US foreign policy. 

Essential Responsibilities 

• Ensure that Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) are integrated into all aspects of the GSI program 
• Sets specific goals and objectives for making human rights impact on GSI programmatic priorities and create and implement a strategy with internal and external stakeholders to achieve those goals and objectives  
• Collaborate with stakeholders in selecting and implementing effective tactics—including advocacy, coalition building, and grassroots activism, media advocacy, social media advocacy, and public education—to achieve the program’s goals and objectives  

• Influence local, state, and federal government officials to achieve the program’s goals and objectives 
• Build and maintain strategic coalition presence and leadership in key advocacy spaces  
• Build and maintain relationships across relevant communities, including with impacted people, legislators, advocates, and allied nongovernmental and policy organizations 
• Conduct evaluations, monitoring and reporting on progress toward the program’s goals and objectives  
• Ensure that the program’s human rights work also helps achieve the organizational goals and objectives in AIUSA’s Strategic Plan 

• Represent AIUSA as a public spokesperson and in the media on relevant programmatic issues 
• Recruit, train, and sustain AIUSA’s members and public in effective activism in support of the program’s goals and objectives by creating useful and compelling actions, training modules, and materials 
• Engage with AI’s sections around the world to help achieve the program’s goals and objectives, including inputting on program-related issues to the global AI movement 
• Represent AIUSA with the public, policymakers, and other external groups and individuals 
• Collaborate with and provide support to AIUSA’s country and thematic specialists, especially the member leader-driven coordination groups on LGBTQI+ rights and women’s human rights. 

• Support fundraising efforts for the program and AIUSA  
• Develop and oversee the program’s annual work plan, budget, and any staff assigned to the program 
• Other relevant duties as assigned by the National Director of the Programs  

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities 

• Demonstrated relevant strategic planning and project management experience, with at least two years of senior program officer responsibilities or equivalent 
• Demonstrated experience working and expertise on gender and sexuality, and related issues that the GSI Program covers 
• Strong relationships within communities and coalitions relevant to the GSI Program 
• Demonstrated experience as a successful advocate able to influence government officials  

• Demonstrated experience as an on-the-record spokesperson  
• Superior writing and public speaking skills  
• Demonstrated experience working in a grassroots organization with member activists and growing an engaged and effective membership activist base  
• Track record of collaborative work across organizations and coalitions; skilled at building alliances to achieve goals  
• Exceptional initiative and follow-through skills that deliver measurable results 

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well as part of a team 
• Deep, principled commitment to international human rights standards and the equal rights of all people worldwide  

Education and Experience: 

• BA/BS and at least 10 years relevant experience, or MA/MS and 8 years relevant experience and/or sufficient relevant work experience; subject matter expert in field. 
• Demonstrated success in collaborating with diverse stakeholders—including impacted people, partners, activists and volunteers—in the development and implementation of impactful strategies 

• Demonstrated success in work to advance inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility  
• Demonstrated success in using innovative, creative, and effective tactics, including grassroots tactics, to influence government decision makers  
• Extensive experience working cross-organizationally to achieve shared goals 
• Demonstrated expertise with human rights standards related to GSI Program areas 
• Strong track record working with advocacy-oriented research and analysis 

• Demonstrated commitment to human rights, inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility