Government Relations Associate

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the global organization’s presence in the United States. We engage people in the U.S. to fight injustice all around the world, while we also work to protect people’s human rights here in the U.S. Amnesty International USA has more than one million members and activists in all 50 states, who are part of a larger global movement of 10 million people in 150 countries. We are a democratically governed, grassroots membership organization, which means that our members vote on key policy issues and elect our Board of Directors. Some of our members are experts on specific human rights issues, parts of the world, or advocacy areas, and they serve as volunteer leaders. Others are volunteer leaders of local or student groups in towns, universities, states, or regions of the country. Amnesty International USA’s elected Board members, staff, and members work together to lead the organization.

Job Summary

AIUSA’s Government Relations (GR) and Advocacy team educates, advises, and lobbies U.S. government (USG) officials on human rights issues around the world. Leveraging Amnesty’s research and grassroots power, GR creates and implements advocacy strategies to push for U.S. government policies that contribute to positive human rights outcomes. We build and maintain close relationships with policymakers in Congress and across the federal government. GR identifies influential stakeholders in the USG, including potential supporters and opponents, and takes advantage of political opportunities to push forward organizational goals.

We are looking for an organized and detail-oriented Government Relations Associate to provide administrative support to our Government Relations and Advocacy team. The Associate will be managing various tasks such as processing payment requests, maintaining the departmental calendar, scheduling meetings, and recording meeting minutes. The successful candidate will also be responsible for supporting with roundtables, briefings, and special events with members, coalitions, visitors, NGOs, press, and government officials. They will assist in compiling data and preparing monthly activity reports, including lobbying disclosures. Additionally, they will manage advocacy-related subscriptions and coordinate with other internal departments to ensure strategic collaboration. This role is a union position and covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), Local 1180.

Essential Responsibilities

• Provide administrative support to the National Director Government Relations and Advocacy
• Maintain departmental calendar and schedule meetings, and take meeting minutes as required
• Provide all necessary administrative support for meetings, roundtables, briefings and special events with members, coalitions, visitors, NGOs, press and government officials
• As needed, attend meetings with partner organizations or coalitions
• Compile data and prepare regular activity reports, including lobbying disclosures
• Manage advocacy-related subscriptions

• Make travel arrangements, maintain itineraries and contact information
• Organize invoices and receipts and prepare expenditure submission for Concur for reimbursement
• Direct calls, receive messages and respond to routine requests for information
• Prepare regular updates and reports on Government Relations team’s activities for internal and external audiences, including supporting the coordination across multiple internal teams and departments

• Create and maintain contacts database and documents filing/archiving systems
• Assist with the preparation, proofreading, formatting and distributing advocacy materials, including letters, briefing papers, op-eds, and other publications
• Support the strategic planning process of the Government Relations team

• In consultation with National Director, support and facilitate the Government Relations Team’s advocacy on organizational and section priorities as needed, including preparation of testimony, issue briefs through tweets and other social media platforms
• Ability to come into the Washington D.C. office several times a month
• Other administrative duties as assigned

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• Team player, highly organized, with strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Able to prioritize and manage multiple detailed tasks and produce high-quality work under short and fixed deadlines
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and writing skills
• Ability to objectively assess situations to determine action-oriented solutions to support the Team in meeting its goals
• Experience working in advocacy and/or with the US Government is preferred

• Experience with grassroots and coalition work is a plus
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools required

Education and Experience

• BA/BS and at least 2 years of administrative or departmental support experience
• This is a hybrid role, and requires coming into the Washington D.C. office several times a month

We recognize the valuable skills that can be gained through internships, fellowships, volunteer work, and non-traditional work experience. This experience helps build competencies and knowledge that may translate to our job openings. We seek a diversity of experience and skills for our workplace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply to our openings.

HOW TO APPLY AND OUR EEO STATEMENT

All applications must be completed online and we do not accept paper submissions. Please visit our Careers Page to review all current job postings. You must complete the entire online application, and electronically sign, in order for an application to be considered “complete.” For technical difficulties ONLY, please email talentacquisition@aiusa.org

Amnesty International USA is an equal opportunity employer. AIUSA encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status and record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Black people, Indigenous people, people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people; women; people with disabilities, protected veterans, and formerly incarcerated individuals are all strongly encouraged to apply.

OUR COMMITMENT AS AN ANTI-RACIST ORGANIZATION AND TO INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY (IDEA)

Dismantling white supremacy is central to the fight for human rights in the United States and around the world. As we mobilize staff and activists and work with partners to help transform the multiple systems where oppression operates in the world around us as part of our human rights mandate, anti-racism must be integral to our work. What does that mean for Amnesty International in the United States? It means using our people power to fight injustice and centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted by racist structures, beliefs, and laws. Fundamentally, it means doing our human rights work differently than it has been done before, because we know that who we work with, how we work, the work we do, and ultimately who we are, are all interconnected.

As an international, intercultural, intergenerational and intersectional movement of activists committed to protecting and advancing human rights for all, Amnesty is deeply committed to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility (IDEA). To learn more about how we integrate these concepts into our work and workplace, visit: https://www.amnestyusa.org/idea/

Remote and Hybrid Workplace Policy

Because the health and safety of our employees and candidates are a top priority, we are currently conducting our hiring process virtually.

Staff, office visitors, and event attendees to be up to date with COVID vaccines before entering AIUSA offices or attending AIUSA events or in-person meetings. If anyone wishing to enter the office or attend our events is not vaccinated, they will need to have tested negative for COVID within 24 hours of entry. We expect that all staff and visitors entering the office or attending AIUSA events will, by accessing our facilities, be attesting that they are vaccinated or that they have tested negative within 24 hours of entry.

Please review the job description, which will state whether a role is hybrid and remote. Some roles may require travel domestically and/or internationally.