Director, RESTORE Project

Violence Prevention Network US is seeking a full-time consultant to serve as the Director of the RESTORE project in Pennsylvania. This role will begin as soon as possible. It offers an excellent opportunity for a driven, mission-focused individual to strengthen their leadership skills while growing an innovative and impactful initiative addressing one of today’s most urgent social challenges. While the role is focused on establishing a thriving demonstration site of our work in Pennsylvania, the position offers national- and international-level collaboration with colleagues and experts in the field of preventing violent extremism.

The goal of the RESTORE project is to prevent radicalization to violence in Southwestern Pennsylvania by harnessing the powerful role trusted community leaders – teachers, healthcare professionals, faith leaders, and social workers – can play to change the path of ideologically-motivated members of our communities.

Carefully selected community leaders form a small but powerful RESTORE team have been trained in evidence-based tools and methodologies that help individuals reject hate and abandon violence and instead anchor their focus on more democratic ways of thinking and acting.

The design of our pilot project is based on the work of Violence Prevention Network in Germany with more than 20 years of experience developing programs that address violent extremism at its root causes. Violence Prevention Network seeks to ensure that people have the tools and resources available to reflect on and overcome patterns of hate and violence. Our motto best summarizes our unique, process-oriented approach to preventing and countering violent extremism: We talk to extremists, not about them. Hence, we are working directly with ideologically motivated individuals to enable them to live a life in which they do not harm themselves or others.

Job Responsibilities:

Expand and enhance the training and referral network strategy to strengthen RESTORE’s impact and reach.

Coordinate all aspects of RESTORE training workshops—handling logistics, scheduling, participant engagement, and trainer support.

Support the RESTORE team by organizing regular meetings, case conferences, and implementing a tailored case management system.

Serve as the primary liaison among the board of directors, advisory councils, contractors, RESTORE team, evaluators, and referral partners.

Position project RESTORE in key networks through meetings with community leaders and attendance at conferences and other community gatherings.

Lead the project’s communication efforts, including maintaining the website and managing content across social media platforms, brochures, presentations, and press releases.

Oversee regional fundraising efforts, financial planning and budgeting for RESTORE.

Qualifications/Requirements:

A bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in a relevant field such as social work, business/entrepreneurship, humanities, or social sciences.

At least 3 years of relevant professional experience, such as project management, community organizing, partnerships, event planning or training.

Strong interpersonal, relationship-building, communications and conflict management skills.

A positive, pragmatic, proactive and solution-oriented attitude.

Reliability, authenticity, integrity, empathy, sensitivity and ability to work across differences and with a very wide variety of stakeholders and vulnerable service populations.

Knowledge of, or experience with, the ecosystem of relevant institutions and (community) organizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Ability to prioritize and achieve overall project goals despite handling a high volume of disparate tasks on a daily basis.

Strong written and oral communication skills in English.

High level of competence in all typical business software and applications (MS Office Suite, Zoom, Social Media accounts, etc.)

Experience in financial management is an asset.

Expertise in or experience with preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) or adjacent, relevant fields such as criminal justice, gang violence, education, youth work, or cults, is an asset.

The application deadline is May 5, 2025. We look forward to receiving your application materials, which should include cover letter, CV, salary requirements (range: $80,000-120,000), and the names of two references. Please send your application to Michèle Leaman, co-founder of Violence Prevention Network USA, at .