Upstate Political Manager

Conservation Voters of South Carolina is the political voice of South Carolina’s environmental community. CVSC is a bipartisan, non-profit organization that, along with its sister organization the CVSC PAC, passes laws that protect our environment, elects pro-conservation candidates, and holds elected officials accountable. The CVSC Education Fund also works to educate and engage South Carolinians “to protect the South Carolina we love.” We fight for our air, land, and water through bipartisan and pragmatic political action.

Scope of Position:  CVSC seeks a highly motivated person to join us as our Upstate Political Manager to lead candidate recruitment efforts in the Upstate and design and manage independent expenditure political campaigns to elect conservation champions to state and local offices, building a bipartisan conservation majority in the South Carolina General Assembly and at local levels. Working alongside CVSC’s Senior Vice President of Political Strategy, the Manager will serve as the lead staff on our Upstate-focused activities aimed at building and leveraging political influence to enact policies and laws that protect South Carolina’s air, land, and water and advance clean energy. The Manager will also support political activities in other regions of the state as part of advancing CVSC’s political and policy goals. The Manager will oversee a wide range of election-related activities and tasks, including managing political lists, analyzing and managing voter participation data, engaging with potential candidates, executing independent expenditures (mail, digital, door, phone, text, etc), and work closely with volunteers, partners, political consultants, and political vendors.

The ideal candidate will understand South Carolina’s political landscape, is a political strategist with experience at various levels of political campaigns, and has the ability to build relationships with a broad coalition of partners and elected officials.

The position will report to the Senior Vice President of Political Strategy and work closely with the rest of the CVSC team to engage partners and advocates in the political process.

Location: The position must be based in the Upstate of South Carolina (non-negotiable), ideally in Greenville, Spartanburg, or Anderson Counties. Regular day travel throughout the Upstate will be required as will occasional overnight travel.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Monitor local and regional political activity (15%) – working with CVSC’s network of partners and elected officials, the Manager will serve as the primary point of information and intelligence regarding state and local political activities in the Upstate region. This will require monitoring local Council meetings and County Delegation meetings as well as consistent engagement with a network of political partners and operatives to identify electoral opportunities and/or electoral needs.
• Candidate Recruitment and Development (20%) – The Manager will develop and nurture relationships with potential candidates for political office. This includes networking with local advocates and partners to identify and recruit candidates and then connecting them with CVSC and partner-based training on running effective political campaigns.
• Analyze and Manage Political Data (20%) – The Manager will efficiently manage and integrate various political and election related data, including donor data, volunteer data, voter participation data, endorsed candidates, elected official information, and voter demographic data. Utilizing voter database software, the Manager will identify electoral opportunities and pursue a data-driven strategy for both district targeting and campaign design and implementation.
• Donor Stewardship and Communication (10%) – The Manager will serve as a key contact for Upstate-based political donors to CVSC, ensuring they are informed on political investments and opportunities, connecting them with candidates and elected officials, and serving as a conduit between the Development & Operations Department and political-minded donors.
• Campaign Management and Implementation (35%) – The Manager will collaborate with the SVP of Political Strategy to design independent expenditures and take charge of executing the campaign. Campaign tasks include mail design and targeting, coordinating and managing paid and volunteer field activities (doors and phones), overseeing digital, text, and phone vendors, coordinating TV and radio ad buys, mobilizing CVSC advocates and other grassroots supporters in support of endorsed candidates, and more.

Required Qualifications

• At least 2 years of experience in political campaigns and/or grassroots mobilization
• Demonstrated ability to analyze voter participation data, demographics, and trends and extrapolate these comprehensive data sources to develop winning election strategies
• Demonstrated ability to adapt in a constantly changing political environment and respond quickly and decisively when under pressure and/or in crisis situations.
• Demonstrated ability to develop collaborative, productive, respectful relationships with leaders and organizations representing a variety of interests and perspectives – including businesses, nonprofit organizations, and racially and socioeconomically diverse partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Strong attention to detail, fast and willing learner, strong organizational skills, and ability to follow up and meet deadlines.
• A deep commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice that values the individual and respects differences of race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ability and socio-economic circumstance.

Preferred skills and qualifications

• A passion for environmental efforts to protect air, land, and water and advance clean energy.
• Existing South Carolina political relationships and networks or a proven ability to quickly build a trusted network of political partners and allies.
• Knowledge and understanding of environmental issues and the types of policies used to advance environmental protection and climate action at the local, state, and federal level.

Work environment:  CVSC is a mission-driven organization whose staff are deeply passionate about advancing environmental policy in a just and equitable way. We are seeking another effective, productive, enjoyable and highly ethical member of the team who will take responsibility and leadership for implementing assigned tasks.

Terms of employment:  The position is full-time, contingent on continued funding (grants and individual donations). This includes a 40-hour workweek with the need for flexible scheduling, depending on the nature of an issue or timeframe. Occasional out of town travel will be required.

CVSC is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a racially just, equitable and inclusive workplace.

Salary/Benefits: CVSC offers a competitive non-profit sector salary for this position in the $62,500 to $67,500 range, depending on qualifications.

We provide a high-quality health insurance plan paid at 100% for employees and 60% for families and dependents. We also provide options to upgrade to multiple “enhanced” health insurance plans for both employees and dependents for those desiring lower deductibles. CVSC also provides a Flex Spending Account as well as short-term disability, dental, and vision coverage at no cost to employees.

Our benefits package also includes a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with a 3% match, a monthly cell phone stipend, a technology/office setup stipend, and an annual professional development budget for each employee. Our benefits plan also includes 14 holidays, 17 days of PTO (increasing with tenure), 8 weeks of paid parental leave, and a sabbatical program after 4 and 8 years of service.

Please note that as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, CVSC employees are not eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

Application Instructions: Please submit your resume and a cover letter that addresses how your expertise matches the job description and why you want to work to protect the air, land, and water of South Carolina through CVSC’s hiring system at cvsc.org/careers. The position will remain open until filled.