State Director of Public Affairs

State Director of Public Affairs

Hiring Manager: Jared Cain, Senior Vice President of External Affairs

Location: Massachusetts

Role Tier: 5 – Head

We are a national movement of nearly 40,000 teachers working together to build a high‑quality, diverse teaching profession with the resources and conditions to help every student thrive. Founded by public school teachers, Educators for Excellence focuses on research, development of educator‑informed solutions, building teacher power, and advocating for policy change at district, state, and national levels.

Our work is grounded in the belief that the teaching profession is one of the most vital forces shaping our shared future and that educators must be at the center of shaping public‑education policies and systems. We develop teacher leadership and advocate for policies that promote a high‑quality, diverse workforce.

• Building strong and sustainable career pathways.
• Creating coherent systems of instructional support.
• Funding public schools fully and equitably.

Educators for Excellence is seeking a State Director of Public Affairs to serve as the senior political and strategic lead for our policy campaigns in Massachusetts.

As part of E4E’s national leadership team, you will set political strategy, policy positioning, and manage relationships necessary to advance our national issue agenda at the state and local level. You will be the public‑facing leader of E4E’s operations in Massachusetts, engaging policymakers, officials, coalition partners, program staff, and media.

This high‑impact, externally‑focused leadership role partners closely with the national team to ensure campaigns are grounded in teacher leaders’ perspectives and a strong political strategy for policy wins.

You will oversee a local fellowship of teacher leaders who inform, drive, and act on campaign priorities, and coordinate centralized campaign operations and support across communications, digital, organizing, and policy functions.

• Analyze the state and/or local political landscape to identify opportunities, assess constraints, and advise on viable pathways for teacher‑led policy change aligned with E4E’s national agenda.
• Define the strategy and contextualized theory of change for state‑level or local issue advocacy campaigns in partnership with the National Director of State Campaigns.
• Right‑size campaigns based on political conditions, organizational capacity, and coalition alignment.
• Lead assessment and recommendations on legislative pathways, timing, and decision‑making that lead to success.

• Partner with the National Director of State Campaigns to develop strong teacher‑leader fellowships that shape and drive issue advocacy campaigns in Massachusetts.
• Ensure educator voice and priorities shape issue advocacy strategy and vision.
• Support and develop issue advocacy skills and competencies in fellowships, ensuring a strong bench of campaign surrogates.

• Represent E4E publicly with policymakers, state officials, media, local elected officials, and other stakeholders.
• Build and maintain deep relationships with legislators, administration officials, coalition partners, and opinion leaders.
• Shape and deliver messages that reflect political realities while advancing E4E goals.
• Position E4E as a credible, leading voice in shaping education policy across the state.

• Build, lead, and sustain strategic coalitions aligned to campaign priorities and E4E’s agenda.
• Develop and manage strong relationships with elected officials and stakeholders who influence policy decisions.
• Navigate complex political dynamics and opposition to maintain coalition alignment, build political capital, and advance viable pathways to success.
• Manage external lobbyists and government‑affairs partners, ensuring strategic alignment with campaign goals.

• Inform messaging strategy in collaboration with campaign communications staff to ensure…