Deputy Director--The Heartland Institute

Position Announcement: Deputy Director


The Heartland Institute
Center on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate, Washington, DC

The Heartland Institute, a $7 million national think tank headquartered in Chicago, is looking for a Deputy Director to join its three-person Washington, DC-based Center on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate.

The Deputy Director will have primary responsibility for the center’s wide-ranging Washington, DC operations. He or she will spend time spreading Heartland’s educational messages on Capitol Hill, writing original policy analysis, overseeing a variety of finance projects, and helping with Heartland’s new financial webzine. A typical day for the Deputy Director might involve a meeting on the Hill, a follow-up on a commissioned paper from a Heartland academic advisor at a major research university, a telephone conversation with a trade press reporter, making suggestions to the national director on an article he wrote, work for our webzine editor on a short article, and (let’s be honest) 20 minutes playing Farmville or some other Facebook game.

All candidates should have at least five years work experience related to public policy (at least some of which should be in Washington, DC), a record of published writing, project management experience, and the ability to master new material and fields quickly. Candidates also should be good at working under deadline pressure, able to deliver on the basis of sometimes-vague instructions, and open-minded enough to work as part of broad coalitions that include groups that do not always see eye-to-eye with free-marketers. An ideal candidate also will have experience working on financial services issues and fundraising experience, although a lack of either of these things will not be deal-breakers.

A word about ideology: The Heartland Institute’s mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. We support these solutions because, most of the time, they work better than command-and-control alternatives. Applicants are strongly advised to check out our web sites (www.heartland.org and www.firepolicy-news.org) to learn more about us. That said, there’s no need for applicants to agree with every position everyone at Heartland has ever taken: We’re practical-minded libertarians who want to see free-market solutions implemented in the real world rather than relegated to dusty library stacks. Our staff includes Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and independents. There’s no specific ideological litmus test for this position, although if you believe the Revolution will happen soon or live in an underground fortress designed to protect you from the black helicopters, you probably shouldn’t appply.

The Heartland Institute doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race, sex, creed, color, national origin, political party affiliation, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, taste in music, or anything else that’s illegal, immoral, or stupid to use as a basis for hiring.

This is a full-time job based out of our offices (in a really cool space that used to be an art gallery) on Connecticut Avenue. It will require travel perhaps two or three days a month--both nationally and internationally. Salary is commensurate with experience but is likely to be better than you’d expect for a job with an ideological non-profit. We want to hire an excellent-A level performer and fully understand that good people deserve fair compensation.

To apply send a resume, writing sample, and cover letter by email or mail to Administrator, Center on Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate, The Heartland Institute, 1728 Connecticut Avenue NW #2B, Washington, DC 20009. The cover letter should include the dates you are available to work and anything about yourself you want us to know that isn’t in your resume. We hope to fill this position no later than August 1 and will respond within two weeks, via telephone or e-mail, to all candidates we’re interested in interviewing. If, two weeks after you’ve sent in your resume, you haven’t heard from us and feel you’ve been unfairly overlooked, feel free to drop us another e-mail with your resume asking us to take another look.