The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is seeking nominations and applications for the position of Executive Director. Northwest Justice Project is Washington’s largest publicly funded legal aid program. Each year NJP provides critical civil legal assistance and representation to thousands of low-income people in cases affecting basic human needs such as family safety and security, housing preservation, protection of income, access to health care, education, and other basic needs.

With a staff of 340 and with 21 offices in Washington State, NJP pursues its mission through legal counsel and representation, community partnerships, and education to empower clients and combat injustice in all its forms. After 17+ years of consistent executive leadership and a recent period of significant organizational growth, NJP is poised for a new chapter of impact. The incoming Executive Director will have the opportunity to strategically review and guide the organization through structural, team, and programmatic advancements in alignment with NJP’s values.

Reporting to the Board of Directors and working closely with the Deputy Director and Senior Leadership Team, the Executive Director will collaboratively lead all aspects of both internal and external strategy to advance NJP’s mission and impact and will ensure NJP’s commitment to antiracism and equity both internally and in program work. The ideal candidate will be a strategic leader with deep knowledge of the roles that advocacy, social justice, and legal aid can and should play at community, state, and nationwide levels. The new Executive Director will be a seasoned manager with 10+ years of progressive leadership experience managing complex organizational processes and design, community and funder relations, and strong legal teams. The ideal candidate will hold a JD (preferably able to practice law in Washington State) and will bring strategic vision, seasoned management skill, relevant functional expertise and lived experience, and a track record of success in the leadership of values-based, legal services teams.

Success in this role will require an agile, innovative, and energetic leader with strong shared leadership values, a collaborative leadership style, and a deep equity fluency who is an effective communicator and champion for the work of NJP both internally and externally.

The anticipated base salary range for the role is $220,000 – 275,000. In addition, NJP provides a competitive benefits package.

A TIME OF CHANGE

NJP has significant and exciting structural and strategic opportunities on the immediate horizon. LSC changes, program successes, and new state-funded opportunities to better serve undocumented communities are necessitating the development of an LLC subsidiary to subsume a large portion of NJP programming and complement the operations of the 501c3 in new ways. The new ED will partner with the board, senior leadership, and external stakeholders to lead all aspects of the introduction of this new subsidiary including the structural rollout, staffing, workflow, team norms, and leadership configuration. This structural shift at NJP further affords new leadership the opportunity to clarify and reimagine strategic development and growth goals to clarify mission and values and to meet current and evolving needs of Washington’s underserved communities.

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FACING THE NEXT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The next Executive Director will work closely with the board, staff, community partners, and funding partners to guide vision, leadership, and values-centered management of NJP to ensure equal access to justice in the legal system for all in Washington State. The ED will have the support of a strong senior leadership and management team and will have the opportunity to further advance shared leadership values, role clarity, and accountability structures throughout the organization. The new ED will work in close coordination with the Deputy Director and the Board of Directors to engage immediately in the following opportunities for sustained impact:

Providing Leadership and Vision During a Time of Change and Opportunity

• The next Executive Director will join NJP at a time of both great success in its programs and immediate opportunity to evolve organizational structures and ways of working. Having grown to meet expanding community needs, NJP is poised for continued programmatic and structural development including the launch of the aforementioned new LLC subsidiary to house portfolios of work not possible in the existing infrastructure. The ED will provide leadership, vision, and strategy to that work ensuring the board, staff, and external stakeholders are aligned in a vision for the future.
• The ED will report to and support the strategic functioning of a high-level board of directors at NJP ensuring their continued successful next-level vision, direction, and partnerships for the organization as well as empowering the board as a resource for the organization’s healthy structural and team development.
• The Executive Director will provide strong public leadership and trusted partnership to the legal aid community of Washington State and will nurture relationships and collaboration externally to ensure NJP continues to be a leading voice for low-income and underrepresented communities in Washington State and beyond and that the organization’s work is strategically and programmatically aligned with partner organizations to increase impact.
• The new ED will inspire and renew commitments to NJP’s values and culture and will build staff and board alignment and competencies in service to anti-racism and racial equity work both within the organization at all levels and in its services and practices with client communities and community partners.

Operationalizing Strategy and Values Through Effective Team Management, Structures, and Practices

• The new ED will have the chance to launch NJP’s next-level strategic planning process to collaboratively set goals for NJP and build alignment and accountability across program, structure, and mission at all levels of the organization. The new ED will work in close partnership with existing leaders at NJP to evaluate program, workflow, staffing, and metrics of success and will bring shared leadership skills and equity fluency to operationalize healthy management at all levels of the organization.
• With over three hundred employees distributed across Washington State and including remote presence in additional states, NJP will need the new ED to provide leadership and strong practices in support of healthy internal communication and community-building in support of a thriving, transparent, mission-driven culture that celebrates the successes of the organization and its team.
• The new ED will support a healthy unionized workplace environment and will have opportunities to work collaboratively with NJP union representatives to periodically review and advance improvements to workplace culture and employment proposition.
• The new ED will lead and make key decisions about evolving infrastructure and support internally, including the introduction of the new LLC, and the recruitment of additional senior leadership team members, i.e., Director of Communications, to support next generation programs and staff.
• The new ED will support a culture of role clarity and accountability at all levels of the organization and especially among leadership to ensure policies, practices, and norms are consistently and equitably upheld throughout the organization.

Embody, Invigorate, and Inspire a Culture of Belonging and a Commitment to Equity

• The new ED will embed equity values into organizational structures, programs, practices, and policies that support a culture of belonging for the team and center communities served by NJP.
• The ED will actively support and guide leadership for NJP’s Race Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) and will identify new opportunities for values-based team culture building.
• In this leadership transition and next level strategic planning work, the new ED has an opportunity to reinvigorate and affirm NJP’s mission and values with an explicit commitment to advance anti-racism and equity both internally and externally.

Nurturing External Partnerships and Funding Streams

• The ED will work collaboratively with the Board of Directors and senior leadership team to effectively steward relationships both in-state and nationally in support of healthy program alignment and funding streams. This will include providing foresight, financial skill, and strategic leadership to NJP relative to the flow of funds at the federal and state levels in a dynamic political climate and planning to ensure NJP’s long term stability and success.
• The new ED will either bring existing or quickly develop strong relationships with leadership across the Washington legal aid community and will be an effective and trusted partner in working together to serve communities in need.
• While NJP is heavily state and federally funded, there are opportunities for the new ED to continue to evolve a culture of fundraising and friend-raising for NJP in partnership with the senior team in development and the board.

QUALIFICATIONS OF THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

While no one candidate will embody all the qualifications enumerated below, the ideal candidate will possess many of the following professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:

• Advocate and legal strategist with both national and state-level understanding of NJP’s opportunities for serving communities in need. The Executive Director will carry a deep understanding of the legal needs and systemic barriers NJP clients face and will proudly bring demonstrated lived and professional experiences to the work of advocating for the rights of people in poverty. While not required, it is preferred that NJP’s next Executive Director be able to practice law currently or in short order through reciprocity agreements in the State of Washington. The successful candidate will have a track record of success leading legal teams and program development in service to community needs and an understanding for how shifts in federal and state level policy impacts strategy. Experience in healthy unionized workplace environments is strongly preferred.
• Strong communicator who leads with transparency and affirmation. The Executive Director will demonstrate the ability to lead vision and strategic planning processes from concept, to implementation, to reality. They will be able to think about the work in the context of changing environments and trends and exhibit the ability to shape and build buy-in to the organization’s mission and values and turn them into actionable goals and priorities. They will consistently communicate organizational developments in a way that is clear, direct, and with open invitations for dialogue. They will actively seek feedback and approach dissonance with curiosity.
• Seasoned and value-based manager and operations leader. The Executive Director will have successful experience in budgetary management and operational design to support programmatic excellence, healthy finance, values and people-centered HR, successful recruitment and retention of strong and diverse teams, and equity-centered policy and practices throughout. They will have clear and relevant examples of translating vision into immediate and long-term action plans for their teams and demonstrated successes advancing values and anti-racist practices in organizational contexts.
• Inspirational leader and culture builder. The Executive Director will have experience leading an organization through growth and transformation. They will have demonstrated skills in setting and clearly communicating priorities, navigating change management, and proposing new ways of achieving desired outcomes with inclusive approaches to planning, problem solving, and decision making that requires a commitment to transparency, authenticity, and values-discipline in all aspects of management. The Executive Director will also have highly developed facilitation, coaching, and engagement skills; comfort with managing diverse group dynamics; and decision making that leads to mutually desired outcomes.
• Effective fundraiser and trusted steward of resources and relationships. The Executive Director will have the capacity to inspire and cultivate new and existing funders and build governmental and partner relationships. They will demonstrate the ability to engage in healthy, authentic dialogue around complex issues both internally and externally and will serve as a spokesperson for the organization at high-level public functions and across media platforms.

Additional skills and attributes important to the Executive Director’s success include:

Professional Experience

• Demonstrated executive management skill with at least 10 years progressive leadership experience in similar or relevant legal aid and/or social justice organizations.
• Progressive thinker who is pro-labor; experience leading a collective bargaining process and unions preferred.
• Experience working effectively with a board of directors.
• Proven fiscal management and operational skills including the ability to oversee the recruitment, retention, management, and development of highly skilled and values-based teams representative of the communities they serve.
• Demonstrated experience operationalizing organizational values with particular attention to operationalizing equity and equity fluent leadership.

Core Skills and Personal Attributes

• Excellent communicator, written and verbal.
• Independent and strategic thinker.
• High emotional intelligence and equity fluency.
• Firmly held beliefs that elevating the lived experience of others is critical to the success of an organization.
• The flexibility, adaptability, and resilience necessary to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity, while seeking continuous learning and improvement.
• Commitment to reimagining inequitable systems and practices in alignment with the Northwest Justice Project’s values and commitment to antiracist work.
• Motivator who supports balancing difficult work with self-care.

Education and Experience

• JD
• Ability to practice law in Washington strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated application of cultural competency required.
• Multilingual proficiency appreciated.

The anticipated base salary range for the role is $220,000 – 275,000. In addition, NJP provides a competitive benefits package.

TO APPLY

More information about the Northwest Justice Project may be found at: nwjustice.org

This search is being led by Katherine Jacobs and Linda Chavers of NPAG. Due to the pace of this search, candidates are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Candidates may submit their cover letter, outlining their interest and qualifications, along with their resume via NPAG’s website.

The Northwest Justice Project is an equal opportunity employer and proudly values diversity. Candidates of all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.