About Innocence Project
The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Our work is guided by science and grounded in anti-racism. Since our inception, the Innocence Project has used DNA and other scientific advancements to prove wrongful conviction. To date, we have helped to free or exonerate more than 250 people who, collectively, spent more than 3,600 years behind bars. Our efforts have led to the passage of more than 200 transformative state laws and federal reforms. Today, the Innocence Project continues to fight for freedom, drive structural change, and advance the innocence movement.
Learn more about Innocence Project at www.innocenceproject.org.
The Opportunity
The Chief Program Officer, Policy, Research, and Prevention is responsible for oversight, management, and supervision of the following program areas: Policy, which advocates for legislative changes at both the state and federal levels to make our criminal legal system more fair, compassionate and equitable for everyone; Data Science & Research, which collects and manages information about every Innocence Project victory and researches the contributing factors to wrongful conviction and provides expertise to the Innocence Project’s staff; and Strategic Litigation which uses legal advocacy and training to strengthen the standards that govern the use of science in criminal legal systems. The Chief Program Officer, Policy, Research, and Prevention serves as a primary thought partner to the talented, creative, and hardworking team of experienced professionals that they lead. They are responsible for keeping the teams under their supervision aligned, focused, motivated, and high performing to ensure the effectiveness and quality of work in each area.
This role is a member of the Senior Leadership Team, serving as an essential organizational leader with responsibilities that extend beyond their department. In this capacity, the Chief Program Officer, Policy, Research, and Prevention is responsible for contributing to the overall direction, strategy, and health of the organization.
Candidate Profile
The Innocence Project seeks an accomplished senior leader with deep expertise in criminal legal system reform and a strong understanding of state and federal policy advocacy, research, rigorous data collection strategy, and strategic litigation. They bring a proven track record of supporting and mentoring strong leaders and providing strategic direction, support, and accountability to high-performing teams. They excel at aligning complex functions around shared goals, strengthening organizational effectiveness, and ensuring that policy, research, and litigation efforts work together to achieve systemic impact. They are a collaborative and influential organizational leader, capable of building strong internal and external partnerships while advancing the mission, values, and long-term strategic objectives of the Innocence Project.
In addition, the ideal candidate models our IP Values of accountability, collaboration, empathy + compassion, equity, person-centeredness, quality focus, and self-awareness. All Innocence Project employees must embrace, respect and value the rich diversity of perspectives and lived experience of our staff. We recognize and appreciate that our work is better for having varied participants and thought partners. The ideal candidate is someone who thrives in this type of environment.
Compensation and Benefits
The salary range for this position is $229,000 to $298,000 commensurate with experience.
The salary for this position is highly competitive and the Innocence Project offers an excellent benefits package, including fully-paid individual health, dental and vision insurance, Flexible Spending Account, 401k plan with 6% company-match, paid disability and family care leave, adoption and fertility expense reimbursements, and company-paid transportation benefits.
We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor visas and we are not an e-verify employer.
The duties of this position require approximately 40 hours of work per week to be performed virtually/in-office. We currently have a hybrid in-office model, with all employees in the office three days per week and the remainder of the week remotely. Wednesday is our organization’s “anchor day” where all staff works in the office. The number of required in-office days is subject to change.