Partners for Justice

West Region Program Manager (Remote)

Remote
Full Time
Manager/Supervisor
WEST REGION PROGRAM MANAGER

Partners for Justice (PFJ) was founded to transform public defense locally and across the United States, diminishing the effect of race and wealth on legal outcomes. This means ensuring that public defenders are equipped to assist clients with the underlying drivers of legal system involvement, to address the civil and family enmeshed penalties of arrest, to secure better legal outcomes both inside and outside the courtroom, and to help more clients emerge from prosecution with their rights, life, and future protected. Since our launch in 2018, PFJ has grown rapidly and we now support public defender agencies across the country through embedded collaborative defense teams and capacity building support.

Overview:
PFJ works closely with public defender offices to help them adopt more collaborative and holistic defense practice. Our flagship program embeds trained Client Advocates in a host public defender, immediately expanding their ability to provide clients with wraparound support and navigate the enmeshed civil penalties of arrest. The Program Manager will have responsibility for a selection of public defender partnerships in the West Region. The Program Manager will help recruit and train Client Advocates, build relationships within the respective site offices, provide resources and support to the Advocates’ on-site supervisors, build a network of local partner organizations (including civil legal providers), and provide coaching and support to Advocates. This work is critical to ensure that these offices are equipped with the knowledge, capacity, and resources to implement holistic practices in the offices that work with PFJ. We are specifically looking for candidates with civil legal experience who can serve as a resource on civil, immigration, or family law matters.

The West Region Program Manager will report to Yonina Alexander, PFJ’s West Region Program Director.

Program Manager Responsibilities
  • Program management: The Program Manager will have shared responsibility for the success of PFJ programs in the West Region and direct responsibility for one or more PFJ programs at specific partner offices. This includes ensuring that PFJ meets all programmatic objectives and goals, including recruitment, training delivery, and service provision (with support from the PFJ national team).
  • Technical assistance to West Region offices: Serve as primary point of contact with designated public defender partners, building meaningful, credible relationships with Advocate supervisors. Offer advice and best practices on integrating holistic defense generally and the PFJ program specifically into office practice.
  • Coach, empower and supervise PFJ Advocates: Provide one-on-one support to Advocates on personal and professional development. Ensure PFJ’s Advocate performance expectations are consistently met. Work with teams to identify and integrate best practices for the PFJ program in their office. Organize regular trainings or workshops to deliver local learning experiences that meet Advocate needs (in partnership with office supervisors).
  • Partnership development: Working with Advocates and office supervisors, identify and build relationships with legal aid providers, community-based organizations, and government agencies providing services that benefit clients.
  • Community awareness: Maintain knowledge of local dynamics and context that affect clients, including developments in the criminal and civil legal systems or related to poverty alleviation. Help Advocates understand the communities in which they are working.
  • National resources: Help define the PFJ Advocate role and experience. Gather best practices and contribute to national resources and programming to enhance the Advocate practice and experience. Contribute to PFJ’s annual and ongoing training events.
Desired qualifications
People who share lived experiences with our clients are encouraged to apply for current openings, given the insight such experience brings into the systems in which we operate.

Desired skills or experience:
  • Commitment to PFJ’s mission and to our vision of collaborative, client-centered representation for low-income people involved in the criminal legal system
  • Dedication to serving racially or socioeconomically marginalized communities
  • JD and minimum of two years’ experience providing legal services to low-income people. Applicants with civil, immigration, or family law experience are strongly encouraged to apply
  • Prior work within a public defender’s office or a civil legal aid provider is a strong plus, especially an office with holistic or client-centered practices
  • Supervising or coaching others; while direct line supervision responsibilities are preferred, this could include serving as a teaching assistant or faculty member, a resident advisor, overseeing interns, or similar
  • While we primarily work remotely, candidates should live within California or be willing to relocate. Deep familiarity with California is a requirement, including knowledge of the legal system, government agencies, and other institutions that low-income people regularly interact with
  • Ability to travel for two to three days approximately once per month to visit PFJ programs and to participate in team meetings (25-30%).
  • Working remotely with distributed teams and/or working in a start-up environment
The Program Manager should also model the characteristics we look for in outstanding Client Advocates:
  • Creative problem-solving, with the ability to find innovative and efficient solutions to unusual obstacles
  • Proactive and takes the initiative
  • Able to handle ambiguity and thrives on working independently, with limited oversight
  • Resilient, tenacious, and optimistic in the face of challenges
Compensation and other perks
This is a full-time, salaried position with a salary range from $85,000 - $95,000, commensurate with skills and experience. PFJ’s benefits package includes employer-paid medical and dental coverage, a 401k program, and reimbursement for Bar or other professional dues among other programs. PFJ employees work remotely with the benefit of flexible hours. We also encourage our team to rest and take care of themselves, which we support with unlimited sick leave and vacation, as well as 12 office holidays and a year-end rest period.

Equal Employment Opportunity Policy & Fair Chance Hiring
PFJ provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. Furthermore, qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the fair chance ordinances of the jurisdictions we work within, including but not limited to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act.

To apply:
Please send a cover letter, resume, and two references to [email protected] with “West Region Program Manager” in the subject line. Be advised that if you do not include this subject line, we may not receive your application. Interviews for this role begin in May 2025, with a target start date of June 2025 for the successful candidate.
Share

Apply for this position

Required*
Apply with Indeed
We've received your resume. Click here to update it.
Attach resume or Paste resume
Attach resume as .pdf, .doc, .docx, .odt, .txt, or .rtf (limit 5MB) or Paste resume

Paste your resume here or Attach resume file

To comply with government Equal Employment Opportunity and/or Affirmative Action reporting regulations, we are requesting (but NOT requiring) that you enter this personal data. This information will not be used in connection with any employment decisions, and will be used solely as permitted by state and federal law. Your voluntary cooperation would be appreciated. Learn more.
Invitation for Job Applicants to Self-Identify as a U.S. Veteran
  • A “disabled veteran” is one of the following:
    • a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or
    • a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.
  • A “recently separated veteran” means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.
  • An “active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran” means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.
  • An “Armed forces service medal veteran” means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.
Veteran status


Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability
Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability Form CC-305
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026
Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Please check one of the boxes below:

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.

You must enter your name and date
Human Check*