Director of Advocacy

Location: New York

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities.

A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.##
* This position is based in Washington, DC, and candidates must reside in the DC area.

* The External Relations (ER) Department mobilizes external audiences to raise the requisite funds, influence policies and achieve practice changes to improve outcomes for our clients, while growing and protecting our global brand. The Global Policy & Advocacy team is a dynamic part of the ER Department that leverages the power of IRC’s ideas to solve the biggest challenges facing IRC’s clients across the “arc of crisis” and influence external stakeholders, in particular governments and multi-lateral institutions, to enact these solutions to ultimately make meaningful change for our clients.

From addressing the drivers of conflict to meeting the needs of displaced people, the team partners with innovative thinkers, experts and those with lived experience to identify solutions and bring them to life. We take pride in being solutions-oriented and creative. We are precise in our goals, tactics, and messages. We drive change year over year, knowing that system change takes dedicated focus while maintaining the flexibility to respond to emerging needs across the globe.

Finally, we are collaborative, constantly seeking new ideas and perspectives from others in our sector and beyond as we work side by side with programs, strategy, communications and research and innovation teams across the IRC.
** Job Overview:
** As the Director of Advocacy, you will lead development of the IRC’s advocacy efforts to support key priorities across crisis and solutions-driven global influence priorities for the International Rescue Committee. You are responsible for crafting our influence strategies using IRC’s programmatic and research evidence, surgical policy and practice solutions, and trusted brand to inspire collective action. You are the expert for understanding current federal legislative and policy trends in the US and how our policies cut across political agendas.

You will engage key stakeholders across government and civil society. You will work across the IRC to develop advocacy campaigns and build relationships including with Congressional representatives, U.S. and other government officials in D.C. as well as foundations, think tanks, multilateral organizations, and other humanitarian organizations. You will also look across IRC’s global priorities, engaging relevant embassies and crafting specific advocacy messages for donor governments.
** Major Responsibilities:**
* ** Advocacy Strategy:
** Lead advocacy strategies for specific policy goals, including thought leadership objectives relevant to the U.S. market, collaborating with policy leads to advance IRCs key influence priorities and maximize the opportunity for IRC to advance our influence objectives. Engage across the IRC with all relevant stakeholders. Craft advocacy strategies, drawing on IRC’s policy expertise, that are suited to global donor government priorities.
* ** Influence Analysis:
** Develop U.S. power maps for key policy issues to identify influence priorities. Cultivate relationships across the U.S. Government and lead Congressional engagement. Work with team to support development and execution of creative influence strategies, including with nontraditional partners. Look across IRC’s global priorities and ensure they are integrated into advocacy and influence strategies.
* ** Advocacy:
**…