Director, Governance and Affordability

Director, Governance and Affordability

About The Connecticut Project

Our Mission: The Connecticut Project brings together people, ideas, and resources to build opportunity.

Our Vision: We believe in a Connecticut where it’s possible for everyone to thrive. We envision a fair, thriving Connecticut where working class people from every race, gender, income, and geography can afford and access opportunity.

What We Do: We get things done. We identify, fight for, and build bold, lasting solutions that enable people to create secure futures instead of being stuck in broken systems. We bring people and partners together to fight for policies that hold our state accountable to working class people and improve their lives. We deliver real results that people feel.

Who We Are: The Connecticut Project consists of two independent, distinct, and separately funded and governed organizations: The Connecticut Project, a 501c3 public charity, and The Connecticut Project Action Fund, a 501c4 advocacy organization. This allows us the greatest flexibility in our work and enables us the best leverage to build opportunity with and for working class people in our state.

Position Overview

The Director is responsible for coordinating TCP actions related to state governance, development, and housing that advance outcomes and affordability for working class people in Connecticut. That includes the origination and implementation of strategic actions utilizing TCPs investment, advocacy, and alignment capacity that collectively advance outcomes and systems change goals.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Action

Develop feasible strategic goals and maintain a portfolio of high impact related actions that drive state governance to better outcomes for working class families, including affordability, access, and quality in housing, government services, and other cross-cutting TCP organizational priorities.

Ensure that strategic actions are informed by and responsive to the related national and CT landscapes, including academic research, practical practice, and political opportunities.

Program Management

Coordinate TCP's activities within the portfolio, including sourcing ideas for grantee investments, policy changes, activation campaigns, and public communication campaigns.

Lead TCP’s issue-based investments using a trust-based philanthropic approach to create and cultivate funding relationships within target focus area.

Facilitate functional team analysis and leadership team decision-making to adopt related goals and pursue priority actions.

Coordinate the implementation of cross functional actions that achieve outcomes through systems change as appropriate, sometimes owning actions in implementation, sometimes helping, sometimes consulting.

Partnership and Stakeholder Alignment

Build and manage relationships with community members, partners, policymakers, TCP functional teams, and other stakeholders to drive collaborative efforts to identify and achieve common goals.

Act as a liaison between TCP and issue-focused external stakeholders to support alignment and maximized impact.

Act as the primary liaison to targeted partners (campaign collaborators, grantees, etc) and ensure efficacy of shared actions and learning to achieve outcomes through systems

Team Collaboration

Collaborate with policy and advocacy staff to conduct and support direct issue-based advocacy, as appropriate, including acting as a substantive area expert in advocacy-related meetings and drafting of public materials.

Collaborate with partners, grantees, and internal TCP communications staff to ensure ongoing learning for TCP, stakeholders, and the field in targeted focus areas, including highlighting success stories, assessing challenges, and refining problem statements and solution design.

Support internal TCP operations, communications, and other initiatives, as needed.

Other duties, as assigned.

Targeted Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes

Results Orientation: Persistent and proactive problem solving that consistently advances to ambitious and practical results. Ability to create actional and effective strategy, with a track record of leaving things better than they found them.

Strategic Relationship *and* System Focused: Simultaneously engaging the humans we interact with *and* the systems that impact them, with the goal of aligning people and systems to best outcomes.

Facilitative and Flexible Leadership: Inspiring stakeholders both internally and externally to act towards shared goals, adapting approach and role to the situation.

Growth Mindset: Emphasis on continuous learning, including recognizing and addressing challenges. Sees mistakes as learning opportunities. Seeks and engages well with feedback.

Navigation: Recognizes and comprehends the needs and viewpoints of various stakeholders, internally and externally to TCP. Identifies key individuals and teams crucial for reaching goals, and able to engage and collaborate effectively to meet milestones and goals.

Political Sensibility: Understanding how the CT political and legislative processes at the state and local levels impact policy and people and how to effectively, influence the legislative and executive processes.

Required Experience

8+ Years experience in high impact roles, with demonstrated outcomes.

Graduate degree is strongly preferred.

Deep experience in housing policy; state data and prioritization; and/or state, regional and local governance strongly preferred.

Team Structure and Reporting

TCP has four teams: an Issue Directors team, an Invest team, an Advocacy & External Affairs team, and an Operations team. This position reports to the CEO.

How We Approach Our Work

People First. The interests of Connecticut residents, particularly those deprived of opportunities and outcomes on a basis of race, income, gender, geography and other circumstances, are first in everything we do.

Courageous Acts. We are resolute in the pursuit of growth, equity, and justice, willing to learn from mistakes, and not afraid to challenge steady habits to accelerate progress.

Better Together. Grounding in the common humanity of all Connecticut residents ensures that personal, professional, and community differences lead to bolder innovations and stronger solutions.

Optimistic Realists. We operate at the crux of possibility and pragmatism– the change we imagine is the change we work to achieve.

Continuous Improvement. We listen, learn, and collaborate with humility alongside Connecticut residents and improve our methods with community feedback and guidance.

Logistics

This position is full-time, operating in a hybrid environment, designed to be accessible for staff across Connecticut. Applicants should live in or be willing to relocate to Connecticut.

Compensation & Benefits

Compensation for this role is between $120,000 and $170,000 and commensurate with experience.

The Connecticut Project offers an employee benefits package that includes, but is not limited to health, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental life insurance; a 401(K)-match program; and competitive vacation and holiday policies.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter that references their experience (citing specific examples) in relation to the qualifications listed in the job description, why the applicant is interested in the position, and how the applicant heard about this posting. Applicants are encouraged to submit their application by September 30, 2025. This posting will remain open until filled. Interviews will be held on a rolling basis. Applicant information is held highly confidential.

Please note that finalists will be subject to background and reference checks. Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter to Adriana Joseph, Chief Administrative Officer, at with the title of the position in the subject line or by visiting

The Connecticut Project is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a strong and welcoming team that reflects and includes Connecticut’s diverse and inclusive community. Candidates of all backgrounds and perspectives are strongly encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.