We’re Hiring: Policy and Research Director

UPDATE: This position has been filled. Thank you to all who applied.

Join our team at Move Minnesota!

Open Position: Policy and Research Director

Reports Directly To: Executive Director

Direct Reports: Program Manager (Employer Partnerships), Project Manager (Green Line)

Job Type: Full-time, 40 hours per week, exempt.

Salary & Compensation: $70,000 annual salary. Competitive benefits package includes health and dental insurance, retirement plan, paid time off, short-term and long-term disability, life insurance, bus pass and commuter benefits, and flexible work environment.

Organization Summary

Move Minnesota is a leader in the movement for an equitable and sustainable transportation system that puts people first. We are passionate about connecting communities, ending the climate crisis, expanding access to jobs and resources, and improving daily life for Minnesotans of all ages, races, incomes, and abilities. We connect people to transit where the system works well, and fight hard to ensure it works for everyone.

Move Minnesota is based in Saint Paul, MN. Our team is collaborative, hard-working, mission-driven, and fun. We create change through advocacy, organizing, coalition building, policy leadership, and education. This position is currently a remote-only position, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Embedding equity in organizational practices is a core value at our organization. Move Minnesota works to offer culturally inclusive services, materials, resources, and programs. We value the strengths offered through different backgrounds and perspectives. Move Minnesota is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Position Summary

Move Minnesota is seeking a strategic and motivated Policy and Research Director to help us transform transportation policy in Minnesota. The Policy and Research Director—in collaboration with the full Move Minnesota staff team—will develop and refine the case for transit, bicycling, and walking. This includes making the case for transit use, transit investments, transit service changes, and for transit as a primary, attractive, and competitive transportation mode.

The Policy and Research Director will lead Move Minnesota’s policy work across initiatives, including through policy and research development, policy analysis, and policy campaigns. The ideal candidate will be a strong writer, adept at research, and driven to pursue transformational change in the transportation system and society. The Policy and Research Director will bring an understanding of the role of policy and narrative in creating systems change, and interest in influencing decision-makers and the public. The ideal candidate will be committed to what is needed and just, not only to what is deemed politically palatable or possible, while understanding and navigating political landscapes.

The Policy and Research Director will oversee two staff and will also inform and build relationships with external stakeholders to advance the organization’s policy goals.

Duties and Responsibilities

Policy Plan Research, Development, and Execution

• In conjunction with the staff and outside research institutions, develops and implements a strategic policy plan to guide the organization’s programming to shift perceptions of transit, biking, rolling, and walking. This plan will draw from existing data sources, comply comparative data analyses with other transportation systems, and develop new bodies of information from on the ground data-gathering.
• Writes clear and succinct policy statements, fact sheets, reports, and other materials that communicate the intersections between subject areas, particularly among transit, racial justice, social justice, and climate change.
• Actively partners with communications staff to communicate transit benefits, needs, and policy positions to organizational supporters and community.
• Develops staff and volunteers to gather data through bus counts, surveys, and other on-the-ground activities.
• Creates a policy agenda that explores which transit investments or improvements are most needed and supports them, regardless of whether those strategies are supported or proposed by a governmental body.
• Regularly evaluates and guides programming, campaigns, and initiatives to ensure Move Minnesota is creating meaningful change to better deliver a just and equitable transportation system.

Supervision and Collaboration

• Works with direct reports to strategically plan work across staff and teams.
• Leads, coaches, and develops staff to implement annual work plans tied to strategic goals.
• Build a track-record of leading successful teams and contributing to a positive, collaborative work environment.

General

• In collaboration with board and staff, advances the organization’s continued work to integrate racial justice frameworks into its internal operations and external programming.
• Maintains professional affiliations and engages in professional development to keep current in the latest trends in transportation and team leadership.
• Adheres to organizational values: equity, integrity, elevating voices, excellence, transparency, and stewardship.
• Carries out other duties and responsibilities as directed by the Executive Director.

Position Qualifications

Minimum

• A commitment to cross-cultural collaboration and a commitment to social and racial justice.
• Knowledge of walking, biking, rolling, transit, and shared mobility as modes of transportation, and sensitivity to the way transportation issues affect people’s lives and communities.
• An understanding of the policy, governmental, and social levers that influence the shape of the transportation system.
• Strong writing skills, including the ability to build a compelling case.
• Skills and enthusiasm for building relationships with key partners, decision makers, and organizational volunteers, and for working positively and collaboratively with our staff team.
• Adept at building consensus around complex issues with a variety of stakeholders.
• Knowledge of transportation policy, planning, and advocacy, and experience working with policymakers.
• Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years of policy or related work experience or 3+ years of policy or related work experience.

Preferred

• 5+ years of policy work experience.
• Experience in an organization with a focus related to transportation.
• Experience managing successful teams and projects.

Location

This position is housed at the Move Minnesota office in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although Move Minnesota is currently working remotely due to the coronavirus. The office is one block from the METRO Green Line’s Raymond Ave Station and easy to reach on Metro Transit bus routes 16, 63, 67, and 87. Indoor bike parking and a private changing room are available. The building where our office is located has one floor (no stairs) and multi-stall restrooms.