Editor/Writer

About the Organization 

Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading non-profit organization (501(c)(3)) in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. NILC’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S. regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential. Together, NILC and the affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)(4) organization, work to advocate more directly for federal immigration reform policies. NILC is committed to advancing its mission — which intersects race, immigration status, and class — through racial, economic, and gender justice and equity orientation.  

We are looking for entrepreneurial, results-driven, relationship builders who are committed to NILC’s mission and values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty. 

About the Role  

The Editor/Writer will work with the Strategic Communications Team to create, research, and write communications for both traditional and digital communications in support of NILC and NILC’s sister 501(c)(4) organization the NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF)’s overall mission and advancement of the strategic framework. The Editor/Writer will be responsible for creating and maintaining NILC’s editorial calendar, editing and providing substantive feedback to NILC publications, and maintaining NILC’s blog. The Editor/Writer will draft op-eds for the Executive and Senior Leadership Teams, and translate complex policy reports into digestible language for social medial use to uplift the stories of NILC, its programs and campaigns, and the clients and communities NILC serves as a means of amplifying the organization’s crucial legal, research, organizing, and advocacy work. 

This role is a member of the bargaining unit. 

The Editor/Writer will be responsible for driving success in the following key areas: 

Specific Position Responsibilities 

• Collaborate with Strategic Communications leadership and team to support planning and development of content strategies to ensure consistency and high-quality content that meets organizational objectives.  
• Establishing and maintaining editorial calendar for NILC publications. 
• Providing substantive feedback and edits to all NILC publications, including giving guidance on content, structure, and thesis, as well as accuracy, tone, clarity, style, and grammar. 
• Maintain NILC’s blog – including soliciting posts from staff, managing and editing incoming submissions, and posting to website. 
• Drafting op-eds, speeches, talking points, and other written materials for president as well as executive and senior leadership in the voice of organizational leadership. 
• Translating complex policy reports into digestible, compelling language for social media, donors, and other external audiences. 
• Assisting other departments, including Development and the Executive Office, with public-facing materials. 
• Collaborate with content creators across departments to maintain a cohesive editorial voice and messaging strategy. 
• Ensure compliance with NILC’s editorial style guide and visual brand to ensure consistency across all platforms and formats. 
• Provide feedback and guidance to staff and contributors to strengthen their writing and messaging. 
• Ensure that all written materials are accessible, engaging, and aligned with NILC and IJF’s mission and goals. 
• Manage editorial workflows, timelines, and approvals to meet deadlines and support campaign rollouts. 
• Contribute to protocols for fact checking processes and source verification, in collaboration with legal, policy, and advocacy teams. 
• Work collaboratively with cross-departmental Advocacy team members via matrix workgroup structure to support  communications related needs for ongoing programmatic work.?  
• Collaborate with NILC and IJF’s Communications and Advocacy teams to align with community engagement opportunities, timelines, and messaging guidelines and translate messaging into highly engaging and effective campaigns. 
• Provide ongoing support with internal communications matters including employee intranet, weekly email communications, and internal branding in collaboration with NILC leadership, Executive Office staff and other staff.  
• May be a part of a larger cross functional project using the MOCHA framework/methodology 

Supervisory Responsibilities: 

• N/A 

Shared Organization Responsibilities 

• Champions NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income by demonstrating a commitment to human rights, and racial, economic, and social justice  
• Attends and actively participates in NILC meetings at the organization, department, project, and individual level  
• Develops relationships and supports NILC and IJF colleagues across all teams, recognizing that each individual brings a unique background and perspective to the work and assuming good intent from each other.  
• Follows through on commitments acting with a clear sense of ownership individually and collectively by taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures, establishing clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results, and designing feedback loops into work.  
• Learns quickly when facing new situations by experimenting to find fresh solutions, taking on the challenge of unfamiliar tasks, and extracting lessons learned from failures and mistakes.  
• Acts with integrity by following through on commitments, being direct and truthful, keeping confidence, and showing consistency between words and actions.  
• Commits to centering NILC’s values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty in all decisions and actions  

In recognition of the fluidity of the work and ecosystem that NILC operates in, other duties may be assigned depending on organizational need. 

What We’re Looking for in This Role 

• Commitment to NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income and a demonstrated commitment to human rights, racial, economic and social justice, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice for all.  
• Collaborative, proactive, and action-oriented working style with a strong service mentality promoting mutual accountability and inspiriting trust and confidence from colleagues, other NILC team members, and NILC leaders alike.  
• Demonstrates sound judgement in decision-making, high integrity, and utmost respect for confidentiality.  
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: ability to read, analyze, and interpret as well as draft documents such as reports, correspondence, and presentations for various audiences.   
• Self-starter with a strong strategic ability to move daily tasks forward in alignment with NILC’s broader organizational needs and goals.  

Qualifications Required 

• Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Communications, Marketing, or related field, or equivalent work experience required. 
• 7 – 10+ years of writing, editing, and content development experience. A background in journalism, publishing, communications, or a closely related field, with experience in rapid response and narrative storytelling.? 
• Exceptional writing, editing, and communication skills. The ability to write quickly, clearly, persuasively, and accessibly across a variety of products. Open and willing to incorporate feedback as part of the product development process.? 
• Demonstrated experience editing a wide range of content types and adapting tone and style to fit various platforms. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master’s degree in Communications, Marketing, or another relevant field  
• Familiarity with Asana 
• Experience in a nonprofit or social justice organization, particularly immigration-focused, preferred 
• Proficiency in non-English languages spoken by Latin, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Caribbean, and Arab communities preferred. Fluency in more than one language is desirable. 

 At NILC, we know that talented people may have different backgrounds or experiences, and if your education and experience doesn’t exactly align with the above that’s okay! NILC believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants. NILC’s goal is for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve and to ensure representation of people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities in our organization. We encourage you to apply and let us know in your cover letter why you are qualified and the right fit for this role and NILC.   

Work Environment 

Location & Travel:  

NILC's offices are located in Washington, D.C. For this role, up to 10-20% of overnight interstate travel may be required; travel is typically quarterly to the NILC Washington, DC office or another location within the US for 3-5 nights.  

Remote work locations are as follows: (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin).  To be considered, applicants must currently live in one of the work locations.   

Compensation & Benefits: 

NILC’s compensation and benefits philosophy is to provide a competitive offering in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization.  The salary range for this opportunity is $86,726 - $108,459.

NILC provides an incredible benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)-retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer-paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance. NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy, 15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).

NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. To learn more about the program, please visit  https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

Physical Demands 

• Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods 
• Communicating with others to exchange information. 
• Repeating motions, like typing or answering a phone, that may include the wrists, hands?and/or fingers.