Managing Director

Position Summary

Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (HRI) seeks a dynamic and creative individual to be HRI’s managing director. The managing director will be responsible for leading the design of HRI’s educational, scholarship, and advocacy mission and for the day-to-day management of HRI.

HRI advances international human rights through education, advocacy, fact-finding, research, scholarship, and critical reflection.

We work in partnership with advocates, communities, and organizations pushing for social change to develop and strengthen the human rights legal framework and mechanisms, promote justice and accountability for human rights violations, and build and amplify collective power.

Founded in 1998 by the late Professor Louis Henkin as the anchor for human rights within Columbia Law School, the Human Rights.

The Institute promotes engagement and knowledge of human rights within the law school, throughout the University, and around the world.

Across the many substantive areas of its work, the Institute builds bridges between scholarship and activism, develops capacity within the legal community, engages governments, and models new strategies for progress.

HRI’s Managing Director will be responsible for managing and leading the programming, operations, administration, and fundraising of HRI.

This position reports to HRI’s Faculty Co-Directors and works closely with the international lawyers and advocates of HRI, as well as partners across the university and around the world.

Responsibilities

• Leading HRI’s strategy, vision, and programming across its core areas of education, scholarship, and advocacy, and working with HRI’s faculty directors and project directors to implement that strategy and develop the influence of HRI.
• Initiating and implementing human rights programming at Columbia Law School in collaboration with HRI’s Faculty Directors and other staff.

HRI’s programming includes a robust speaker series, panels, conferences, symposia, workshops, trainings, and meetings with civil society groups, government officials, academics, and others.

HRI also has programs for practitioners-in-residents, fellows, and unique programs for 1L and LLM human rights students.

The Managing Director initiates and develops ideas for programming, conducts outreach to speakers, manages event budgets and publicity, and manages HRI’s administrative staff who implement event logistics.

• Managing HRI’s staff, including by working with them to assess their needs, conducting staff evaluations, facilitating staff meetings and trainings, receiving feedback from staff, and building community.
• Managing and building HRI’s relations with others in the law school and university (student groups, faculty, centers, alumni) and across the country and globally (UN, NGOs, educational institutes), representing HRI at Columbia, nationally, and internationally;

and managing and building HRI’s communications and online presence, including via press releases, newsletters, website, and social media.

The managing director will be the primary liaison to student groups and university offices and centers at the University and will work with student groups on human rights programming.

• Overseeing the operational aspects of HRI’s projects, including by supervising administrative support, drafting and editing documents, and managing report dissemination or other aspects of advocacy, managing expense reports.
• Managing the Institute’s finances, including researching funding opportunities; preparation of grant proposals and budgets and financial reports;
• tracking expenditures and meeting appropriate deadlines; preparation of the annual budget for the Institute; processing invoices;
• reconciling expenses; overseeing Institute spending, including payroll; serving as the primary liaison to Columbia Law School’s Business Office;

and managing HRI’s administrative assistants.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• A minimum of 4-6 years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated commitment to and participation in human rights, public interest, or social justice issues and activities.
• Ability to effectively oversee and manage a growing organization engaged in a wide range of international and domestic social justice issues.
• Ability to develop and implement a strategic vision in a human rights and social justice context.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and creatively and work quickly and well under pressure.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Experience with financial management, budgeting, and basic accounting.
• Experience fundraising and administering grants.
• Excellent interpersonal, administrative, and organizational skills, and a commitment to a collaborative work style.
• Experience in facilitating and coordinating meetings, networks, and committees.
• Ability to effectively represent HRI to internal and external constituents.
• Ability to function independently and to exercise discretion and judgment in sensitive matters.
• Ability to identify and respond to the needs of the organization, initiate work and follow through with minimal supervision, work under pressure, be part of a collegial team, adapt to changing priorities, and balance competing assignments, and a deep personal commitment and ability to work in mutually empowering partnerships.
• Must be able to work with diverse constituencies and support an inclusive work environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• A deep commitment to advancing human rights through research and education, and a strong interest and ability in pursuing innovative human rights programming.
• Substantive knowledge across multiple human rights issues.
• Experience with managing, editing, and maintaining a website.
• Capacity to effectively use social and other media.
• Excellent computer / technology skills and proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint), Adobe Acrobat Professional, Google documents, etc.
• Second language skills.
18 hours ago