Program Director

Ms. JD is expanding our team with the addition of a Program Director. As the organization’s second full-time staff member, this position offers a unique opportunity to expand the reach of Ms. JD’s efforts to support women throughout the pipeline who are striving to build successful careers in the legal profession. The ideal candidate will have a passion for advancing equity for all women in law and enjoy the innovation, creativity, and collaboration required in a small, yet mighty, nonprofit environment.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the Program Director will help oversee Ms. JD’s current programmatic portfolio and help to develop additional programs and resources to support members of the Ms. JD community. The candidate will engage and supervise contractors and volunteers, and ensure proper stewardship of all stakeholders. This role is fully remote, with required travel throughout the year to attend Ms. JD’s scheduled live programs and events.

The Program Director is integral to the success of Ms. JD’s growth. If you enjoy working collaboratively to build community and are excited to develop programming that aims to advance women throughout all facets of the legal profession, we encourage you to apply!

About Ms. JD
Ms. JD is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) that seeks to support and improve the experiences of women law students and lawyers. Obstacles to equal participation hinder not only women in the law but also their colleagues, clients, children, and communities. Ms. JD consequently strives to give voice to why it matters that women continue to overcome barriers to achieve gender parity in the profession. In doing so, Ms. JD spreads the word: Women’s Victories Are Everyone’s Victories! For more information regarding Ms. JD, please visit www.ms-jd.org.

Position Description

The Program Director will serve as the primary point of contact for conference projects, both internally and externally, and will manage the day-to-day organization and implementation of Ms. JD’s programs and projects. The Program Director designs, develops, and implements Ms. JD’s programs and resources aimed at advancing women lawyers at all stages of their careers across the country. Ms. JD programs are the backbone of the organization and are integral to Ms. JD’s strategic success. Our live events convene members in a variety of legal practice areas to provide continuing legal education (CLE) opportunities, celebrate member achievements, share best practices, and develop the future leaders of the legal profession. The Program Director provides project management support and substantive guidance to ensure the delivery of innovative and engaging content. The Program Director streamlines processes, manages the work of dozens of people, and keeps projects on time.  This is a full-time exempt position.

The target salary for this position begins at $58,500 and is commensurate with experience. Benefits include paid vacation, pack sick leave, and paid holidays.

Duties and Responsibilities
The Program Director’s primary duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
● Develop and ensure broad scope of programming to address cutting-edge, innovative topics of interest to women lawyers.
● Communicate and advise members on strategy and procedures to ensure projects move forward.
● Oversee budgets, managing timelines, and ensuring compliance with organization policies.
● Plan, organize and convene regular virtual meetings of program planning committees and prepare post-call reports.
● Track and report progress of work, goals, problems, and other issues to Ms. JD’s CEO, committee chairs, Executive Director, and/or Board of Directors.
● Negotiate contracts with outside program vendors, speakers, and restaurants for in-person events, including venue sources.
● Coordinate all program logistics including preparing banquet event orders, audio/visual orders and sleeping room reservations; prepare run of show for conferences; and confirm the talking points and logistics for speakers and/or awardees.
● Coordinate with other entities on joint projects and seeks out internal and external partners.
● Execute the CLE accreditation process for programs, including soliciting CLE materials from speakers, coordinating CLE sign-in process, and CLE certificate issuance to attendees.

Nothing in this job description restricts Ms. JD’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this role at any time in its discretion. While this job description generally reflects Ms. JD’s current assessment of the essential functions for this role, it is not intended to be a complete list of the duties and responsibilities of this role, and it does not limit or restrict the duties and responsibilities that may be assigned from time to time. The duties, responsibilities and job description of this role are subject to change at any time without notice.

Skills and Abilities
To be successful, our ideal candidate has the following project management skills:
● Communication: The Program Director spends a significant amount of time communicating with staff, committees, and others, reporting progress or problems, or negotiating with third parties. Verbal and written communication skills are key to success. The Program Director should communicate information clearly, especially via presentations, reports, slide decks, memos, and other strategy-related materials.
● Leadership: The ability to lead and motivate a team is critical to progressing any project. Program Director must occasionally resolve personality and work-style conflicts.

● Organization: Excellent organizational and project management skills are required. The Program Director juggles many projects simultaneously and must be organized to keep all details top of mind. This is especially true when working with program committees composed of volunteers.
● Problem Solving: Issues that need attention regularly come up and the Program Director must nimbly deal with unexpected problems. The Program Director must also work to predict problems in advance and brainstorm solutions – readily available backup plans can keep work on track.
● Strategic Thinker: The Program Director ensures the work and projects performed align with the goals of the organization. Strategy skills include the ability to formulate plans to stay within budgets and timelines and handle unexpected events. The Program Director must have the professional judgment necessary to discern important details that affect programming from those that do not.
● Strong Negotiation and Interpersonal Skills: Must have poise and carry self in a professional manner at all times. Soft skills and social skills are strongly preferred.
● Self-Motivated: Must have a proven track record of working productively with a team and maintaining positive relationships with various organizational stakeholders, including but not limited to staff, volunteers, sponsors, and Board of Directors
● Technical Skills: Familiarity with MS Office applications, website maintenance, and association management or comparable database systems is also required.
● Agility: The Program Director must adapt and innovate to deliver program content to members in an ever-changing world. The Program Director must embrace a “test and learn” mindset to creatively maximize value to members.

Education & Experience
• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Minimum of 3-years of program development experience is required.
• Work experience in a non-profit association or in the legal sector preferred.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment
• Sit and stand for prolonged periods.
• Repeating motions that may include the hands, wrists and/or fingers.
• Stand and/or move about the office or in various environments (including tight and confined spaces), or from one worksite to another.
• Use standard computer, telephone and related equipment for communication, recordkeeping, word processing and graphic design.
• Specific visual abilities, including close vision and ability to adjust focus, read, review, and assess the accuracy and thoroughness of the work assigned.
• Verbal abilities require communicating with others to exchange information.
• Occasionally adjusting or moving objects up to 20 pounds in all directions.
• Work environment involving low/high temperatures; hazardous conditions, low ventilation, noisy environments, small/enclosed spaces.
• In-person interaction with others indoors and outdoors.
• Operating and driving motor vehicles; prolonged periods of sitting while driving.

• Able to drive and otherwise travel without personal assistance.

The above physical requirements and work environment characteristics generally reflect those of this position but is not an exhaustive list. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with qualified disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position, provided that such accommodation does not impose an undue hardship.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement
This position involves work onsite or in-person interactions with others as part of their duties, and as such, must be vaccinated against COVID-19 (including any vaccine boosters), unless a reasonable accommodation is approved in accordance with applicable law. The COVID-19 vaccine (including any vaccine booster) must have been FDA approved, have emergency use authorization from the FDA, or, for persons fully vaccinated outside of the U.S., be listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization. Applicants will be required to provide supporting documentation verifying that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to the commencement of employment. All vaccination information will be kept confidential.

Background Check Requirement
All applicants for employment are required to satisfactorily complete a pre-employment background and employment reference check. Employment is further conditioned on verification of legal authorization to work in the United States.

How to Apply
Please submit your cover letter, resume, and contact information for three professional references to executiveassistant@ms-jd.org. Please write “Program Director Position” in the subject line. No phone calls or follow-up emails, please. We are unable to respond to queries about application status.

Ms. JD is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit unlawful discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, age, national origin, genetic characteristics, disability, status as a special disabled veteran or veteran, marital status, sexual orientation, sexual identity, or any other basis prohibited by law. Research has shown that traditionally marginalized communities (people of color, people with disabilities, etc.) often do not apply for jobs if they do not meet every single qualification. If you think you can do this job but do not meet every qualification, we encourage you to still apply.