The R Street Institute, a free-market think tank based in Washington, D.C., is looking for a dynamic, versatile, bright and well-connected person to serve as our outreach manager.  Founded in 2012, R Street operates under the motto “Free markets. Real solutions.” We’ve been called “pragmatic libertarians” and accept that label. Our work covers a variety of “high-complexity/low-salience” issues that we approach from a principled, free-market perspective.

Candidates should have at least three years of full-time experience working on public policy issues in Washington, D.C. In particular, experience at another think tank or on Capitol Hill is highly desirable. Some experience doing coalition work is also necessary. The ability to write well and quickly is also highly desirable and a record of published work is an enormous plus.

Candidates’ personality, cultural fit and work ethic are at least as important as their specific backgrounds. We’re all self-motivated, high-energy types who strive to get things done quickly without micromanagement. If you haven’t at least sometimes felt that you were more productive than almost everyone else in your workplace, you probably won’t fit in with the rest of us.

Because we work on a wide variety of issues, deep expertise in our issue set is not expected and, to some extent, we will build an outreach manager’s particular issue set around his or her own background. That said, we expect the person we hire will work on issues like intellectual property reform, agricultural policy, taxes, technology and the environment, so experience on those particular issues and others in R Street’s portfolio is highly desirable.

This position will report to R Street’s outreach director and, indirectly, to our executive director.

Pay is commensurate with experience. R Street’s salaries are highly competitive and people leaving other non-profits to work for R Street have always received significant raises. This is a full-time, W-2 job with health insurance fully paid by the employer and a suite of excellent benefits, including an employer-funded HRA, a 401(k), gym membership reimbursement and a very generous vacation policy.

R Street is a non-partisan organization, but is often identified with the political right. That said, we’re a lot more interested in solving problems than winning fights. As such, a willingness to work with people that you may agree with on few issues is a requirement. Likewise, we want and need someone who can disagree without being disagreeable. Someone who is actively opposed to our work shouldn’t apply, but there is certainly no party affiliation litmus test or need to agree with every word that everyone at R Street has ever written.

Needless to say, we don’t discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, taste in music or anything else that is illegal, immoral or stupid to use as a basis for hiring.

To apply, put your cover letter into the body of an e-mail, attach a resume, and send it to [email protected]. Include the word “Outreach” in the subject line and include one writing sample (a published one is greatly preferred and web links are fine). We intend to accept applications until Oct. 24 and plan to do interviews in Washington, D.C. during the week of Oct. 27, probably on Oct. 31. If you think you’re very well qualified and we haven’t gotten back to you within a week of you submitting your resume, please drop us a line and we’ll be sure to take another look.

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