Policy Director, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties

R Street Institute

Washington, D.C.

The R Street Institute—a free-market think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. and with regional offices across the country—seeks a collaborative director for our Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties policy area. If you are the right fit, you will report to the Policy Department Director. If you want to join a mission-driven organization and work toward pragmatic policy solutions, this may be the opportunity for you!

Your typical day at R Street may include working with your team to produce timely commentary, analysis, and research; managing deliverables; preparing to speak on criminal justice issues at a conference or on a panel; reviewing and editing policy products; discussing policy strategy and brand alignment with your team; developing an approach to a potential donor; or consulting with a congressional staffer about the criminal justice elements of a proposed bill. Your work may also include finishing an op-ed on recidivism or helping an analyst scope out a research project on policing. Other elements may include meeting with Communications, Editorial, or Government Affairs team members to determine your audience and strategize the best products to ensure impact. Overall, your leadership and management will be key in helping the organization solve challenges, and you will work with departments across the organization.

Other Aspects of Your Role

• Build, manage, and coach a team of experts working on a wide range of criminal justice and law enforcement issues
• Conceive and oversee the program’s overarching research agenda and help manage individual research projects and programming that are novel, rigorous, and relevant
• Contribute research and thought leadership that aligns with the program’s mission, including writing a mix of opinion, analysis, regulatory comments, and policy papers and participating in conferences, media, and other speaking engagements to help solve difficult problems and translate complex ideas in criminal justice policy
• Work closely with the Business Development team to contribute to fundraising efforts and ensure financial sustainability
• Cross-collaborate with the Government Affairs, Communications, and Editorial teams to identify and consistently engage with target audiences to maximize impact
• Collaborate and coordinate with internal and external partners to advance the policy conversation
• Keep up to date with the latest research and legislation in criminal justice policy
• Attend and speak at events and convenings
• Remain vigilant against ninja infiltrations

Skills and Qualifications

• No particular educational background required—a proven record of achieving results is far more meaningful than credentials
• Experience managing people and teams, including at least five years of director-level experience involving oversight of multiple full-time employees
• Experience collaborating across teams, with an appreciation of others’ expertise and experience
• Top-notch writing, editing, and public speaking skills, particularly in criminal justice policy
• Expertise in the criminal justice field
• Experience working for a public policy institution
• Fundraising experience
• Demonstrated ability to oversee and deliver sophisticated, multi-part projects
• Demonstrated experience facilitating impactful research
• Ability to work productively with various groups and individuals, including those with whom you may disagree
• Entrepreneurial attitude and willingness to be a self-starter

• Support for R Street’s passion for free markets and limited, effective government
• A sense of humor and a desire to grow within a multifaceted organization

R Street works to bolster American innovation, increase consumer choice and protect individual liberty by supporting a smaller, smarter government. We focus on deep scholarship and pragmatic policy solutions that many groups tend to neglect. Our goal is to publish timely, relevant research and analysis that advances a market-oriented society and limited, effective government. To that end, our motto is “Free Markets. Real Solutions.”

Workplace

We offer a flexible working arrangement. This is a full-time position that can either work the majority of the week in our D.C. office or be fully remote.

Occasional travel will be required for events and conferences.

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks

R Street strives to provide a compensation package superior to those at other think tanks and nonprofits. The salary range for this position is $185K to $195K, commensurate with experience. In addition to this competitive salary, we provide the following:

• Unlimited paid time off, including all federal holidays, the day after Thanksgiving, and two weeks holiday closure in December
• Alternating Fridays off
• A health insurance option entirely paid by the employer (even for families)
• Dental and vision insurance
• 401(k) contributions with up to a 4 percent match
• HSA employer contribution match
• Quarterly wellness reimbursement
• Mobile equipment/mobile plan reimbursement
• Home internet subsidy
• Annual educational and professional development reimbursement
• A choice between child care assistance, pet care assistance, and student loan repayment assistance

R Street is committed to a workplace that values diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe having a diverse workforce strengthens R Street’s ability to innovate, achieve our mission, and support long-term systemic change. As people dedicated to limited, effective government and free markets, we understand that a free society achieves its greatest triumphs by allowing and facilitating a wide variety of approaches to public policy problems. The concept of “broad coalitions,” one of our core operating principles, stems from that insight. People of all races, religions, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, life experiences, and socioeconomic backgrounds perform at the highest levels in every type of work we do and have shaped the principles to which we subscribe. We believe that searching for talent everywhere is an integral part of living up to our principles.

We plan to accept applications for this job until filled. We will contact qualified individuals for telephone screenings and conduct them on a rolling basis. Interviews take place virtually via Zoom.

To apply, please copy and paste your cover letter into the text box and upload your resume as a Microsoft Word document or PDF. If generative artificial intelligence is used during the application process, it must be disclosed.

The R Street Institute stands for free markets, limited, effective government and pragmatic solutions to difficult problems. We envision:

A free society, where public policy begins with freedom as its initial premise and governments exist primarily as guardians of inherent, inalienable rights.

An inclusive society that provides a place, a voice, and equal opportunity for all.

A just society that holds everyone accountable to the same laws.

Our Values

The following values are the principles that guide how R Street fulfills its mission and operates. Our organization believes in these values and we live them:

Always be better

We want to achieve preeminence in every area where we work. We encourage a bias for action, innovation, creativity, and courage in everything that we do. We measure ourselves by the quality, credibility and impact we achieve as a result.

Different is good.

We believe that great minds think differently and building broad coalitions has made us who we are. Making progress on policy requires that we operate outside of the echo chamber and take non-traditional approaches to policy making. We apply this same principle to the way we operate and how we build our teams: with a focus on diversity and inclusion. We are all unique but belong to the same team.

Serious(ly)

We’re serious about our work, but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We believe in the intellectual rigor, free inquiry and honesty, that is required to achieve our mission, but having fun doing it is equally as important.

One Team

We all work together and work with humility. We strive to cultivate trust and transparency at all levels, between ourselves as individuals and as an organization, with our stakeholders, and in our work. We demonstrate respect and openness in our actions at all times. We are all unique but belong to the same team.