Chief Human Rights Strategy Officer at Amnesty International USA

***Note: Applications will be reviewed and responded to until the position is filled. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible by February 28 in order to be considered for initial interview rounds.***

 

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 a 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

The Chief Human Rights Strategy Officer (CHRSO) will join the Executive Team (E-team) of AIUSA, reporting to the Executive Director, at a time when our work has never been more urgent, both domestically and globally. 

As the head of AIUSA’s Strategy and Impact department, the CHRSO will oversee and guide AIUSA’s government relations and advocacy, marketing and communications, research and programs, and campaign/crisis response teams to deliver human rights influence and impact in the United States and around the world. Partnering closely with the Executive Director and other members of the E-team, the CHRSO will develop and bring to life compelling and impactful operational plans to realize our Strategic Framework, ensuring the organization is leveraging its strengths to protect and advance human rights in the United States and around the world. This is a highly collaborative role, and the CHRSO will also have the opportunity to work closely with Amnesty’s International Secretariat (IS) and colleagues around the world to ensure collaboration and cohesion across joint priorities, as well as with AIUSA’s Movement Building and Member Engagement department to strengthen and harness our people power across the United States.

Our ideal candidate has a robust background in human rights, is an outstanding leader of people and teams, has a strong executive leadership toolkit, and brings a clear track record of successfully leading ambitious, impactful visions and strategies for impact. 

Essential Responsibilities: Areas of Leadership & Key Qualifications

Executive & Organizational Leadership:

• Translate AIUSA’s Strategic Framework into clear, prioritized, budgeted, and integrated plans across the Strategy and Impact Department and, in partnership with E-Team colleagues, across the whole organization.
• Lead effectively through sustained complexity and crisis, strengthening rapid-response capacity while maintaining long-term strategic discipline.
• In partnership with the Movement Building and Member Engagement (MBME) team, align staff-led strategy with member activism and engagement to maximize human rights impact and build people power.
• Serve as a trusted deputy and thought partner to the Executive Director on human rights strategy and high-stakes decision-making, global movement dynamics, and organizational positioning.
• As a member of the Executive Team, collaborate with peers and the Executive Director to steward organizational vision and impact, engage actively in organization-wide decision-making, risk management, Board engagement and accountability, and lead our organization to be more antiracist, think in intersectional ways, and be values-driven.
• Act as a two-way conduit for communication, representing departmental perspectives to the E-Team and conveying organizational, Board, membership, and leadership priorities to Strategy and Impact staff, while fostering a collaborative culture.

• Senior organizational leadership experience in a mission-driven organization, with a track record of translating strategy into measurable impact.
• Enterprise-level experience with budgeting, planning, Board engagement, and decision-making.
• Proven strategic integrator able to connect research, advocacy, campaigns, communications, and movement-building.
• Systems thinker with the ability to manage multiple workstreams and time horizons simultaneously.
• Ability to make difficult, values-driven decisions under pressure.
• Exceptional relationship builder across staff, members, boards, donors, and external partners.
• Demonstrated ability to embed inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) into strategy, operations, and culture.
• Strong change management expertise, including both “nuts and bolts” implementation and the human dimensions of organizational change.
• Commitment to continuous learning, particularly around evolving strategies for influence and collaborative ways of working.  
• Experience working with grassroots, member-based, or movement organizations. 

Human Rights Strategy & Impact Delivery:

• Advance AIUSA’s mission to increase human rights impact in the U.S. and globally, ensuring the organization is prioritizing appropriately and leveraging research, campaigning, advocacy, education, communication strategies, and activism to protect individuals, communities, and systems at risk and advance a future of dignity and justice for all. 
• Lead and enable an innovative environment for AIUSA’s human rights strategies, considering value-add, and evolving risks and opportunities in an era of rising authoritarian practices and significant global threats to human rights.
• Collaborate closely with peers at the International Secretariat to ensure alignment and complementarity on human rights strategies, leveraging the global movement for delivering human rights impact.
• Oversee higher risk projects and plans and lead the organization in driving both reactive and proactive postures on U.S. human rights challenges.

• Deep grounding in international human rights law, advocacy, or practice, with credibility across global and U.S. civil and civic rights contexts.
• Strong understanding of U.S. government systems and how executive and congressional actions shape human rights domestically and globally.
• Expertise in at least one of the following key issue areas: civic space, racial justice,  gender justice, refugee and migrant rights, crisis and conflict, and protection of human rights defenders.
• Strategic understanding of how research, communications, digital platforms, media, and campaigns drive influence and impact.
• Ability to co-develop long-term and rapid-response campaigns and mobilize people power in ways that are strategic, inclusive, and sustainable.

People-Centered Department Management:

• Strengthen a large, complex department by building trust, empowering senior leaders with agency, ensuring distributed leadership, cohesion and collaboration, accountabilities and performance management, and modeling people-centered leadership.
• Provide strategic oversight and support across four core areas:
  • Government relations and advocacy, with emphasis on U.S. foreign policy and global human rights impact.
  • Research and Programs focused on advancing human rights outcomes in the United States.
  • Marketing and Communications, including digital, creative, media, and messaging strategy.
  • Campaigns and crisis response, aligning staff and member power to drive influence across U.S. and global Amnesty priorities including on individuals-at-risk cases and through Human Rights Education.

• Proven experience leading large, complex teams and managing senior subject-matter experts.
• Ability to develop, motivate, and support staff at all career stages in an equitable, inclusive, and collaborative environment.
• Demonstrated success with distributed leadership, shared power, clear role definition,  and effective delegation.
• Commitment to staff development and equitable access to opportunity, particularly for staff of color and other underrepresented identities.
• High emotional intelligence, resilience, ability to navigate conflict, build trust, and lead through anxiety and change.
• Strong commitment to power-sharing, AIUSA’s IDEA principles, and building intersectionally-diverse leadership pipelines.

External Representation, Influence, & Coalition Building:

• Elevate AIUSA’s external influence with policymakers, media, coalitions, donors, and global partners, shaping - rather than reacting to - public narratives on human rights.
• Articulate AIUSA’s impact and relevance in an evolving human rights environment, helping members, donors, staff, and partners clearly understand the organization’s value.
• Serve as a key public spokesperson and maintain a strong external profile through coalition leadership and high-level advocacy.
• In partnership with the Development team, cultivate and steward relationships with donors and grant-making institutions.

• Experience working to influence policymakers through advocacy and campaigns.
• Experience working with grassroots members and movement-based organizations; skilled in coalition leadership and shared power.
• Compelling communicator who can integrate data, lived experience, and storytelling; comfortable as a public spokesperson and media presence.
• Ability to represent the organization confidently with boards, donors, partners, and global counterparts.
• Experience and relationships with institutional donors; demonstrated success in institutional fundraising preferred.

Education & Experience

• BA/BS or equivalent years of experience required
• 15 years of progressively responsible experience required, to include human rights strategy development, international human rights law, government advocacy work and campaigning experience
• 5 years of senior organizational leadership and direct people management experience required
• Experience working in a large complex organization and in US and global spaces
• Experience managing in geographically dispersed, hybrid/remote organizations preferred

Location, Travel & Availability

• Remote role for either the Metro Washington DC or Greater New York City areas, with a strong preference for DC, and some in-person office engagement is expected
• Ability to occasionally travel required, both domestically and internationally, e.g. staff retreats, quarterly Board meetings, regional activism conferences, crisis contexts, partner gatherings, AIUSA’s annual general meeting
• Ability to occasionally work evenings and/or weekends required, e.g. Board meetings, member calls, rapid response work

Compensation & Benefits

• $255,000- $266,000 annual salary range
• An overview of AIUSA’s benefits can be found here: https://www.amnestyusa.org/careers/#two