Vote Rev: Executive Director

Executive Director Job Description

Job Title: Executive Director

Reports To: Boards of Directors

Location: Remote, US (slight preference for candidates based in Los Angeles, CA)

Compensation and Benefits: $250,000-$300,000 annually, with generous medical, dental, and vision benefits

The Challenge

Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund (VRAF) are the design engine for voter engagement innovations. They have cracked a hard problem: how to design and scale voter contact tactics that actually work in the real world.

They’ve proven this repeatedly through randomized trials, live campaigns, and large-scale deployments. Their tactics increase turnout, reach voters others miss, and do so cost-effectively.

Their first generation of tactics focus on relational organizing, and in 2024, VRAF worked with partner organizations like the League of Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood to run the largest-ever in-person relational program, producing over five million friend-to-friend contacts across seven key states.

Much of their impact has been made by running their own programs with these tactics, often with partners. Additional impact has been made by other organizations adopting the tactics, but not nearly as much as Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund believe is possible. 

The next chapter for Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund is not just about inventing better ideas. It’s about getting good ideas used reliably, correctly, and at scale by organizations that didn’t invent them and potentially raising funds to run these programs internally as well. 

That’s the job.

They are looking for an Executive Director who is excited by that challenge: someone who knows how hard it is to change behavior across institutions, and who wants to build the systems, incentives, partnerships, and narratives that make it happen.

The Opportunity

Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund are entering a new phase. The research works. The tactics work. The credibility is there.

What’s needed now is a leader who can:

• Translate proven ideas into things other organizations actually adopt
• Figure out why good ideas stall in the real world, and remove those barriers
• Build pathways from research to training, usage, and repetition

This is not a caretaker role. It’s a builder’s job, focused on turning validated insight into widespread practice, and continuing to raise and deploy funds for our own programs as well.

If you succeed in this role, you will level-up the entire civic engagement ecosystem for many years to come, generating enough votes to flip multiple key races.

About the Organization

Vote Rev is a 527 political organization focused on developing and scaling high-impact voter engagement tactics. Vote Rev Action Fund (VRAF) is a section 501(c)(4) organization that partners with nonprofit and civic organizations to expand participation among historically underrepresented communities.

Both organizations:

• Design and test new relational organizing tactics
• Run rigorous evaluations (including RCTs)
• Support campaigns and nonprofits in applying those tactics in live environments

In 2020, Vote Rev pioneered Polling Place Vote Tripling, used by dozens of partners including the Biden–Harris campaign, generating over 1.1 million friend-to-friend reminders to vote.

Since then, the team has developed and tested additional methods - including Site-Based Vote Tripling - that consistently outperform traditional approaches, especially with harder-to-reach voters.

The organizations now employ a nine-person team across research, partnerships, and operations.

What This Role Is Really About

The Executive Director’s job is to turn proven ideas into standard practice. That means:

• Moving from “this works” to “this gets used”
• From pilot projects to repeatable adoption
• From enthusiasm to institutional behavior change

You will be responsible for shaping how Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund influence the broader ecosystem.

What You’ll Do
Drive Adoption and Real-World Use

• Figure out why campaigns and nonprofits don’t adopt good tactics and then fix it
• Design strategies that make uptake easy, attractive, and durable
• Build partnerships that lead to sustained use, not one-off pilots
• Translate research findings into clear, usable guidance

Ensure Financial and Organizational Health

• Lead fundraising (historically from sophisticated advisors to UHNW funders)
• Communicate impact clearly to funders
• Oversee budgeting, operations, and compliance
• Ensure the organizations are built to last

Set Strategy and Direction

• Define where Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund can have the highest leverage
• Decide what not to do
• Balance experimentation with focus
• Ensure work aligns with real-world political timelines

Lead External Engagement

• Represent the organizations to funders, partners, and field leaders
• Build credibility as a practical, results-oriented voice
• Position Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund as a go-to resource for relational voter engagement

Build High-Functioning Organizations

• Lead and support a highly capable, analytically minded team
• Provide clarity, prioritization, and accountability
• Strengthen systems so insights turn into action
• Navigate the founder transition with confidence and steadiness

Who This Role Is For

You might be a strong fit if you:

• Have built or scaled something where adoption, not invention, was the hard part
• Are energized by messy, real-world execution
• Can move comfortably between strategy and tactics
• Have strong judgment and don’t need perfect information to act
• Understand political or civic ecosystems well enough to navigate them
• Enjoy turning smart ideas into things people actually use

This role is especially well-suited to someone who:

• Has led in political, advocacy, or mission-driven organizations
• Has worked with funders and understands how to communicate impact
• Is comfortable being accountable for outcomes, not just process

Why This Role Is Unusual

• You’re inheriting ideas that already work
• The challenge is influence, not authority
• Success looks like other organizations changing how they operate
• You’ll have real leverage over how civic engagement is practiced nationally

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership experience managing people, budgets, and organizational priorities.
• A track record of building, scaling, or significantly advancing an initiative, organization, or program.
• Strong judgment and decisiveness, with the ability to make and stand behind difficult decisions.
• Experience fundraising or revenue-generating in a mission-driven or political environment, especially with High Net Worth Individuals.
• Working knowledge of the progressive political, civic engagement, or advocacy ecosystem.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences, including funders and partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with progressive political campaigns, independent expenditures, PACs, and/or nonprofit civic engagement or voter contact organizations.
• Experience working at the intersection of research, data, technology, and practice.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and adapting strategy based on learning and results.
• Experience collaborating with or leading highly trained, analytically oriented teams.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary: $250,000-$300,000 annually
• Paid Time Off: All federal holidays, plus accrued PTO
• Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, including a generous PPO option at no cost to the employee
• Additional Benefits: Generous paid family medical and parental leave

Commitment to Equity

Vote Rev and Vote Rev Action Fund are dedicated to creating an organization that reflects the diversity of the country they serve. They strongly encourage women, people of color, and others who are underrepresented in campaigns and voter engagement nonprofits to apply.

To Apply 

This search is being led by Naomi Roth-Gaudette and Kristen Carver at NRG Consulting Group. Candidates will be reviewed on a rolling basis, we recommend applying quickly. The priority application deadline is March 1st, 2026. Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.