Campaigns Adviser

• Digital Action is looking for a Campaigns Adviser on democracy and technology to help bring people and ideas together in collaborations to challenge the power of Big Tech.
• Digital Action values inclusion and diversity. We have developed a recruitment process that we hope will be inclusive, for instance we share our budget information for the role, use ‘blind’ shortlisting, and ensure diverse interview panels. We strongly encourage and welcome people from ethnic minorities and other groups that are under-represented in civil society organisations to apply. If this sounds like you and you’re interested in the role, we would be happy to arrange a one to one with a Digital Action team member so you can learn more about the role and our organisation. To arrange a one to one, please email [email protected]
• If we receive a significant number of queries, we will publish an FAQ on www.digitalaction.co/career/campaignsadviser
• The successful candidate can be based anywhere in a time-zone that is Central European Time +/- 2 hours.
• Application Deadline: Sunday 20th June 2021.
• Digital Action is a new project, formed in 2019. We receive funding from Luminate, Unbound Philanthropy and the Ford, MacArthur and Open Societies Foundations, and are fiscally sponsored by the New Venture Fund (NVF).

About Digital Action

We bring people and ideas together to strengthen democracy in a digital age.

Democracy and human rights can thrive in the digital age, but only if we work together to ensure it is the people writing the rules, not unaccountable Big Tech.

In this digital age, the rules and norms of democracy are being transformed, and it is Big Tech that is rewriting them, not the people. These companies, with staggering power and little accountability, are reshaping the way democracies work, simply to boost their advertising revenues. The result is a democratic experience, particularly online, that is toxic and unreliable, inflaming divisions and intensifying inequalities.

But we are not powerless in this. Together, we can build a new era of accountability.

Our contribution is to help people work together, unleashing the collective power and ingenuity we need to make change happen

We work as a catalyst and convenor in support of those fighting for reform. Our contribution is not to be the experts or the spokespeople: it is to unlock collaboration. Like wiring an electrical circuit, we make connections that maximise the power surging through them.
We organise strategically, building collective power around the bold ideas that will cut to the heart of decision-making and strengthen democracy in the digital age

We build collective power in three areas:

• We help tell stories which highlight the urgency. We ensure decision-makers are aware of the real harm done to real people. We shift power towards marginalised communities harmed by the status quo to ensure they have the platforms to share their stories, make the case for change, and inspire new allies to join the movement.
• We support civil society to develop, test, and share bold ideas to strengthen democracy and human rights for the digital age. We catalyse the hard, collaborative work of designing policy and product responses, then get the work into the hands of those making decisions about our democracies.
• We coordinate campaigns which help the community seize moments of opportunity. Bringing together disparate – and sometimes opposed – areas of civil society, to act together with shared purpose and set radical precedents.

We are committed to serving the movement, working behind the scenes as an honest broker to achieve collective change.

As a strategic convenor, Digital Action works in the service of those who entrust us to help them achieve impact. Constantly seeking to strengthen our contribution as an honest broker for collective action, we centre the work and stories of people, communities and organisations we collaborate with; we do not promote our own policy agenda, and we do not seek a public profile. Fundamentally, it’s not about us, but about the change we help others bring about.

Responsibilities of role:

Your role boils down to this: as part of a small, dynamic campaigns team, you will play a key part in collaborative processes of strategy consultation and design, and work with campaign leads on delivering tactics with a diverse range of collaborators, including civil society and grassroots organisations, think tanks, journalists, and technologists. Your responsibilities will include:

• Engaging and convening collaborators to listen to their priorities, concerns and ambitions, and build the trust necessary for joint campaigns
• Working with the team and collaborators in the development of inclusive and impactful campaign strategies.
• Delivering campaign tactics while maintaining the ‘opt-in’ of a diverse range of collaborators. You could support the delivery of outputs ranging from advocacy letters to creative media to toolkits for public mobilisation
• Building and/or maintaining an intersectional understanding of policy and power as it relates to Big Tech and democracy
• Supporting in the running and development of a small, dynamic organisation. As a new organisation, everyone pitches in with a range of tasks that will change over time, including some administrative work and maintaining contact databases

Person specification:

Below are the skills and experience we’re looking for. Please consider this as a menu, not a list of requirements: we do NOT expect any one candidate to have ALL of these covered. What we will be looking for as we evaluate applications is demonstrable experience in at least some of these, and evidence of capacity to build skills in other areas. So, if you see yourself in SOME of these descriptions, then we encourage you to apply.

• You understand how change happens in holding governments and companies to account – including formal and informal levers of influence. This could encompass regulation, peer pressure, elite networks, or pressure from clients, workers, investors, or civil society. And you understand how to build strategies to pull these levers and learn from the process and results.
• You are driven by purpose, not personal glory: you recognise the power and privilege of working for social justice and democracy, and strive for the most impact, comfortable with running with ideas that come from other people and allowing others to get the public credit.
• You bring people together: you have high emotional intelligence, you are inclusive, and you have demonstrated this through community organising, building coalitions, or managing networks to have impact. You can build good relationships, whether with subject matter experts, experienced campaigners, or people whose voices are systematically marginalised.
• You are a team player and you are self-sufficient: you take the initiative not to chase the spotlight but to have impact; and you are comfortable performing the full range of tasks necessary in a small organisation, from drafting text for coalition products to chairing video conferences to supporting colleagues’ resilience.
• You have relevant connections with potential collaborators, journalists, or engaged community groups. We are particularly interested in connections in continental Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, or Sub-Saharan Africa. (We do NOT expect you to have connections in all of these areas!)
• You understand the debates and dilemmas around tech policy and democracy and you are open-minded about the best way to resolve these dilemmas to strengthen democracy.

Practicalities of the role:

• Your location: given that our current team is located in Beirut, Cardiff, Dublin and London, you must be based in a time zone that is +/- 2 hours of Central European Time.
• Travel: Once travel restrictions are eased, you must be willing to travel up to one week every couple of months. (Local government advice will be applied to all travel decisions).
• Reporting: This role will report to a Senior Campaigner. You may have the opportunity to manage an intern.
• Salary range: We have a budget of US$56-68,000 for this post. However, this must cover any hiring costs as well as local social contributions. We would hope to keep the hiring costs as low as possible so that we can offer the employee a favourable package of salary and benefits.
  The employment package for this role will include a pension contribution and 25 days of annual leave. Depending on your location, we will also seek to provide access to an employee assistance programme, offering remote counselling and well-being support. To assist with salary expectations, we have calculated indicative gross salaries for 3 sample countries: UK £34,000; Germany €39,000 and Kenya Ksh3,200,000.00. (Note: this does not imply that these are the only 3 countries from which we wish to receive applications).
• Contract duration and type: 12 months initially. It may be extended, funding dependent. Because we are currently a fiscally-sponsored project of US-based New Venture Fund, team members hired outside of the US are typically employed through a Professional Employment Organization (PEO) engaged by NVF.
• Digital Action is open to flexible working arrangements and will provide you with the equipment you will need to work remotely. However, if you are based in Beirut, Dublin or London, you will be able to share the co-working space along with your team members.

Recruitment Process

• Please complete the application form here: https://form.jotform.com/211245498345358
  (You will be asked to upload your CV).
• Digital Action wishes to collect anonymous data on all job applicants so that we can monitor levels of diversity objectively. To this end, we ask all applicants to complete an Equality Monitoring form on an optional basis.
• The application deadline is Sunday 20th June (midnight, GMT).
• It is anticipated that a first-round interview as well as a second-round interview will be held as part of the process for this role. The first-round interviews are provisionally planned for the week commencing Monday 28th June and will be held via video-conference.
• If you have any queries, please email [email protected]

www.digitalaction.co