Senior Equity Officer

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF; the Foundation), located in Princeton, N.J., is the largest philanthropy in America dedicated solely to health. Since 1972, we have focused on developing and promoting innovations in health and healthcare to improve the lives of millions. In partnership with others, we are working toward a nation that is rooted in equity, compassion, and respect; a nation that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity to thrive, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have. This requires addressing many harmful obstacles to wellbeing, including poverty, powerlessness, and discrimination.

We take seriously our responsibilities, and we pledge to work in ways that reflect our Guiding Principles. These are rooted in equity and influence everything we do at RWJF. Equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI), and collaboration allow our staff’s wide range of experiences, passions, and perspectives to enrich our work and strengthen our ability to address our nation’s most pressing health issues. Our efforts to build a Culture of Health and achieve health equity requires us to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Part of this work includes actively shaping a multicultural, inclusive, antiracist organization where all staff thrive as we build and use our capabilities, voice, and power to advance health equity. The Foundation offers a collaborative, collegial, and creative work environment. With a career at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, you will make a difference.

About This Opportunity

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the largest philanthropy in America dedicated solely to health. As the Foundation enters its 50th year, we are redoubling our efforts to build a Culture of Health and achieve health equity, which requires us to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Part of this effort is to actively shape a multicultural, inclusive, antiracist organization in which all staff thrive and work to build and use our capabilities, voice, and power to advance health equity.

In pursuit of this goal, a new department of Equity and Culture led by an inaugural vice president of Equity and Culture, who reports directly to the president and CEO, has been formed. This department will partner across the Foundation to advance a change-management process that integrates a focus on EDI in the Foundation’s operations and programs, internally and externally. This work centers communities most affected by structural racism and other forms of inequity, discrimination, and historical trauma due to gender, sexual orientation, disability, and immigration status, among other factors.

At this pivotal moment, the Foundation seeks a senior equity officer to partner with the newly hired director, Equity and Culture, with every unit and department at the Foundation, as well as the Equity Leadership Group, a representative body from across the Foundation created to provide staff leadership on the institution’s equity journey. The senior equity officer will help shape and implement the Foundation’s equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy; connect equity learning to practice; interrupt inequities across policies and practices; and reimagine systems of accountability for equity across the Foundation.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Equity Systems and Supports

• Collaborate with the director, Equity and Culture to engage the Equity Leadership Group and all program and operational departments in a process to craft equity action plans that are part of broader strategic goals; develop protocols to interrupt bias and embed equity in grantmaking, procurement, hiring, promotions, among other systems; and advance practice shifts across the Foundation.
• Support Human Resources to socialize and implement a new equity competency framework, as a foundation for staff development and performance management.
• Provide supports for change management and accountability, including one-on-one coaching and resources to staff and people managers on equity-related issues, and facilitation of specific initiatives focused on disability inclusion and access, supplier diversity, affinity spaces, among others, to ensure visibility, focus, and momentum related to critical equity-related workstreams.
• In collaboration with the director, Equity and Culture, support the development of organizationwide systems to gather, track, communicate, and learn from qualitative and quantitative data that reveals patterns of inequity and/or progress.

Reckoning, Learning, and Dialogue

• Support the design and implementation processes to reckon with and repair legacies of harm that impact the Foundation’s identity and work, as a basis for building trusting relationships with historically marginalized communities.
• Support the director, Equity and Culture and external consultants where relevant, to implement and evaluate innovative and inspiring learning pathways that ensure leaders, people managers, and all staff are growing in their will and skill to operationalize equity, especially racial equity, in their daily work.

Community Building

• Network across a complex organizational structure, building collaborative relationships and trust across multicultural staff and partners.
• Be a trusted and effective bridge to Human Resources and organizational leadership when hearing employees’ questions or concerns.
• Leverage cultural moments and spaces to model the values of transparency, experiential learning, relationship-building, and accountability to historically marginalized communities.

Experience and Qualifications

• Commitment to racial and health equity and the Foundation’s vision, values, and Guiding Principles.
• Experience working effectively in and fostering an inclusive environment as part of a multidisciplinary team with persons from diverse cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds.
• Minimum of six years of relevant work experience in organizational development, institutional transformation and/or systems and culture-change initiatives with an explicit equity lens (distinct from learning and training experience). Experience in healthcare, public health, or philanthropy preferred.
• Deep and demonstrated commitment to social justice, especially racial and gender justice, and a rigorous analysis of systemic racism.
• Demonstrated strengths working and building trust and relationships across cultural differences and the organizational hierarchy, including influencing when there are no reporting lines.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills and experience.
• Organized, structured, and able to advance projects with a clear implementation focus, and learning by doing orientation.
• Ambitious, tenacious, and results-oriented in the face of resistance and adversity.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent education and experience in a related field.

Physical Requirements/Working Conditions

The senior equity officer will perform job duties in a typical business office environment. Specific physical abilities required by this job include operating basic office equipment. Will be required to attend meetings, potentially both in person and off-site via phone or videoconference. Some domestic travel may be required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

This position is assigned to our Princeton, N.J., HQ offices.

As of January 1, 2023, the Foundation has implemented a Hybrid: Flexible Purpose operating model. All RWJF employees will be required to come into Foundation offices during the year for purposes related to their position such as critical tasks (e.g., building operations, grantee meetings, etc.), organizational events (e.g., training and development), and internally-focused team activities. All RWJF offices remain open for all Foundation employees for focused work, optional organizational activities, and connecting with colleagues informally as needed for individual purposes.

Salary

The starting salary range for the senior equity officer is $145,000 to $150,000. Why work at RWJF? Learn more about the benefits of working at RWJF.

How to Apply

Submit your resume and letter of interest.

Application Deadline: April 30, 2023

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from people of color, persons with disabilities, women, and LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented applicants.