Principal – Programs and Policy - Coalitions

About Omidyar Network (ON):

Omidyar Network (ON) is a philanthropic organization whose mission is to bend the arc of the digital revolution toward shared power, prosperity, and possibility. Digital technology is a powerful and ubiquitous force that, harnessed wisely, makes wondrous things happen. We believe in working together to guide tech’s trajectory intentionally. Our vision is for our shared humanity to steer our digital future.

So far, we have committed more than $1.94 billion to initiatives that share our vision. We engage, partner with, and fund some of the world’s brightest thinkers and innovators to guide our digital future toward the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

About the Programs and Policy team:

Our Programs and Policy team focuses on the key drivers of our shared digital future: the culture, the governance, and the business of digital tech. Through grantmaking, advocacy, and funder partnership, we aim to shape more intentional societal governance and amplify our shared agency. We work with a broad range of stakeholders, including investors, tech firms, policymakers, consumers, and workers, to guide tech’s trajectory and build coalitions and counterweights to concentrated power in civil society. Our team members come from policy, advocacy, nonprofits, community organizing, technology, consulting, philanthropy, education, and the arts.

About the Role:

ON seeks a Principal on our Programs and Policy team to steward our coalitions portfolio through a mix of catalytic grantmaking, strategic advising, network weaving, and funder partnership. Our coalitions portfolio takes a big tent approach that sees broad-based collective action as an essential part of ensuring that digital technology is designed, deployed, and governed in the public interest. 

From social media to artificial intelligence, we know that it takes parents and young people, college students, older adults, workers organized across occupations and industries, faith communities, artists, and storytellers, engaging alongside builders, researchers, and policy experts to put technology in service of humanity rather than the reverse. “The kind of society that emerges from the [technological] revolution,” the economists Chris Freeman and Francisco Louçã write, “depends on the strength and programmes of contending social groups and political forces far more than on the technologies.” (As Time Goes By: From the Industrial Revolutions to the Information Revolution)    

You will own most of the day to day grantmaking in Omidyar Network’s second largest portfolio, working in tandem with the Senior Director and in close collaboration with our Policy team.  

This role is built for someone who believes that everyone should have a say over the trajectory of artificial intelligence. You grasp its far-reaching implications and what it takes to bring different communities off the sidelines. You are a strategist and connector. You build relationships with and among coalition leaders, link efforts that don’t yet know they share a cause, and spot early openings others may overlook. 

This role reports to the Senior Director, Programs and Policy, who is based remotely in Los Angeles, CA. 

How You’ll Contribute to our Impact:

• Manage a grant portfolio. Contribute to strategic planning, diligence, grantmaking, and ongoing relationship management for the Coalitions portfolio. Deploy programmatic budget on time, in close collaboration with our grant operations teams, and work with colleagues across ON on strategy, learning, and evaluation to understand the impact of our grants. 
• Support the success of grantees. Meet regularly with grantee organizations as a strategic collaborator and trusted thought partner. Help them gain traction by facilitating connections, problem-solving, and sharing funding opportunities.  
• Build and convene coalitions. Bring coalition leaders together across issues and constituencies, help new and emerging coalitions form and mature, and design convenings that turn shared concern into shared strategy.  
• Collaborate with other funders. Build close working relationships with other funders, understand their priorities, and advance opportunities for aligned grantmaking.  
• Advance our point of view. Establish a regular cadence of writing for key audiences, represent Omidyar Network at convenings, and organize funder briefings to share what we are learning and make the case for the importance of investing in coalitions.
• What success looks like in your first year: Your work contributes to existing grantees gaining traction in their respective domains and collaborating on key issues. You have identified the next set of portfolio opportunities. You develop a network of peer funders.

Location:

This is a hybrid role, with employees working in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This position will be based out of our San Francisco or Washington, DC office. Employees must reside within 100 miles of their assigned office location. This role will require low to moderate travel (10-25%). 

Candidates must have a current U.S. work authorization to be considered. ON does not sponsor or provide support for visas or work authorization, including H-1B, OPT, STEM OPT, and other temporary work authorization programs.

Compensation:

This is a full-time, salaried position that features competitive pay and benefits, including health care (medical/dental/vision), paid time off, and a generous employer 401(k) contribution. The starting salary range for this role is $171,400-$214,200 in San Francisco and $154,200-$192,800 in Washington, DC. ON manages pay equity seriously and new hires generally start at the midpoint of this range.

What You'll Bring to the Team:

• Minimum of 7 years of experience building coalitions or aligning diverse stakeholders. Strong candidates may come from organizing, civic engagement, advocacy, campaigns, consulting, communications, or government. We care more about evidence than sector. You can point to three or four major examples from your career of bringing very different constituencies together (e.g., parents, young people, workers, or artists). Prior grantmaking experience is not required.
• Range across issues and communities. You have worked across more than one issue and more than one sector, and you are comfortable moving between them in the same week. You’re comfortable with small, informal, community-led organizations as well as established institutions.
• Fluency in the societal implications of AI and digital technology. You don’t need technical expertise, but you do have a track record of teaching yourself across several threads of the tech/AI and society conversation (e.g., kids’ online safety, job automation, human connection, concentration of power). You can engage credibly with community groups, funders, and policymakers, and you know what to ask, and who to ask, when you’re outside your depth.
• The ability to build trust across differences. You establish credibility quickly with people from very different communities and perspectives, including across political and ideological lines. You sustain those relationships over time, and help others find shared objectives.
• Sound judgment about where to place bets.  You can spot promising early-stage efforts that others overlook and you know what early promise looks like in a coalition. You can assess what a group needs to succeed, size the right investment, and make well-reasoned decisions with incomplete information, explaining your reasoning to colleagues. You’re comfortable making small early bets, saying no, and changing course when the evidence changes.
• A track record of strong execution. You can turn a broad strategy into a concrete work plan, manage a portfolio and budget, and follow through, on time and in close collaboration with colleagues.
• Excellent writing and communication skills. A meaningful share of your impact will come through memos, briefings, op-eds, and decks, and through how you show up in rooms.

Omidyar Network is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply. We fundamentally believe that people are inherently capable but often lack opportunity. We know that a diverse workforce reflecting a broad range of backgrounds and views allows us to see problems in more nuanced ways, creating the thought leadership needed to elevate humanity and evolve the culture, governance, and business of technology. We actively recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a broad candidate pool. We are committed to an inclusive and accessible hiring process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please let us know at [email protected].