Community Manager, Public Technology Leadership Collaborative

Organizational Summary

Data & Society is an independent nonprofit research organization, studying the social implications of data-centric technologies, automation, and AI. We recognize that the same innovative technologies that may benefit society can also be abused to invade privacy, provide new tools of discrimination, foreclose opportunity, and harm individuals and communities. Through original research and inclusive engagement, we work to ensure that empirical evidence and respect for human dignity guide how technology is developed and governed.

The Public Technology Leadership Collaborative

The Public Technology Leadership Collaborative (PTLC) is a peer learning collective anchored by 10 research institutions and led by Data & Society. It includes 375+ people — scholars, practitioners, and government leaders — who cultivate trust-based relationships to ensure that data and technology serve the public interest. The PTLC model includes three types of events:

• Salon series or two-part, private, exploratory and intentionally facilitated gatherings, rooted in a strategic question from a government office (e.g. how might the federal government embed participatory methods across the AI development lifecycle?).
• Pop-ups or private community conversations prompted by a strategic government question, new research, or a time-sensitive event (e.g. how might the research findings from a new report be turned into policy recommendations?).
• Working groups or, time-bound, small group conversations focused on diving deep into a specific question or collaborating to produce a community resource (e.g. a tip-sheet for responsibly procuring AI systems at the federal level).

About the Community Manager

The Community Manager will be critical in supporting the existing PTLC community, while supporting the PTLC’s expansion into working closely with state and local government.

This role is for someone who has a strong track record of successfully building partnerships and supporting multi-stakeholder, collaborative efforts.

Successful candidates will be expert facilitators and connectors motivated by making intentional and impactful connections, skillfully identifying and proactively meeting community needs, and implementing operational details of a well-curated experience.

A successful candidate will also have the expertise and written skills to develop practical resources and artifacts that support the community and bridge research and policymaking. They will have worked with or in close collaboration with state and local government stakeholders such that they can forecast their needs and serve as an effective resource and partner.

Primary Responsibilities

• Builds and stewards a vibrant community of practice in order to foster peer-learning and trust-building amongst the PTLC membership;
• Designs and leads a PTLC match-making program that intentionally matches community members based on need/interest area to advance peer-learning and address time-sensitive policy questions;
• Plans, operationalizes, and, over time, hosts demand-driven pop-ups rooted in community needs and interests to cultivate mutual understanding between stakeholder groups and improve policy outcomes;
• Supports coordination of bespoke, demand-driven working groups in order to support groups in interrogating a time-bound specific question or co-developing practical resources for the PTLC community;
• Develops a robust suite of practical resources and artifacts rooted in community needs and interests to advance the PTLC’s objectives; and
• Develops and maintains a community engagement database to source information about community needs/interests, support match-making program, and generate pop-up events.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s of Science in either Science & Technology Studies, Sociology, Political Science, Public Policy or other related fields preferred;
• 5+ years’ of experience in and/or working in close collaboration with the state agencies, regulatory bodies, and city governments required;
• 5+ years of experience in shaping and/or informing technology policy at the state or local level required;
• Excellent written, analytical, and facilitation skills required;
• Demonstrates the ability to work in collaboration with multiple stakeholder groups while operationalizing a strategy required;
• Demonstrates organizational skills, and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, while meeting deadlines required;
• Demonstrates issue and research expertise in emerging professional fields of public interest technology required;
• 2+ years of experience in and/or working in close collaboration with academic researchers and research centers preferred;
• Excellent oral presentation skills preferred;
• Proactive self-starter and the ability to work independently is preferred; and
• Proficiency with Google Suite, Slack, Canva, Zoom.

Core Competencies

• Building coalitions - bringing together groups of people or organizations to work towards a common goal;
• Cultural humility - self-reflecting and self-critiquing that aims to increase understanding and respect for cultural differences;
• Discretion - having the power or right to decide or act according to one's own judgment; freedom of judgment or choice;
• Ethical - using sound judgment in your workday while carrying yourself with a high degree of professionalism;
• Inclusiveness - aiming to include and integrate all people and groups in activities, organizations, political processes;
• Innovative problem-solving - devising novel approaches to tackle problems that have never been encountered before while having the flexibility and comfort with decision-making in uncertain environments;
• Leading and managing change - guiding a team/group/stakeholders through change from start to finish;
• Managing complexity - navigating and making use of complexity to achieve success in the organization;
• Positivity - engaging and approaching all projects in a collaborative and open-minded manner.

Organizational Values and Participation

• Commitment to advancing organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion;
• Actively participate in programs and professional development opportunities that work to ensure we continue our commitment to being an anti-racist and anti-discrimination organization;
• To attend, where able, whole-organization activities such as staff meetings, retreats, town halls, listening sessions, workshops, training and social events;
• To participate, where able and appropriate, in contributing to the culture of D&S by participating in working groups and committees (eg. DEIA Working Group)

Practical Considerations

1. Data & Society has committed to safety requirements to protect our staff from the COVID-19 pandemic. We require that prospective employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before joining our organization. Please note that any reasonable accommodation request is not guaranteed to be approved, and we will comply with ADA-related requirements to evaluate the accommodation against business needs.
2. This is currently a full-time, remote position in the PTLC department with an expected start date in February 2025. This role is initially for a two-year appointment, with a longer timeline depending on funding. Data & Society is based in New York City, and will for the foreseeable future operate as a Remote-First organization. While this role will start as completely virtual, it may involve onsite components in the future.