Program Manager, Empower & Protect

New Left Accelerator (NLA) is focused on empowering social justice organizations through operational capacity building programs. The Program Manager for the Empower & Protect program will drive implementation across multiple states, serving as the main point of contact for program participants and ensuring alignment with program strategy.

Responsibilities:

• Lead Tier 1 program implementation from onboarding through close-out
• Serve as the primary point of contact for Tier 1 and Tier 2 participants, ensuring clear communication, strong relationships and consistent support
• Develop and execute implementation plans that reflect the mutual agreements between NLA and participating partners
• Track participant progress across phases of work (onboarding, assessment, execution, and close out) and identify next steps to advance them towards their goals
• Identify trends, risks, and escalation needs and proactively elevate them to Senior Director E&P
• Lead Tier 2 recruitment, onboarding, and retention of program participants in coordination with program leadership
• Coordinate with state legal teams and E&P trainers to ensure alignment and smooth delivery of program components
• Support state leads to successfully run field trainings and support implementation logistics
• Embed NLA values into all aspects of project management, implementation, and partners engagement
• Oversee coaches supporting Tier 2 participants
• Lead regular monthly check-ins with coaches and Subject Matter Leads (SMLs)
• Facilitate coach learning spaces to share challenges, wins, and lessons learned
• Balance NLA Priorities, coach perspectives, and participant needs, prioritizing a leader-centric and relationship-based approach
• Coordinate and support internal and external stakeholders working toward shared benchmarks and outcomes
• Drive stakeholder engagement through regular check-ins, follow-up communications, scheduling support and training
• Mitigate challenges as they arise to ensure deliverables are met on time and with quality
• Foster clear communication and alignment across partners, coaches, legal teams, trainers and internal staff
• Create and maintain standardized templates and tools for onboarding, assessments, meeting agendas and implementation tracking
• Develop and manage project plans with clear benchmarks, timelines and key results
• Maintain up-to-date progress, metrics, and documentation in project management systems (e.g. Asana, Airtable)
• Identify risks and issues early and implement solutions to keep work on track
• Identify, implement and improve systems and tools (e.g. Google Suite, Asana,) to enhance efficiency and user experience
• Ensure strong data hygiene, including accurate contact lists, participation records and engagement tracking
• Ensure ongoing implementation of evaluation tool for all E&P training sessions
• Gather input from participating organizations through debriefs, check-ins, and reflection spaces to inform program improvements
• Elevate statewide insights, patterns and lessons learned to the Sr E&P Director to inform strategy and adaptation
• Collaboratively test and adapt long-term processes, making incremental improvements in real time

Requirements:

• Strong alignment with NLA's vision and organizational values
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in program management for movement-building organizations
• Experience with multi-entity and/or state-based movement organizations, including 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s, political campaigns, and/or PACs
• Excellent and demonstrable project management skills that includes:
• Knowledge of multiple project management methodologies and how to apply them into improving program processes
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage time, priorities, and resources effectively across multiple projects at various stages
• Experience designing and maintaining processes and systems using collaborative tools such as Asana, Airtable and Google Suite
• Strong relationship building skills and ability to manage diverse stakeholders in a fast paced, values-driven and team-oriented environment
• Flexibility and adaptability — ability to engage in independent and creative problem-solving in a growing organization
• Proactive problem solving skills including the ability to anticipate challenges, flag risks early, and maintain big-picture progress
• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills, including experience leading and facilitating project meetings
• Ability and willingness to work in and contribute to development of an emergent environment of a growing start-up nonprofit where systems and processes are regularly evolving to meet the political moment
• Commitment to continuous learning, curiosity and growth, including seeking feedback, asking questions, and applying new learning in practice