Advance a sustainable, secure, and just food system in Congress and state legislatures
The Good Food Institute is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based, fermentation-enabled, and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals.
How You Will Make a Difference
In this role, you will oversee GFI’s legislative initiatives and team. You will remove hurdles and leverage resources to promote progress on alternative proteins. The Legislative Director will be responsible for:
- Working with GFI’s Senior Vice President of Policy and Associate Legislative Director to develop and implement ambitious federal and state legislative agendas.
- Achieving core objectives, including securing significant public funding for open-access alternative protein research.
- Managing legislative team members, currently the Associate Legislative Director and Legislative Specialist, States.
- Speaking persuasively on cultivated meat, plant-based meat, and other alternative proteins to members of Congress and state legislators, their staff, and other audiences.
- Drafting legislation, reports, and accompanying press releases.
- Serving as the point person on legislative issues for GFI, including with the press.
- Editing op-eds, white papers, and policy briefs.
- Building alliances and cultivating support for shared goals with other organizations and stakeholders.
- Working with the team to ensure compliance with lobbying reporting requirements, including diligently tracking your own time.
- Building strong internal relationships to ensure consistent, accurate information exchange across the Policy team and with other GFI departments.
- Performing other duties as assigned.
Who We’re Looking For
The Legislative Director must have:
- A minimum of five years in legislative roles in the U.S. Congress, or ten years in federal legislative advocacy, or a combination of the two. A J.D. from an accredited law school, experience in a state legislature, or experience with state legislative advocacy preferred.
- Keen ability to spot opportunities and threats and effectively develop and deploy strategic initiatives to advance legislative objectives.
- Experience managing a team.
- Experience securing funds through appropriations and/or authorizing new programs.
- An understanding of climate and/or food policy in the United States strongly preferred.
- Impeccable ethics and a commitment to ensuring compliance with lobbying registration requirements. Experience keeping a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in compliance strongly preferred.
- Strong persuasive writing skills.
- High level of attention to detail, effective time management, and an ability to learn new systems and processes.
- A commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels like they belong.
- Experience communicating effectively with both Republican and Democratic elected officials and their staff.
- Strong interpersonal skills with experience building and maintaining fruitful working relationships.
- Comfort working in a rapidly growing and evolving organization.
- Strong support for GFI’s philosophy and mission; demonstrated interest in plant-based and other alternative proteins, public health, environmentalism, climate change, animal protection, or hunger relief.
- A commitment to GFI’s values: believe change is possible, do the most good we can, share knowledge freely, act on evidence, and invite everyone to the table.
- The ability to contribute to the diversity of ideas and backgrounds on the Policy Team is a plus.
We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We use a third-party anonymizing tool to redact personal information from submitted applications — including name, location, contact details, and several other factors — to reduce bias and increase fairness in our process. We strongly encourage people of every race, color, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Since we value a diverse workplace, we prioritize an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.
Research indicates that men tend to apply for jobs when they meet just 60% of the criteria, while women and people from other marginalized groups only apply if they are a 100% match. If you are passionate about GFI’s mission and think you have what it takes to be successful in this role even if you don’t check all the boxes, please apply. We’d appreciate the opportunity to consider your application.
The Fine Print
- Terms of employment: Full-time, exempt
- Reports to: Jessica Almy, Senior Vice President of Policy
- Location: Policy Office, Farragut Square, Washington, D.C.; Hybrid (Mondays and Thursdays in office).
- Relocation benefit: A relocation stipend of up to $5,000 will be paid to cover the costs of relocation from outside of the Washington, D.C. area. Travel: Flexible, but anticipated travel up to 3 to 4 weeks per year for conferences, hearings, and organizational retreats.
- Benefits: Flexible hours, full medical coverage, optional dental and vision packages, a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match, flexible holiday and vacation plans, opportunity for advancement, respectful managers, and supportive colleagues. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFIBenefits.
- This is a U.S.-based position: In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.
- COVID vaccination policy: GFI requires all US employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Proof of vaccination will be requested before the start of employment. GFI will consider requests for accommodations or exemptions from this policy on a case by case basis, in accordance with applicable laws. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/GFICovidPolicy.
- Salary: $147,669.08 - $155,052.56 (depending on experience and qualifications)
Application Deadline: November 17, 2023
Decided not to apply? If after reviewing this job description, you have decided not to apply, please let us know why by completing this short survey: https://tinyurl.com/GFIJobSurvey.
Interested in working at the Good Food Institute? Join us for the Career Opportunities Webinar to learn more about our work and ask questions about specific job opportunities! See upcoming webinar dates and more information at https://tinyurl.com/GFICareers.
Application Instructions
GFI uses an anonymized hiring system that redacts key identifying personal information from all applications. We are testing this tool as part of an effort to reduce bias in our hiring process. Following these instructions will help to ensure your application is not delayed by a failed redaction.
- Where possible, limit the creative formatting of your documents. If the name on your resume is an inserted image file or is styled with large spaces between each letter, for example, the redaction is likely to fail. Colors and designs are OK, but wherever possible, the text itself should just be regular text.
- Please use consistent names. It helps to ensure that the name you use in your resume and cover letter is the same as the name you type into the application below. For example, if your name is Jennifer, please sign your cover letter as “Jennifer” rather than “Jenny.”
- Submit PDF or .docx files only. Other file formats, like .txt, are likely to fail redaction.
- Please do not include personal identifying information in your responses to the application questions. Referencing past education, work experience, and mission-alignment is OK.
- Please do not contact the role’s supervisor or any potential member of the hiring team. If you have questions, please email careers@gfi.org.
Thank you for helping us to ensure that the redaction process works smoothly and to review your application as quickly as possible!