Job Description

Job Location: LA Office - Los Angeles, CA 90017
Salary Range: $105,900.00 - $176,400.00 SalaryWe are looking for a Director, Strategic Initiatives & Executive Affairs to join our team in Los Angeles!
WHO WE ARE
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization that advocates for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs). Founded in 1983, AJSOCAL supports over 15,000 individuals and organizations annually. AJSOCAL offers free legal help, engages in impact litigation, and advocates for policy change. Our services are open to individuals of all races and ethnicities, without restriction. AJSOCAL strives to be a champion for the most vulnerable members of the AAPI communities, while advancing civil rights and social justice for everyone.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California offices are located in downtown Los Angeles and Orange County, with presence in Sacramento, ensuring accessibility for all. With our Advancing Justice affiliates in Atlanta, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., we enrich, enhance, and serve our communities all across the country.
We provide supportive services for individuals wanting to start the immigration process through Family-Based Immigration, Asylum, Temporary Protected Status, the Violence Against Women Act, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T-Visa, and U-Visa. We also offer free citizenship workshops and resources to help you on your naturalization journey. Beyond immigration, we also lead community-centered initiatives such as the Asian Language Legal Intake Project (ALLIP), the Survivor and Family Empowerment (SAFE) Project, the Housing Preservation (HP) Program, and our Health Access Project (HAP). In addition, our Demographic Research Project (DRP) and Community Engagement (CE) teams drive data-informed strategies and grassroots partnerships that deepen our impact across Southern California. Our Impact Litigation Team looks to create systemic change for our communities, while our Policy Team continues to shape laws and local practices that impact millions of Asian American and immigrant families across California.
WHAT WE BRING
- The special opportunity to join a mission driven team
- Flexible, hybrid work schedules
- Rich medical, dental and vision benefits
- Retirement options through 403B and match
WHO YOU ARE
You share our mission of advocacy for Asian Pacific Americans. You enjoy the thrill of serving the public interest while championing civil rights and social justice. You take pride in your work enriching lives and communities in Los Angeles and across the country. You are looking for your next role in an organization that supports your career as much as you support the organization and its goals. You are looking for a job where you make a difference, and your impact is directly proportional to your contribution. You are a game changer. You are a leader. You are an advocate.
WHAT YOU BRING
- Bachelor’s Degree, with preference for a degree in a related field
- Minimum of ten (10) years of professional experience, with at least three (3) years in a senior coordination, strategy, operations role in a nonprofit, advocacy or mission-driven environment
- Demonstrated commitment to racial justice, civil rights, and/or social justice
- Valid driver’s license and/or access to alternative transportation
- Project Management Certification preferred
- Bilingual (in languages spoken by our clients), a plus

QualificationsABOUT THE ROLE
The Director, Strategic Initiatives & Executive Affairs serves as a force multiplier for the CEO, ensuring that our leader’s time, voice and relationships are deployed where they matter most. This is a rare opportunity to operate at the highest level of a mission-driven organization -- shaping strategy execution, stewarding critical relationships, and helping build the kind of culture where our people can do their best work and serve our clients.
This role requires someone who thrives on complexity, operates well in ambiguity, is well organized, communicates with clarity and heart, and holds an unwavering commitment to social justice and civil rights. The Director, Strategic Initiatives & Executive Affairs works in close partnership with the executive and senior leadership teams, and serves as a key liaison between the CEO and internal staff, board members, and external stakeholders. Acting as a trusted representative of the CEO, the position helps foster a collaborative, inspirational and productive organizational culture.
The Director, Strategic Initiatives & Executive Affairs supports day-to-day administrative oversight, facilitates cross-departmental communication, and advances strategic initiatives. This role aids in managing Board of Directors (BOD) engagement and meetings, and stewards the CEO’s external voice in partnership with the communications and marketing leaders.
Duties and Responsibilities:
CEO Support & External Relationship Management (35%)
- Orchestrate and optimize the CEO’s daily workflow, ensuring seamless prioritization of high-impact activities and strategic communications across phone and email
- Manage the CEO’s calendar with an eye toward organizational priorities, relationship stewardship, and sustainable use of the CEO’s time and energy
- Serve as a partner to the CEO in managing and nurturing external relationships with funders, donors, community partners, and public officials
- Advance donor engagement and stewardship by facilitating high-touch check-ins, tracking relationship milestones, and supporting the CEO in cultivating long-term philanthropic partnerships
- Contribute to the development of high-impact communications and fundraising collateral, including executive presentation decks, donor-facing materials, and strategic messaging assets
- Prepare the CEO for meetings and engagements: synthesizing briefings, tracking follow-ups and ensuring no relationship falls through the cracks
- Compose, refine, and manage high-level correspondence with precision, aligning tone and content with executive intent and organizational voice
- Coordinate multifaceted travel while ensuring accommodation is within organizational guidelines
- Oversee end-to-end expense management, ensuring compliance with financial policies, timely reconciliation, and accurate reporting
Strategy & Organizational Performance (25%)
- At the direction of the CEO and the Chief of Staff/Chief Transformation Officer (COS/CTO), create and oversee organizational dashboards, including strategic plan and organizational health metrics, ensuring that leaders have the information they need to make decisions and course-correct in real time
- Project manage key organizational-wide initiatives, with ownership of strategic plan implementation – tracking milestones, coordinating across leadership, and surfacing risks and opportunities for CEO and COS/CTO review
- In partnership with the CEO and COS/CTO, support leadership meetings, agendas, and documentation to support strategic alignment
- Track and report on cross-functional initiatives, ensuring timely execution and alignment with organizational goals
- Uphold governance standards and optimize decision-making processes across leadership and teams
Board of Directors Support (15%)
- Spearhead the end-to-end coordination of BOD meetings, including the development of meeting agendas, executive-level materials, direct coordination with board members, and documentation of meeting minutes to ensure governance continuity
- Partner with leadership to ensure a coordinated, well-managed Board experience that reflects the professionalism and mission of the organization
- Support the CEO and executive leadership in managing BOD relationships, customized to individual Board members’ preference (e.g., high-touch and robust engagement for some, and light-touch with minimal communication for others)
Culture, People & Staff Engagement (10%)
- Partner with HR to foster a people-centered, inspirational and joyful organizational culture that is grounded in the mission and animated by accountability and innovation, including by designing and implementing staff engagement initiatives that strengthen connection, belonging, and shared purpose across both the Los Angeles and the Orange County offices
- Shape and execute CEO internal communications to keep staff informed, inspired and connected to the mission and direction, in partnership with the M&C leader
- Support internal communication initiatives, ensuring clarity, alignment, and timely dissemination of critical information across cross-functional teams
CEO Voice and Communications (10%)
- Manage and steward the CEO’s voice, including social media presence and other public-facing communications, in partnership with the Communications staff
- Shape and execute CEO internal communications to keep staff informed, inspired and connected to the mission and direction
- Develop, curate, and deliver comprehensive briefing materials, decks, and agendas tailored to diverse audiences for high-stake internal and external engagements
Other Duties, as assigned by the CEO (5%)
- Lead special projects and initiatives from planning through execution, as prioritized by executive leadership, including development and management of project plans, timelines and deliverables
At AJSOCAL, we value a diverse, inclusive workforce and we provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. All qualified applicants for employment will be considered without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws.  AJSOCAL strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or other covered persons, including interns.
All positions are subject to funding, and non-collective bargaining unit positions are also at will.