Vice President of External Affairs

Job description

JOB TITLE: Vice President of External Affairs

DEPARTMENT: External Affairs

REPORTS TO: Chief External Affairs Officer

FLSA: Exempt

SALARY RANGES: $130,000 - $160,000

About the Center

The Center for New York City Neighborhoods, Inc. (the “Center”) is a not-for-profit that promotes and protects affordable homeownership so middle- and working-class families can build strong, thriving communities. We meet the diverse needs of homeowners by offering free, high-quality housing counseling and services, coordinating a network of service providers across the city, and providing free or low-cost loans for homeownership.

Through its work, the Center supports and expands homeownership across New York by developing programs that focus on underserved communities. We have successfully delivered over $500 million to homeowners in several state-wide interventions, in response to physical, financial, and health crises, working with both the city and state to expand protections for New Yorkers. By helping homeowners individually and systematically, the Center achieves lasting change. To date, the Center, together with its partners, has helped more than 250,000 low- and moderate-income (LMI) families with a median annual income of $46,000 keep their homes and gain financial stability, preserving over $10 billion in neighborhood property value across New York.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief External Affairs Officer, the Vice President of External Affairs will advance our external vision and goals to stabilize homeowners across New York, helping execute an ambitious agenda that leverages our policy, marketing & communications, and digital products teams. This leader will utilize their expertise and experience in affordable homeownership and related fields such as community development and consumer mortgage lending to identify opportunities and achieve policy, storytelling, and other external wins on behalf of New York homeowners.

In this newly formed role, the VP will help execute an updated and ambitious strategic vision & plan that the Center is currently building collaboratively. Working with the Chief External Affairs Officer, the VP will develop and execute an updated External Affairs Strategy to meet the goals of this organization-wide plan. This includes leading program and project management, and coordinating across dynamic cross-functional initiatives, such as advocacy campaigns, facilitating collaboration that deepens our impact.

The Vice President will identify opportunities for our work to make a greater impact for homeowners individually and systemically and will chart how we externally achieve and uplift positive outcomes for the communities we serve. They will also move external stakeholders to take actions that benefit homeowners in need. The Vice President of External Affairs is a full-time, exempt position.

This is a hybrid role intended for candidates within commuting distance of our New York City office.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Leveraging and leading across high-profile, public-facing projects. This includes identifying opportunities, seeking out potential collaborators, and communicating our impact in a more compelling way to external stakeholders. This includes incubation of pilots (like Underwriting for Good) and innovative approaches to policy, communications, and digital products.
• Publicly representing the Center with external constituency groups, including community, governmental, and private organizations, and building excitement for the Center’s mission and strategy with stakeholders, both locally and regionally.
• Working across the organization to ensure deliverables are met while also advancing longer-term goals around storytelling, audience development, and physical and digital assets, including leading strategies for communicating about the organization to prospective funders, peers, and other stakeholders, to maximize the Center’s impact.
• Leading and overseeing three External Affairs teams: Policy & Public Affairs, Marketing & Communications, and Digital Products, with an emphasis on cross-functional collaboration for greater impact. Knit together leaders and subject matter experts to achieve collaboration and success in communicating to diverse audiences, driving programming and pilots, and delivering outcomes for homeowners across New York. This will include assessing and implementing meeting cadences and creating opportunities for cross-team collaboration.
• Leading the EA Leadership Team, which spans the full External Affairs division, to identify priorities and key goals and escalate funding priorities and blockers in a timely manner. This includes leading and setting strategy for the External Affairs weekly meetings; overseeing follow-ups, next steps, and troubleshooting across departments.
• Support the Chief External Affairs Officer and the Center Executive Office in Board of Directors Management as required.
• Support the Chief External Affairs Officer and the Development Team in planning, producing, and fundraising around the annual Summit.
• Support the Chief External Affairs Officer on the revenue budgeting process.
• Assist with the final stages of the rebrand and strategy project and participate in carrying out the recommendations and strategy in collaboration with the Chief External Affairs Officer and the Executive Office.
• Implement a new meeting cadence and structure for the full External Affairs division to come together virtually and in person.

Skills & Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in nonprofit, public sector, or private sector organizations leading teams, growing revenue, and telling stories to expand justice and equity.
• Experience, exposure, and facility are strongly preferred in the affordable homeownership and affordable housing fields, as well as consumer finance, including around policy.
• Knowledge of homeownership and experience with issues affecting New York City homeowners and communities of color is a plus.
• Experience with public policy is a plus.
• Deep Program and Project Management experience and a proven track record in collaboration and execution across departments and disciplines. A proven track record of successfully managing multiple projects and competing priorities, meeting deadlines, and collaboratively solving problems. The ability to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, evaluate, and close the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet success criteria within a specified time is a must.
• Experience managing, coaching, and mentoring diverse teams and individuals, including those with skills, experience, and subject matter expertise outside of or beyond their own. Success means achieving successful outcomes for the work and with staff members. Adept at cross-team collaboration, with a willingness to pitch in when and where required.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate ideas and information, confidently, effectively, and compellingly to both internal and external stakeholders, including our key external audiences and stakeholders: homeowners, funders, electeds, and Network Partners. Ability to inspire, connect with, and leverage these same diverse groups of stakeholders. Storytelling acumen is a must.
• The ability to interpret, summarize and synthesize information to create a better understanding and drive decisions and strategies. Exceptional judgment, creativity, and resourcefulness.

Values

• Demonstrate Ownership by showing initiative, active problem solving, being solution-oriented, acting conscientiously, and putting team results above individual accomplishments
• Demonstrate Growth Mindset through resilience, humility, engaging in expansive thinking, and showing curiosity and openness to learning
• Work collaboratively by demonstrating the ability to work in teams, exhibiting emotional

Salary

We offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package.

Application

To apply for this position, please submit your cover letter with salary requirements and resume along with 3 work-related references through our website, cnycn.org.

Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. Applicant review will continue until the position is filled.

This is a hybrid role intended for candidates within commuting distance of our New York City office.

The Center strongly encourages Section 3 residents to participate in this hiring effort. Information to determine if you are a Section 3 resident can be obtained by contacting [email protected].

Persons requiring reasonable accommodation to participate in this hiring effort are requested to contact: [email protected].

We thank you for your interest in career opportunities with the Center for NYC Neighborhoods.

The Center for NYC Neighborhoodsis an equal opportunity employer. We recruit, hire, upgrade, train, and promote for all positions and job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, marital, veteran or disabled veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other status as a member of any other legally protected group or activity.

To learn more, visit cnycn.org.