Associate Director, Israel Engagement

Federation seeks to hire an Associate Director, Israel Engagement to meet the increasing demand to support local Israel engagement needs across the Greater Washington community. This is an opportunity expand Federation efforts locally in Greater Washington and bridge the work of Federation investments in Israel, strengthen the connection to Israel and strengthening Israeli civil society and peacebuilding efforts. The Associate Director, Israel Engagement must be proactive, creative, resourceful, able to navigate complicated situations, support multiple individuals, problem solve and interface effectively with all internal and external stakeholders.  This role has the potential for supervisory responsibilities of our local Israel engagement team. 

As part of Federation’s model for building and sustaining a vibrant Jewish community, the Impact Department functions at the intersection of Federation’s community engagement, strategic planning and philanthropic grant-making, and vibrant Jewish life programming. The Impact team’s outputs are founded upon data-driven solutions designed to strengthen Jewish life in Greater Washington (DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia) and a flourishing society in Israel & Overseas. 

Position Overview: 

The role will have four main components: 

1. Formulate and lead Federation’s local Israel Engagement Strategy by supporting cross functional planning, collaboration, and presence to community programs, events, and relationships (including Next Gen programs, PJ Library, and other Federation initiatives). 
2. Steward and staff lay leadership Working Groups focused on Local Israel Engagement  
3. Work closely with Federation’s Israel Office Director (in Israel) to connect Israel grantees to the local Greater Washington Community 
4. Partner with the Senior Israeli emissary and the delegation, key components of Federation’s local Israel engagement work in the community, to identify new opportunities to bridge Federation’s investments in Israel with our local engagement strategies. 

Roles and Responsibilities:  

• Work closely with senior professional and lay leadership and local stakeholders to develop a strategy that broadens engagement of the local, Jewish community with Israel.  

• Foster effective relationships with partner agencies, program professionals, congregational clergy, and lay leadership to understand community needs and identify opportunities for collaboration regarding local Israel engagement. 

• Manage a portfolio of grantees focused on local Israel engagement  

• Communicate effectively with partners to coordinate events, be responsible for logistics, budgets, marketing and more. 

• Work with the Senior Shaliach/and Impact Data Analyst to create surveys to evaluate and measure impact of the local Israel engagement, support data tracking for Shlichim related events and activities. 

• Work with Financial Resource development and the Communication departments to engage donors and the community in Federation’s local Israel work. 

Qualifications and Success Factors 

• Bachelor’s Degree, Advanced Degree preferred  

• 7-10 years of increased experience in community building, managing a team, and working with donors and lay leaders 

• Strong project management skills 

• Growth orientation with enthusiastic approach towards culture building and positivity. 

• Ability to establish and maintain excellent working relationships with co-workers at all levels in the organization; must work well in a team environment and be proactive in developing new projects and approaches.  

• Able to demonstrate an ability to effectively and successfully manage individual workload and prioritize tasks appropriately. 

• Dependable and able to adapt to quick changes and shifting priorities. 

• Self-motivated to create relationships and initiate new collaborations and projects. 

• Able to manage short-term and long-term projects, problem solve, meet deadlines and exhibit sound judgment. 

• Innovative thinker with comfort exploring calculated risks and learning. 

• High level of interpersonal skills to handle sensitive situations.  

• Fluent in Microsoft Office Suite (desktop and online), with expertise in Excel and PowerPoint. 

• Commitment to the mission of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.