The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho Foundation (ACLU of Idaho) seeks a Chief Program and Strategy Officer (CPSO) to oversee our multi-department, integrated advocacy efforts that combine legal, community organizing, legislative policy work, and strategic communications. The CPSO is a member of the executive leadership team and charged with leading the direction of the organization’s programmatic work in alignment with our multi-year strategic plan, resulting in greater depth in advocacy strategies to protect and advance civil rights and liberties for all Idahoans.

The CPSO is responsible for managing cross-departmental strategy, overseeing implementation of programs and work plans, leading the development and use of programmatic evaluations tools, and supporting the reporting of outcomes. Our integrated advocacy focuses on four issue areas: Immigrants’ Rights, Transgender Justice, Criminal Legal Reform and Reproductive Rights.

We seek an experienced, innovative, and collaborative leader who works well with diverse groups of people. Each of our programmatic areas is led by an experienced director who in turn supervises their team. The successful candidate will have extensive experience as both a manager and strategist in pursuing an integrated advocacy approach to further a broad range of civil liberties and civil rights work priorities. In addition, the candidate must have a strong background in setting up internal structures for managing staff, program implementation, and evaluation tools to harness the organization’s impact and power more effectively.

The CPSO supervises the Legal Director, Advocacy Director, and Communications Director. The CPSO is supervised by the Executive Director. This is a full-time, exempt position based in Boise, Idaho. The successful candidate must reside in Idaho or be willing to relocate to the state before employment begins.

Vision & Strategy Development

• Work closely with the Executive Director and program department directors to operationalize the current strategic plan to execute the organization’s vision.
• Lead the program teams in developing shared, ambitious short- and long-term goals for integrated advocacy campaigns, engaging them in creative and transformative visualization of programs to strengthen the reach, impact, and effectiveness of the ACLU of Idaho’s work.
• Collaborate with the Executive Director and other senior leaders to develop new initiatives, long-term goals, and operating plans to advance civil liberties, equity, and racial justice.

Leadership & Team Management

• Assist the Executive Director in developing and implementing key performance indicators and methods to monitor impact and evaluate the effectiveness of the organization’s programs. Regularly report on progress and challenges, suggest solutions, and identify innovative methods to share that impact with a variety of audiences.
• Oversee all integrated advocacy by working with directors to develop coordinated work plans, tracking progress, managing collaboration between departments, holding staff accountable, and evaluating and measuring success.
• Provide support, guidance, mentorship, and coaching to programmatic staff.
• Foster a culture that promotes teamwork, accountability, and professional growth characterized by excellence along with anti-racism, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
• Work with the Executive Director and the leadership team to assess programmatic capacity gaps and collaborate to identify external partnerships, consultants, and resources to help build organizational capacity that increases our programmatic effectiveness and sustainability.
• Partner with programmatic department directors and the Director of Finance and Administration in providing feedback and monitoring annual budgets.
• Manage compliance by programmatic departments with legal, regulatory, ethical and internal policy requirements as well as consistency with ACLU values.
• Collaborate with the Director of Philanthropy to organize and manage program activities that maximize opportunities for philanthropic support; this includes collaborating closely with organization leadership on drafting grant proposals and grant reporting and joining periodic meetings with major donors.
• Collaborate with the ACLU National office, and other affiliates as needed, on nationwide and statewide issues.
• Although serving primarily in an internal facing role, act as a spokesperson and public face for the ACLU of Idaho, as appropriate.

Building Long-term Political Power and Influence

• Maintain a deep analytical understanding of the electoral and political landscape and work to better position the ACLU of Idaho to influence policymakers, government agencies and voters.
• Collaborate with Executive Director and affiliate staff to understand partnerships, shared goals and strategies across coalitions of partner organizations in the civil rights, faith, business and other sectors to advance values and priorities related to constitutional rights and develop strategies to strengthen these relationships.

• A minimum of (7) years of relevant experience including (5) years in senior management roles that required significant judgement, emotional intelligence, and management and leadership finesse.
• Experience working at a nonprofit or similar public interest focused organization with an integrated advocacy model where legal, policy, communications and community mobilizing are used to achieve results.
• Significant experience supervising a team of at least three (3) people and designing and executing integrated advocacy campaigns.
• Excellent analytical problem-solving and coaching skills; adept at overseeing and executing strategic projects with significant visibility and impact. Demonstrated ability to resourcefully solve problems with a people-centered focus.
• Exceptional interpersonal skills, tact and diplomacy with the ability to develop and maintain cooperative, collaborative, and successful working relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and manage effective teams in a fast-paced, complex environment and the ability to foresee needs and challenges.
• Ability to provide clear direction, delegate tasks, while developing and nurturing highly talented and diverse staff.
• Patience, emotional intelligence, and cultural competency, including the ability to participate in, create, and sustain inclusive and engaging spaces for people with a wide range of races, ethnicities, language proficiencies, abilities, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, backgrounds, skills, personalities, and geographies.
• Desire to receive and incorporate feedback.
• Clear, strong, and proven commitment to racial justice, civil liberties, public interest work, and the mission of the ACLU of Idaho.
• Valid driving privileges and willingness to travel across Idaho and occasionally to other places in the United States.
• Ability to attend in-person meetings and events.
• Experience working with at least one of the impacted communities we serve through our strategic priorities.

• A JD/law degree.

The salary for this position is $140,000, which is re-evaluated on an annual basis and is subject to adjustment in connection with an organization wide adjustment of compensation. We offer excellent benefits, including 100% employer-paid premiums for medical, vision and dental insurance, 401(k) plan with an employer match, life and long-term disability insurance, sabbatical eligibility after at least five years, and generous paid holidays.

ACLU of Idaho will provide up to $5,000 to support relocation expenses.

(1) Compile the following into a single PDF file:

• Résumé.
• A cover letter, no more than two pages, explaining how your background and experience prepare you for this job.
• Contact information for three references.

(2) Send to [email protected].

Please reference “Chief Programs and Strategy Officer” in the email subject line and indicate in your cover letter where you found this job listing.

Review of applications will begin on October 12, 2026. The position will remain open until filled.

If you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying, please e-mail [email protected].

If we select you for an interview, you will receive more information about how to request accommodations for the interview process.

The ACLU is the nation’s premier guardian of liberty. A nationwide, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, the ACLU is dedicated to defending and expanding civil rights and civil liberties across the country. The ACLU of Idaho and its foundation operate jointly as private nonprofit organizations devoted to furthering the ACLU’s mission in Idaho. The ACLU of Idaho combines legal, policy, organizing and communications approaches to maximize its impact. We partner with individuals and communities impacted by injustices to inform and mobilize people throughout the state. The people in the center of the struggles for justice, who feel the impact in their daily lives, are especially important allies.

Our staff of 14 full-time, 3 part-time employees, and interns work in a fast-paced, friendly office in the heart of downtown Boise, Idaho. We offer a flexible working environment with staff splitting time between the office and working remotely. We are a majority minority staff from all over the country and world and have chosen to make Idaho our home, but we enjoy frequent, deep, and positive collaborations with staff across the ACLU network at ACLU National and other ACLU state affiliates. ACLU of Idaho staff have a strong community organizing background, and we strive to ensure that our work is deeply informed by the communities we serve. Our supportive, inclusive, and empowering work culture has created opportunities for staff to grow with and within the organization. We enjoy autonomy and collaboration. Our current organizational priorities are in transgender justice, immigrant rights, criminal legal reform, and reproductive freedom.

Boise, the City of Trees, is the capital of Idaho and the core of a metro area of 764,000 people. The city enjoys all four seasons in a dry climate and offers an exceptional quality of life and a diverse business community with high tech and healthcare as the largest employers. Recreational activities include whitewater rafting and kayaking, climbing, fishing, hunting, and Nordic, alpine, and backcountry skiing. There is a 190-mile foothill trail system for hiking and mountain biking and a 25-mile riverside greenbelt along the Boise River which flows through the city. Easy access to diverse outdoor activities and unspoiled wilderness is unmatched. Downtown offers thriving restaurants, shops, concerts, and public markets, and an ever-expanding number of local microbrew pubs and wineries. Boise is a refugee resettlement city; over 95 languages are spoken in Idaho. The Treasure Valley, which includes the cities of Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell is home to the state’s largest Latinx community. Boise is also a hub for LGBTQ communities and political activism in Idaho.

The ACLU of Idaho advances equity and inclusion in the workplace by providing equal employment opportunity to support a work environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age (over 40), sexual orientation, military and veteran status, arrest or conviction record, and any other basis prohibited by law. The ACLU of Idaho embraces Fair Chance policies.

The organization also provides reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Our equity and inclusion commitment applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, selection, advancement, training, problem resolution, and separation from employment. Through this commitment, the ACLU of Idaho strives to establish and maintain an equitable and accessible work environment that is supportive and free from discrimination.