Senior Associate, State Initiatives

Remote

Full Time

Mid Level

Senior Associate, State Initiatives

Location: Washington, D.C. (preferred) or remote with regular D.C. travel, ability to be available East Coast hours is a must

Reports to: Executive Vice President for State Initiatives

Salary: $80-95K, plus benefits

About the Recoding America Fund

The Recoding America Fund (RAF) is a new, bipartisan $120-million philanthropic fund to strengthen America by building the federal and state governments we need to compete globally and serve citizens effectively. RAF aims to restore the core capabilities of government and move to a new operating model--the right people, doing the right work, with purpose-fit systems and test-and-learn frameworks--so it can reliably deliver on its goals. The Fund seeks to help accelerate the growth and development of an ideologically diverse field of state capacity organizations, connect them to each other, fill in the gaps, and help them set ambitious common goals to drive transformational change across all levels of government in this time of unprecedented disruption. Change is coming to public institutions, and now is the time to shape that change in the public interest. That ambitious task cannot be the work of just one party or faction.

This position focuses on the Fund’s work specifically to strengthen state governments by collaborating directly with executive branch leaders and making grants to independent organizations that work across governments to develop and deploy new services and tools.

The Opportunity: Senior Associate

RAF operates like an early-stage startup, so this will not be a typical associate role but involve high levels of ownership. RAF is hiring a Senior Associate who will participate in and support all aspects of building, shipping, and scaling real change alongside governors and grantees, including:

Researching, developing, and presenting breakthrough ideas to help governors modernize their administrations, or to identify organizations ready for catalytic funding
Crafting reports, presentations, memos, toolkits, funding applications, and other documents to move decision-makers and inspire action—such as for the general public, state partners, grantees, and internal staff
Engaging directly with grantees and state partners to shape grant proposals, define success metrics, or track real-world impact
Contributing to strategic planning and problem-solving as part of a small, nimble team

Ideal Candidate Profile

This role is for you if you:

Are a top-tier communicator—both in writing and in conversation. You can explain complex ideas simply, persuade skeptics, and adapt your message by audience.
Thrive in a fast-paced and fluid environment. At times, you will have a blank canvas to develop bold thinking. At other times, you will be called on to execute with precision under tight deadlines.
Want high degrees of ownership. You will be expected to develop high-quality materials or analysis with only moderate guidance, and at times drive work products or processes from end-to-end.
Are passionate about making government work better—not just theoretically but in practice.
Bring at least two years of work experience and a track record of delivering under pressure.

We encourage anyone who is interested in this role to apply, regardless of whether you feel you meet 100% of the qualifications. The top candidates will bring their own unique perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds from a variety of industries/sectors along with many but not necessarily all the qualifications listed above. We are building an ideologically diverse team and especially encourage right-of-center candidates to apply.

Next Steps

We’re building and need you fast. Please submit your application by December 1, 11:59pm ET. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis; we encourage early submission. Candidates not selected at any stage will be notified promptly. We are targeting decisions by early to mid-December.

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Please upload your resume (2 page maximum).*

Why are you interested in joining the RAF team? Please include what elements of the following mean to you: getting the right people focused on the right things, putting in place mission-specific systems and the tech that enables them, and establishing feedback loops between policy and implementation. (300 words)*

How will your past experiences help you succeed in the role? (250 words)*

We're especially interested in recruiting candidates to all roles at RAF, including this one, who are both ideologically and committed to and enjoy being in mixed-perspective settings. Where do you imagine you would disagree most with the existing team? (250 words)*

If you are not based in the Washington, DC area, would you be open to relocate here in the near or medium term? And, regardless of that answer, how frequently would you be able and willing to travel to DC? And if you’re in a time zone other than the East Coast, how would you adjust your schedule to work East Coast hours? (200 words)*

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