Legislative Affairs Strategist (AD)

Job Description

Job Description

Greenlining is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse workforce. Greenlining is committed to building and maintaining a diverse staff and an inclusive workplace that values equity. We welcome applications from immigrants, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ applicants, and people with lived experience in poverty.

Job Title: Legislative Affairs Strategist

Classification: Associate Director, Non-Union, Exempt 35-Hour work week

Reports to: Vice President of Policy

Grade Level: 20

The Greenlining Institute works towards a future where communities of color can build wealth, live in healthy places filled with economic opportunity, and are ready to meet the challenges posed by climate change.

We work with communities of color to:

• Understand and analyze the racist barriers to economic opportunity.

• Demand accountability from the public and private sectors to combat injustice.

• Foster consensus-building that produces long-term change and success.

• Bridge research and policy to spearhead innovative strategies at the intersections of racial, economic, and climate equity.

To achieve our vision, we focus on four strategic issue areas:

1. Economic Equity

2. Climate Equity

3. Transformative Communities

4. Leadership Academy

The Greenlining Institute is deeply committed to justice and equity not just in the work we do in communities, but also within our organization. We actively work to create a diverse, inclusive, and supportive workplace that values lived experience, community wisdom, and racial equity. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), immigrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those with lived experiences in historically marginalized communities.

Please note: you are not required to list your academic institution if you prefer not to disclose that information. To learn more about our work and impact, please visit www.greenlining.org.

The Opportunity:

The Legislative Affairs Strategist leads Greenlining’s legislative advocacy efforts in Sacramento, ensuring the organization’s values, racial equity priorities, and Policy Directors’ initiatives are reflected in California’s most pressing policy debates. This role serves as Greenlining’s on-the-ground presence in the Capitol, building relationships with legislators, committees, and coalition partners, coordinating legislative strategies across teams, and advancing bills and budget priorities that benefit communities of color. The Strategist provides strategic guidance, supports staff and fellows in developing advocacy skills, and strengthens organizational cohesion around a unified legislative agenda. This position is ideal for a politically savvy, equity-centered strategist ready to translate community-driven solutions into lasting policy change.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Directly supervises program staff, fellows and summer interns

• May support indirect supervision of external consultants and vendors

• Contributes to cross-departmental collaboration and training related to policy areas

• Recruits, interviews, hires, and trains staff in the department

• Oversees the daily workflow of the department

• Provides constructive and timely performance evaluations

• In consultation with HR handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policies & or Greenlining’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA)

Program Responsibilities:

Strategic Support & Policy Implementation

• Collaborates closely with Greenlining’s Policy Directors to refine and implement policy strategies that advance specific policy areas at the state and federal level.

• Provides thought partnership on key issue areas by offering research insights, policy recommendations, and analysis of regulatory developments.

• Manages coordination of campaigns, coalition-building, and issue-based advocacy efforts.

• Tracks progress toward team goals and monitors alignment with organizational priorities, surfacing issues or bottlenecks to the VP of Policy as needed.

• Maintains a deep expertise across Greenlining’s specific policy areas

• Directs the organization’s legislative and/or regulatory advocacy efforts by identifying policy priorities, developing strategies, measuring outcomes to ensure goal achievement

Program & Staff Leadership

• Serves as Greenlining’s in-house lobbyist, maintaining a consistent presence in Sacramento and leveraging deep relationships with legislative staff, committees, and leadership.

• Directs the organization's legislative advocacy efforts by identifying policy priorities, developing strategies, and measuring outcomes to ensure goal achievement.

• Comply with all reporting and disclosure requirements for lobbying activities.

• Supervises program managers and fellows, providing direct coaching and performance feedback

• Ensures team workflows and deliverables are moving forward in alignment with strategic direction set by the VP of Policy.

• Contributes to workplan development and updates, providing input to ensure feasibility and clarity

• Supports onboarding, mentorship, and growth opportunities for staff

• Reinforces an inclusive and equitable team culture, aligned with Greenlining’s values.

• Partners with the VP of Policy on cross-team coordination and supports integration of Academy participants as needed

• Cultivates growth in all core competency areas including Communication, Collaboration, Strategic Innovation, Technical Expertise, Adaptability, and Accountability

• Encourages professional development by promoting a growth mindset, providing stretch opportunities and coaching staff on career progression strategies

• Provides leadership in cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace culture to attract, retain, and motivate an exceptional, high performing team

• Oversees mentorship and supervision of Academy participants and provide support to team members working directly with Academy participants

Fundraising and Financial Management

• Assists in building the team’s annual budget in collaboration with the VP of Policy, Controller and Finance team

• Tracks expenses, monitors spending against budget, and flags discrepancies or overages.
  Supports grant reporting and documentation of team deliverables in partnership with Development and Finance

• Works with the VP of Policy and Development team to support funder relationships, including preparing materials, reviewing proposals, and attending funder meetings as appropriate.

• Supports tracking and fulfillment of grant deliverables and contributes to drafting reports and narratives.

• Directly contributes to the fundraising strategy or funder stewardship

Communications and Stakeholder Relations

• Works with Policy Directors to represent the Greenlining policy area teams in select public forums, stakeholder meetings, coalitions, high-profile convenings, press interviews, or funder briefings

• Maintains strong and values-aligned relationships with elected officials, staffers, regulators, and community partners to advance Greenlining’s mission.

• Identify research needs and co-develop written materials, including blogs, comment letters, and research briefs

• Supports internal messaging and communications around the team’s work in coordination with the Communications team

Additional duties may be assigned

Key Skills:

1. Strategic Implementation & Alignment2. People & Team Development3. Policy Expertise & Analytical Thinking4. Equity-Centered Leadership5. Coalition & Relationship Management6. Communication & Influence7. Adaptive Project Management8. Fund Development & Stewardship9. Organizational StewardshipQUALIFICATIONS/REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of five years in Public Policy and Legislative Advocacy.

• Bachelor’s Degree. Master’s degree or equivalent experience is preferred, but applicants are not required to disclose their educational institutions..

• Deep experience and expertise in related policy area

• Working knowledge of the local, regional and national landscape, including key stakeholders, data points and trends for the work done by Greenlining

• Ability to effectively develop and facilitate outcomes-oriented meetings, retreat activities, and/or workshops

• A consensus-builder with strong emotional intelligence to relate to, understand and lead a team

• Demonstrated ability to develop and sustain people-centric engagement strategies

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to confidently speak and represent the organization in local, regional and national forums

• This position is based out of Sacramento, CA, and will require travel to Oakland periodically for meetings and staff retreats.

SALARY: The Salary range for this full-time, exempt role is $106,695 - $127,421. The final offer is dependent on qualifications and experience. New hires can reasonably expect an offer between $106,695 - $117,058.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here represent those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

The Greenlining Institute does not discriminate based on race, color, gender (including actual or perceived gender, and gender identity), sexual orientation, age, marital status, educational institution, medical condition, religious affiliation, veteran status, national origin, citizenship status, mental or physical disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable state, federal or local law. Greenlining will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. If you need a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job, please let us know. If the reason you need an accommodation is not obvious, we may ask for documentation confirming your functional limitations.

Must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Greenlining does not provide work visa sponsorship or support (e.g., H-1B, OPT, CPT, or other employment authorization sponsorships). All candidates must be I-9 eligible at the time of hire.