We are hiring

Equity Design Associates

 

WHO WE ARE

Reflex Design Collective is an equity design consultancy.  We help mission driven institutions, like government agencies and foundations, better serve their people by working directly with the most impacted communities to co-create solutions. We work in transportation, housing, education and other fields, putting those most impacted at the center of the process. 

Work environment

Reflex is a worker-owned women, trans, and person-of-color led organization that specializes in creating accessible engagement processes for diverse groups. Our principle of centering the perspectives of those with lived experience is reflected in our organizational structure as well as our practice. Our organizational structure emphasizes decentralized leadership and collaborative governance. We expect team members to participate in the process of co-designing organizational processes that support themselves, the group, and the mission.

ROLE

Reflex is looking for support on a large transportation planning project in Northern California.  We will be facilitating a series of co-design workshops in multiple communities impacted by transportation inequity to co-create recommendations about potential new rail infrastructure and service connecting the Bay Area to Sacramento and the larger 21 county Northern California Megaregion. We may have other equity-centered co-creation projects in sectors ranging from public transportation and housing to organizational development that the Equity Design Associate could support on. We are looking for two Equity Design Associates: one working part-time and one working full-time. Both Equity Design Associates will support project management, building community partnerships, facilitating workshops, engaging in meetings and strategy, synthesizing research, and coordinating logistics.  

DETAILS

The Equity Design Associates will have the flexibility to work remotely, aside from initial training and on-boarding, workshops, and outreach. We are currently operating remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When in-person engagement is safe again, a hybrid of remote and in-person work will continue. 

  • Work approximately 20-40 hours per week from January to June 2021. 

  • 6-month minimum with potential to extend  

  • Currently 100% remote. 50% remote when safe to continue in-person 

  • Compensation: $50/hr-$60/hr 

  • We are exploring healthcare and retirement options, but do not currently offer benefits.

Our Equity Design Associates will have flexible work hours within the constraints of internal and external deadlines, with the exception of workshop events and meetings at which their attendance may be required.  

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCES

Successful candidates will have some combination of: 

  • Facilitation experience, especially in fostering equitable power dynamics, creating space for creative collaboration, and holding space for community. 

  • Community outreach and partnerships skills (e.g., visiting CBOs, emailing, outreach strategy).

  • Project management experience, including the ability to maintain coordination across stakeholders with many moving pieces, shifting timelines, and detailed-oriented tasks. 

  • Event planning skills, including securing translation, hosts, food, and materials. 

  • Strong communication skills around equity and social justice topics, including explaining social equity concepts to clients, and conducting inquiry/training that is respectful to both the recipient and themself. 

  • Strategic skills and experience in navigating conversations around equity, especially from inside and/or in partnership with government institutions, and identifying opportunities to shift large bureaucratic systems towards more equitable practices.

  • Qualitative research experience, including cleaning, organizing, coding, and summarizing data.  

  • Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with culturally diverse groups of people.

ATTRIBUTES 

Successful candidates will have: 

  • Commitment to fighting social inequity. 

  • Knowledge of social power dynamics, including structural oppression and intersectionality. 

  • Reflective skills, demonstrating that they are unafraid to acknowledge and interrogate their own biases.

  • Strong communication skills, including an ability to articulate their own perspective without making assumptions about those of others. 

  • Skills, perspective, and/or openness to learning how to implement disability justice in the workplace.

  • Empathy and a willingness to understand the diverse perspectives of others.

  • Flexibility in a non-traditional work environment, and an excitement and ability to share in ownership of a process of creating internal structures that work for diverse work styles.

  • Ability to work independently and remotely.

  • Based in Northern California and able to work in Oakland or San Francisco one day a week, when it is safe to work in-person. 

Additional desired qualifications

  • Relationships with grassroots communities in Northern California, including those outside of Oakland or San Francisco (e.g., Sacramento, Central Valley, South Bay, farmworkers, domestic workers, etc.) 

  • Proficiency speaking and/or reading in a second language (especially Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and/or Samoan)

  • Experience with design thinking/human-centered design tools

  • Familiarity with remote project management tools such as Zoom, Slack, Asana, and Google Drive

  • Direct and lived experience with the communities with whom we partner (e.g., communities of color, LGBTQ, disability, low-income, immigrant, prison industrial complex) 

  • Excitement about cultivating an organizational environment that supports our mission internally as well as externally

HOW TO APPLY

Applications should be submitted through the form available here [link]. Please include 1) a cover letter explaining your strengths, interest in the position, and fit for the role along with 2) your resume and 3) a brief writing sample of your original work, no more than 1000 words. We suggest submitting anything from the following categories: research paper, article, essay/blog, or narrative paper.

The application deadline is 8 January 2021. We encourage candidates to apply as soon as possible, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Please email info@reflexdesigncollective.com with any questions.


Only short-listed candidates will be contacted by email for an interview.

Reflex Design Collective is an Equal Opportunity Employer. People of color, LGBTQ folks, and women are encouraged to apply. 

posted 14 December 2020