Reports to: Director of Campaigns and Partnerships

About us: 

As the JVP family of organizations, we are growing, developing and mobilizing a powerful grassroots, multiracial base of Jews toward a future of Judaism beyond Zionism, Palestinian freedom, and the end of Israeli apartheid and occupation.

About you:

You are a thoughtful and strategic organizer who is passionate about the role of university and college campuses and student organizing in the movement for Palestinian freedom. You are comfortable conversing with many different kinds of people: university administrators, journalists, first-year college students, and movement partners. You are deeply knowledgeable about the political landscape on college campuses, and see a specific and strategic role for JVP and a growing movement of anti-Zionist Jews within that landscape. You are also able to adapt and respond to the changing landscape and political events.

 You can develop analysis and vision for Palestine organizing in higher education, can lead teams in building programming to meet organizational and movement goals, and are able to identify & seize openings for wins for the movement. Fundamentally oriented to building people power, you bring a presence that supports others to find possibility, connection, and joy in the work. 

About the role:

The Senior Manager of Campus Organizing is ultimately responsible for setting and implementing JVP’s strategy in higher education. This means identifying the opportunities and navigating the terrain of US universities and colleges in ways that advance JVP’s broader theory of change.  

Duties include: 

• Strategy & Campaign Development: Setting actionable strategies on campus that are in line with JVP’s broader priorities & theory of change to advance the movement for Palestinian freedom from our position as an anti-Zionist Jewish organization.

  • Developing and leading campus-based campaigns, campus components of broader JVP campaigns, and/or JVP’s role in movement campaigns. This includes divestment and other BDS campaigns, as well as campaigns to fight the weaponization of antisemitism & build understandings of antisemitism in a collective liberation frame

  • Creating plans and systems to prepare for and respond to repression

• Managing Campus Program: Ultimate responsibility for the successful implementation of JVP strategies on college campuses 

  • Supervising and guiding the work of the Student Organizer, who is responsible for building and supporting robust JVP student organizing on campuses across the country. Supporting the Student Organizer to build people power at scale, to identify and develop student leadership, to create strong student chapters, and to mobilize students to implement the strategies named above. 

  • Establishing and maintaining high-impact relationships with JVP-affiliated academics, Rabbis and community leaders to build strategy, provide leadership, and offer expertise on campus issues

  • Coordinate JVP-affiliated faculty to advance JVP priorities;

  • Coordinating and communicating across JVP departments to ensure strategies are successful

• Partnerships: Building and maintaining key relationships for JVP campus organizing, including but not limited to Palestinian partners, Jewish progressive organizations, and other progressive movement groups with a campus presence. This also includes representing JVP in national and international working groups related to campus organizing.

• Media & Narrative: Partner with JVP communications team to develop proactive media and social media strategies to communicate the truth of campus organizing in the face of a well-coordinated campaign to misrepresent and repress student organizing for Palestinian rights and freedom. Lead on crafting relevant press statements, developing student and faculty spokespeople, and hosting or attending strategic external events. Representing JVP in the media as needed. 

• Additional Duties:

  • Overseeing the budget for the Campus Program

  • Travel to campuses, conferences, JVP gatherings, and the JVP annual staff retreat

  • Fulfilling grassroots fundraising responsibilities that all JVP staff share

  • Contributing to wider organizational priorities as required; other duties as assigned

Skills and experience required:

• Strategic: Quickly grasps the subtleties of complex issues and identifies patterns in challenges. Comes up with insightful, pragmatic, equitable, and sustainable ways to tackle common challenges and produce positive change. Has a successful track record of taking a concept from idea to implementation. Is able to both develop and stay the course on long-term strategic goals, while also acting nimbly in quickly-shifting terrain, including identifying and seizing political openings, as well as preparing for, blocking, and using to our advantage different forms of repression.

• Communication and relationship building skills: Demonstrates clear, precise, compassionate communication. Speaks clearly on behalf of the organization and advocates for/with community members. Communicates well with others, including sharing context and asking questions to understand others’ perspectives. Is attentive and empathetic, shows enthusiasm for meeting and engaging with people. Able to put people at ease, especially when there are lines of difference. Listens closely to understand needs or concerns and takes steps based on that input. Gets back to people in a timely manner. Takes pride in providing clear, helpful information. Builds authentic relationships across lines of difference, such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability, gender identity, citizenship status, or other identities. Follows through on commitments.

• Leadership and Management: Demonstrates Self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Able to reflect on and describe the impact of one’s own identities—and those of others—in a given situation, decision, or process. Demonstrates awareness of growing edges. Able to hear, reflect, act on, and learn from feedback re: identity and equity. Comfortable talking about identities such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, ability, or gender in plain, specific terms. Exercises authority without asserting dominance. Brings a clear vision and recognizes the value of divergent perspectives. Approaches leadership with a mindset of “power with” rather than “power over” and regularly includes others in planning and decision-making. Able to make and communicate difficult decisions in the best interest of the organization. Able to develop and direct others towards collective goals. Comfortable with giving and receiving feedback. 

• Aligned with JVP: Aligned with and rooted in JVP’s values, overall political analysis, and strategy -- including a commitment to building a Jewish anti-Zionist base as part of the movement for Palestinian & collective liberation. Rooted in values of justice for all people, and works to express those values in their work & organizing approach, including in forging connections across movements. Understands JVP’s role in the broader movement for Palestinian liberation

• Knowledge of US systems of higher education: Demonstrates expert knowledge of US higher education and how change happens on college campuses. Demonstrates basic knowledge of the organizations, key stakeholders and dynamics of the movement for Palestinian liberation on college campuses. Overall, is able to confidently navigate US higher education systems and the organizing terrain within

• Campaign Development: Experience in campaign conceptualization and development, from vision to implementation. Able to assess political terrain, choose campaign targets, create escalation plans and mobilize people power in the short and long term. Pivots when given new information and responds quickly to potential wins. Excellent project management skills.

Please note: As part of JVP’s commitment to equity and transparency, we have a no negotiation policy. Salary negotiations can introduce bias and perpetuate wage inequality.

Our Job Application Process: 

We aim to be transparent and efficient in our hiring process. Each question you will be asked throughout our hiring process ties directly back to one of the skills and experiences listed above. In each stage, you will be asked to provide examples of these skills and experiences or how you would draw on your experience to handle a scenario commonly found at JVP. Our typical hiring process includes: 

• Job application: You will not be asked to submit a cover letter. Instead, the application consists of several questions related to the role you are applying for. Your answers will be assessed anonymously by the hiring committee, based on the skills outlined above. You may be required to upload a CV or resume. The hiring committee will not look at any identifying information until you have been invited to a first round interview, and will make those initial decisions based on your answers to the initial set of questions. 

• 25 min video interview: usually with the hiring manager and staff members you would work with on a regular basis

• Written work assessment, responding to a scenario commonly found on the job.

• 50 min video interview: May be the same group of staff or a slightly larger group as the first interview 

• Reference check

Depending on logistics and scheduling, our hiring process generally takes about 4-5 weeks from the job closing to a job offer. We let candidates know after each step in the process, once we’ve made a decision, whether they are moving forward to the next stage or not, so candidates know the status of their application. 

People of color, Sephardi and/or Mizrahi applicants, people with disabilities, and transgender or gender non-conforming applicants strongly encouraged to apply.

Jewish Voice for Peace opposes anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab bigotry and oppression. JVP does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran.

Benefits of working at JVP: 

• Up to 20 accumulated vacation days per year

• Up to 12 sick days per year

• Paid time off for political education and anti-racist training

• 17 paid holidays (9 floating and 8 federal)

• Health, vision, and dental insurance with premiums currently paid by JVP, and 15% of family benefits to be paid by JVP

• A supplemental health fund for trans and gender nonconforming staff

• Leave without pay, bereavement, parental leave and medical leave

• Flexible Spending benefit

• 1% of salary paid into 401k by JVP

JVP is committed to providing flexible work arrangements that suit the needs of our staff. All our positions are remote and based in the United States.