Jobs

Senior Vice President for State Fiscal Policy and State Engagement Strategy

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is a high-caliber strategic policy institute that informs and shapes public policies to reduce poverty, promote equity, and build opportunity, while also supporting efforts to ensure progressive fiscal policies that can support these investments. It has a national reputation for conducting rigorous research and analysis, developing evidence-based policy ideas and strategies, shaping a broad array of policy debates at the federal and state level, influencing policy outcomes on a range of critical issues, and advancing strong implementation through a variety of strategies. It focuses its efforts on improving the lives of people with low or moderate incomes and examines how policies affect particular groups, including people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people. The Center is known for its unique capacity to blend rigorous, timely analysis with effective communications that enable policymakers and the media to make use of its work.

About Our State Work

CBPP’s work at the state level is multifaceted. A central component is the State Priorities Partnership (SPP), a network founded and coordinated by CBPP that includes independent state policy organizations in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. SPP is led by a steering committee made up of some Partnership directors as well as other key staff from Partnership groups. CBPP and the SPP groups are known for their capacity to blend rigorous, timely analysis with effective communications and strategic capacities that help them drive policy impact at the federal and state levels.

SPP groups work to build deep, long-lasting, collaborative partnerships with state-level organizations and constituencies — including organizing and community groups, people with lived experiences of racism and other forms of discrimination, poverty, housing instability, and health inequity — to ensure that those most affected have a central role in setting policy goals and strategies for achieving those goals.

CBPP’s State Fiscal Policy (SFP) division works with the SPP network to promote tax, budget, and economic and health security policies at the state level. SFP provides support to SPP groups in areas including organizational development and fundraising, technical assistance on policy issues, and communications and advocacy campaign assistance. SFP also promotes sound state fiscal policies through independent research and analysis and effective communications, informing state and national policymakers, advocates, the media, and others on state fiscal conditions and key policy issues.

SFP identifies harmful state fiscal policies that are rooted in racism and other forms of systemic oppression, long-standing racial inequities in many state tax and budget systems, and policy steps that states can take to promote equity in these systems. SFP also engages in extensive internal work to advance racial equity and an inclusive office environment and supports SPP members in their efforts to center equity and inclusion in their organizations and work.

Fundraising for the SPP network is a key part of SFP’s work as well. SFP coordinates a collaborative of national funders that support SPP organizations. SFP raises and regrants to SPP groups substantial resources for core organizational support, targeted organizational strengthening, and work in specific policy areas.

CBPP engages advocates and partners at the state level to maximize the impact of federal health, nutrition, housing, income assistance, and other policies and programs and advance state investments in these areas. Other CBPP policy teams lead this work in coordination with SFP.

The Role

CBPP seeks a Senior Vice President for State Fiscal Policy and State Engagement Strategy to lead CBPP’s roughly 40-person SFP team; operate as a strategist, in partnership with other CBPP leaders to advance progressive state policies; and serve as a senior leader for the organization.

The individual will lead efforts to: set a vision and strategic goals for SFP; ensure that SFP works collaboratively with other CBPP teams; provide strategic support to SPP members; ensure that CBPP’s research is aligned with state needs, opportunities, and challenges; support fundraising for the SPP network and an effective re-granting process; ensure that CBPP provides high quality technical assistance across policy, campaigns, communications, and organizational development; and build a team and work environment that is equitable and inclusive.

The role will support collaborations across CBPP policy divisions on state-level work and on efforts to engage state groups in federal policy debates, and provide thought leadership on strategies to advance state policy agendas.

The individual will help to set a strategic vision for SPP — including considering and refining its place in the broader progressive infrastructure — while fostering collaboration and ensuring that both CBPP and SPP are accountable to funders for working toward key policy and organizational objectives.

The individual has three direct reports:

• VP for State Fiscal Policy, who oversees the research, communications, and advocacy campaigns team;
• VP for State Partnerships, who oversees teams that assure network effectiveness, philanthropic engagement, and various strategic policy initiatives; and
• Director of Strategic Grantmaking, who oversees CBPP’s re-granting efforts.

Responsibilities:

Management and Vision

• Set SFP’s strategic vision and short- and medium-term goals in collaboration with various CBPP teams; the SPP steering committee; and leadership of SPP organizations.
• Provide leadership for SFP; oversee team management; make decisions, in consultation with the CBPP President and SFP vice presidents, about the team’s organizational structure; establish and maintain processes to ensure effective communication and collaboration across the team; and provide supervision of direct reports.
• Ensure that SFP has a robust process to support staff members’ professional growth and development.
• Lead SFP’s work to create an equitable and inclusive culture that enables all staff to thrive and contribute fully. Lead the effort to establish equity and inclusion goals for the team, including setting its policy and research agenda, and how it supports the internal-facing and policy-related equity and inclusion work of SPP and other national and state partners.
• Provide thought leadership and foster collaboration and cross-team learning on how CBPP engages in state policy work, develops strong partnerships with state and national organizations, relates to organizing efforts in states and nationally, and ensures that SFP’s work is informed by people with lived experiences of the policies and systems our work aims to impact.

Fundraising

• Work with the CBPP President, the VP for Development, the team leader for network philanthropic engagement, and the SFP Vice President for State Partnerships to identify fundraising opportunities for CBPP and the SPP network.
• Along with the SFP Vice President for State Partnerships and the VP for Development, manage relationships with SPP’s collaborative of national funders, who also fund CBPP’s work.
• Provide oversight to SFP’s re-granting process, including setting re-granting priorities and ensuring a transparent, timely, and efficient process.

Maximizing SPP’s Impact

• Maintain strong relationships with the leaders of SPP organizations. Ensure that SFP and the SPP network have strong relationships with other national partners.
• Evaluate CBPP’s and SPP’s role in the progressive state policy infrastructure, identify areas for greater effectiveness, and develop strategies for maximizing the impact of the SPP network.
• Work with the SPP steering committee to establish network goals and priorities and strategies to achieve them.
• Ensure that CBPP’s research agenda aligns with the policy challenges and opportunities in states.
• Ensure that SFP provides high-quality, timely, and relevant support to the SPP network, and that it reflects coordinated work across SFP teams.
• Serve as an occasional advisor and coach to directors of SPP organizations to address high-level strategic issues.

Leadership and Advising

• Serve as a spokesperson for CBPP and SPP at conferences and with funders, media, policymakers, and partners.
• Serve as an advisor to the CBPP President and other senior CBPP leaders on state policy issues, engagement strategies, and the intersection of federal and state policies.
• Serve on the CBPP Executive Management Committee and its Leadership Group.

Qualifications:

Effective candidates will have a broad mix of knowledge, skills, and experience including:

• Exceptional leadership and management skills; a collaborative management style that centers equity and inclusion; a successful track record of drawing on the talents of people from diverse backgrounds and experiences, and a commitment to staff mentoring and professional development.
• Ability to provide strong leadership and vision for state policy work within CBPP and the SPP network, and foster collaboration and decision-making within SPP and SFP.
• Understanding of state fiscal policy issues and how state policies affect economic, health, and racial justice.
• Understanding of how to impact policy debates at the state level, including the role of analysis, data and research; strategic communications; coalition-building, organizing, and power building; voter engagement strategies (in a 501(c)(3) context and an understanding of the (c)(4) context); and direct engagement with policymakers.
• Experience impacting state policy and an understanding of how state policy work differs based on the state context.
• Understanding of state policies and programs that dismantle structural barriers to equity and opportunity.
• Understanding of the key characteristics of a strong organization that can drive policy impact and the supports that can help organizations become stronger and more effective.
• Experience working in a leadership capacity in a network/federated environment, and a strong understanding of the dynamics of networks; exceptional relational skills to manage a network and support other stakeholders.
• Understanding of the role of SPP in the state policy change ecosystem and a commitment to maximizing the effectiveness of SPP groups.
• Keen awareness of multiple group identities and their dynamics, and the ability to bring a high level of self-awareness, empathy, and social skills to interpersonal work interactions.
• Ability to articulate a sophisticated understanding of racial equity and structural racism, its impact on policy, and the centrality of this analysis to policy change; ability to integrate that knowledge into work projects.
• Ability to develop high-level vision and strategy to affect policy change, and the ability to balance resources to meet the needs of stakeholders.
• Proven track record of successful fundraising.
• Excellent writing and public speaking skills, particularly the ability to communicate in compelling ways to a wide range of stakeholders about the importance of policy change, equity, and advocacy campaigns.
• At least 10 years’ relevant experience is desired.

CBPP is currently operating on a hybrid work schedule. We have a strong preference for candidates who will work in our Washington, D.C. office during in-office days.

This position reports to the CBPP President.

Terms of Employment: Full-time
Bargaining Unit Status: This is not a bargaining unit position.

Please upload a cover letter and resume. In your cover letter, please include a discussion of what draws you to the mission of the Center.

Compensation:

Salary for the role begins at $185,000 annually, with exact salary to be determined based on total relevant experience. Excellent benefits (including health insurance, vision and dental coverage, life and long-term disability insurance, retirement, MERP, and DCAP), and generous vacation, sick leave, and holiday schedules.

Please submit your application here.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values and welcomes diversity in the workplace and strongly encourages all qualified persons to apply regardless of race, color, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, credit information, pregnancy or parental status, family responsibilities, personal appearance, creed, military or veteran status, religion, ancestry or national origin, union activities, disability, or other status protected by applicable law.

Job posted: 2023-01-11