Legislative Activist

### Description

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), an established nonprofit organization defending online privacy and free expression, is looking for a full-time writer and advocate to join our Activism team.

As our Legislative Activist, you will be responsible for communicating to lawmakers across the country about the importance of EFF’s principles to protect people’s right to privacy, free expression, and innovation. You have experience with the state legislative process, be it as a legislative staffer, a lobbyist, an advocate, or a journalist. You are highly organized and able to balance fast-moving legislative developments across several states. You are a tactical and strategic thinker, able to focus on both the fight in front of you and also the organization’s long-term advocacy strategy. You are a clear communicator who can explain EFF’s issues to a general audience through blog posts and other written materials or in speeches and testimony.

This position is part of a highly cross-disciplinary Activism team and will collaborate regularly with our organizing, legal, and technologist colleagues. As threats to digital civil liberties arise, you may need to quickly get up to speed on emerging policy issues and be prepared to incorporate them into our public-facing materials.

We value candidates who bring diverse experiences and perspectives, professional and otherwise, to our team and to EFF as a whole. If you can add value to EFF’s Activism team, please apply.

### What You’ll Do

The Legislative Activist, who reports to the Associate Director of Legislative Activism, is responsible for the following:

– Research, develop, and write bill opposition/support letters, fact sheets, and briefing material.
– Read and analyze draft legislation and help make recommendations for organization positions.
– Track state legislation both in California and across the country.
– Write blog posts about state legislation affecting people’s civil liberties online.
– Work collaboratively with other grassroots advocacy groups, both in California and nationwide.
– Meet with legislators and staffers on digital rights issues.

### What We’re Looking For

To be successful in this job, you’ll need:

– Excellent writing skills, including writing and editing collaboratively.
– Strong familiarity with and passion for digital civil liberties issues.
– An eagerness to learn about new issues.
– Comfort with public speaking.
– A track record of successfully managing complex projects.
– The ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization.

### What Else You Should Know

You may work from San Francisco or you may work from another U.S. location. This position will need to keep Pacific time zone hours. The compensation for this position will be between $75,000 and $102,500 depending on experience and location.

EFF is a great place to work! We offer a supportive and empowering environment, along with an excellent benefits package including housing cost assistance, student loans assistance, medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b)(7) retirement savings program with matching, paid time off, holiday benefits, paid parental leave, a dog-friendly workplace, and more. This position is a member of the Engineering and Scientists of California Local 20 bargaining unit.

### How to Apply

Please submit all application materials no later than Friday, June 28, 2024, to be considered. We want to hear about you, so cover letters are required and applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

We are very interested to learn more about your writing style. If you have past writing samples regarding state legislation, please include them in your cover letter. Demonstrating your writing style and skills is more important than where your writing has appeared, whether it is published in the Washington Post or on your personal blog or simply copy-pasted after the end of your cover letter.

### Detailed Job Description

#### Position Summary

The Legislative Activist will advocate for state laws that uphold EFF’s goals to protect people’s right to privacy, free expression, and innovation, and advocate against proposals that undercut those rights. EFF intervenes in state legislation nationwide with a particular emphasis on the California legislature. This person will also work in other areas as needed, including regulatory advocacy, national campaigns, and non-legislative work.

#### Essential Functions

– Research, develop, and write bill opposition/support letters, fact sheets, and briefing material.
– Draft one-pagers to educate legislative or regulatory staff on EFF positions.
– Meet with legislators and staffers on digital rights issues to communicate EFF’s positions, suggested amendments, and priorities.
– Prepare EFF legislative contributions and commentary, including follow-up as needed.
– Support EFF subject matter experts when they are asked to testify and work with legislative staff on timing, travel, and logistics.
– Read and analyze legislative proposals to help make recommendations for organization positions and work with subject matter specialists as needed to determine strategic responses.
– Write blog posts about state legislation affecting people’s civil liberties online to educate the public about our issues.
– Work collaboratively with other grassroots advocacy groups, both in California and nationwide.
– Communicate, develop, and implement strategy with allies, including participating in regular coalition conference calls that happen each week that are necessary to stay on top of issues and events that our allies are hosting.
– Track state legislation both in California and across the country to stay informed about specific bills EFF may need to engage in and trends in legislation.
– Work closely with contract lobbyists on state advocacy.
– Participate in hearings where you are the subject matter expert.
– Help educate EFF staff on how legislators, legislative staff, and agency officials think and react to EFF advocacy, whether via grassroots activism or other means, and to message effectively given current events, headlines, and social media.
– Understand EFF policy positions in terms of EFF core values of innovation, civil liberties, and accountability, including how they’ve evolved over time and how they can be turned into legislative or regulatory action.
– Understand how EFF policy is made and how EFF values can complicate our lobbying work, and help teams or working groups navigate these complexities within real-world legislative timeframes.
– Identify strategic opportunities for EFF to impact public conversations and advance our mission through advocacy, and develop creative advocacy responses to those opportunities.
– Follow and respond to newsworthy developments as an issue area expert.
– Publicly represent EFF positions in the media, to policymakers, to peer advocacy organizations, and through other outlets.
– Compose and publicize actions to encourage the public to contact lawmakers about priority bills.
– Other projects and tasks determined in collaboration with the manager.

### Qualities We’re Seeking (Core Competencies)

– Excellent writing skills, including writing and editing collaboratively.
– Strong familiarity with and passion for digital civil liberties issues.
– An eagerness to learn about new issues.
– Comfort with public speaking.
– A track record of successfully managing complex projects.
– The ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization.
– Demonstrates professionalism and respect toward coworkers, outside partners, members of the public, donors, and others with whom this role interacts.
– Works to positively and collaboratively resolve conflicts and overcome challenges.
– Able to understand and succinctly articulate complex and nuanced technology policy issues, including basic ability to understand various technology, legislation, and court cases around digital liberties.
– Available and responsive to colleagues, outside partners, and others over email, phone, and online chat, with the ability to respond reliably to time-sensitive requests for assistance and opportunities during agreed-upon working hours.
– Contributes to the creation of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture that encourages and celebrates differences, including race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and socio-economic circumstance.

### Required Knowledge and Education

– Experience with the state legislative process, be it as a legislative staffer, a lobbyist, an advocate, or a journalist.
– Professional familiarity with any of the following issues: surveillance, law enforcement oversight, consumer privacy, net neutrality, free expression online, journalist freedom, emerging technology policies, AI.

### Preferred Knowledge and Education

– Technical skills, including content management systems.
– Public speaking experience.
– Professional journalism or formal training in journalistic or creative writing.
– Experience organizing online activism for an advocacy-oriented nonprofit organization.

### Compensation

**Bay Area Salary Range:** $92,500 to $102,500 depending on experience
**Salary Range Outside of the Bay Area:** $75,000 to $96,750 depending on location and experience
Salaries outside of the Bay Area are regionalized using the General Schedule Locality Adjustment.

**Classification:** Union, Exempt, Full-time (40 hours/week)
**Expected hours of work:** Typically Monday – Friday with occasional weekend and after-hours work
**Reports to:** Associate Director of Legislative Activism
**Supervisory responsibilities:** No
**Location:** This position is open to remote candidates within the United States. Pacific time zone work hours are required.
**Travel:** EFF hosts two one-week all-staff gatherings in the Bay Area each year in the spring and fall, and all staff are expected to attend. There will also be opportunities to attend hearings in Sacramento or possibly other state capitals, as well as relevant professional conferences remotely or in person.

### Commitment to Diversity

As an advocacy organization, EFF is committed to being part of a diverse community. Diversity of life experiences makes a big difference in how we identify and litigate legal issues, design privacy-enhancing software, and organize our activism. To that end, we deliberately seek applicants with different perspectives, identities, and experiences to build an inclusive workplace to better inform our advocacy and defense of freedom in our digital world. EFF is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people of all races, genders, ages, abilities, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Learn more here