Vice President of Initiatives, Executive

Who we are

The Vera Institute of Justice, founded in 1961, envisions a society that respects the dignity of every person and safeguards justice for everyone. Vera is committed to securing equal justice, ending mass incarceration, and strengthening families and communities.

We drive change by:

• Studying problems that impede human dignity and justice.
• Piloting solutions that are at once transformative and achievable.
• Engaging diverse communities in informed debate.
• Harnessing the power of evidence to drive effective policy and practice.

We work with others who share our vision to tackle the most pressing injustices of our day—from mass incarceration, racial disparities, and the loss of public trust in law enforcement to the unmet needs of the vulnerable, the marginalized, and those harmed by crime and violence. Vera has offices in New York City, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. Vera is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity in the workplace—specifically, we value diverse experiences regarding educational background and justice system contact. We hire employees that reflect our values: respect, independence, collaboration, and commitment. 

You can expect to work with a team of amazing people who have tenacity, are creative, scrappy, and are committed to getting the work done. Why? Because our work is urgent, impactful, and more important than ever.

You will have great benefits, and work-life balance. Driving meaningful change is hard work. But we also know that you have a life, places to go, and people to see. If you want to learn more about life at Vera, click here

What you’ll do:

The Vice President of Initiatives is a senior leadership role overseeing a portfolio of 6-8 multi-year program initiatives at Vera as a trusted resource and thought partner to initiative leads.  This Vice President is an officer, a member of Vera’s Leadership Team and represents the Institute externally and internally. They are a frequent collaborator with colleagues leading Vera’s impact pipeline, advocacy, research, communications, and operations functions.

Specific responsibilities include: 

1. Organizational Leadership

• Serve as officer of the organization, with duty of loyalty and care;
• Member of the Vera Leadership Team, supporting the President while shaping investment decisions, policy, governance, organizational culture and direction;
• Execute and support the implementation of Vera’s strategic plan (launched fall 2020); and

Represent the organization with external (media, partners and funders) and internal (trustees, staff) stakeholders.

2. Management and Oversight

• Ensure overall progress of initiative portfolio against Vera’s high-level strategic priorities;
• Foster transparency, synergies and standards across initiatives;
• Make recommendations to Vera’s Leadership team regarding continuation of multi-year initiatives and advancement through later stages of the impact pipeline; and oversee wind down/exit of completed initiatives;
• Support and coach initiative leads in strategy development, fundraising, internal navigation; and
• With second VP of Initiatives, manage Vera’s overall programmatic budget and handle tradeoffs across mature, multi-year initiatives

3. Management and Oversight

• Support, coach and encourage the development of new bodies of work in collaboration with initiative and impact pipeline staff
• Identify and help advance opportunities for collaboration and learning across initiatives
• Facilitate communication between initiatives and centralized resources (e.g., advocacy, operations, communications) and guide resource allocation from centralized resources to initiatives
• Shape, support and guide assessments of multi-year initiatives with VP for Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Research

Skills and Qualifications

• 5+ years managing large teams involving complex tradeoffs and coordination
• Commitment to equity and inclusion
• Broad background in justice reform, including familiarity with opportunities and challenges across Vera’s strategic priority areas
• Experience crafting and executing multifaceted national systems-change strategies utilizing advocacy, strategic communications & research
• Ability to collaborate and navigate effectively within a complex organization
• Comfort and joy working in environments defined by growth, dynamism and occasional ambiguity
• Clear, proactive communication style with supervisors, direct reports, and peers
• Bachelor’s degree and at least 10 years management experience
• Optimism, sense of humor and enthusiasm for working with people of diverse background

Compensation and Benefits

Salary will be commensurate with experience and includes excellent benefits. Vera believes in compensating its staff members at or above market.

How to apply

Please submit a resume and cover letter. Online submission in PDF format is preferred.

However, if necessary, materials may be mailed or faxed to

ATTN: People Resources / VP of Initiatives

Vera Institute of Justice

34 35th St, Suite 4-2A

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Fax: (212) 941-9407

Please use only one method (online, mail or fax) of submission.

No phone calls, please. Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted.

Vera is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status or current employment status. 

Vera works to advance justice, particularly racial justice, in an increasingly multicultural country and globally

connected world. We value diverse experiences, including with regard to educational background and justice system contact, and depend on a diverse staff to carry out our mission.

For more information about Vera and our work, please visit http://www.vera.org