Distributed Neighborhood Captains Training Manager

Contest Every Race is on a mission to make Democrats competitive everywhere, and we do that by building durable political power from the ground up. We are the leading rural down-ballot recruitment and county-level organizing program for the Democratic ecosystem. Our recruitment program runs in 40 states, and our county-level organizing program includes 390 counties across the country. We pride ourselves on providing measurable results. A 2024 experiment demonstrated an increase of over 5,000 votes for Democrats at the top of the ticket thanks to our programs.

This role will build and manage Movement Labs' distributed Neighborhood Captains program. The goal of the program is to test whether we can scale the concept of neighborhood captains, similar to traditional precinct captains, in a distributed model that works in tandem with local county Democratic parties, adding to their existing work rather than duplicating it, to support hundreds of county parties across the country, move vote share, and ultimately flip several congressional seats.

This is a localized Field Persuasion Program. We will recruit volunteer captains across hundreds of districts, each of whom will own a list of roughly 50 voters. Captains will live in the same community as the voters they're reaching, making contact with them a number of times before the election.

At heart, we're looking for a relational organizer: someone who understands that building power is fundamentally about people, who knows how to build trust and move people to action, and who can scale those tactics across dozens of states and hundreds of counties. For this role, that means being charismatic, able to build a positive, strong team culture quickly, and understanding how to present and perform in a virtual environment. Experience in theater, podcasting, or micro-influencing is a great foundation. Virtual and remote training is not the same as high-traffic canvassing work: our trainings need to be a performance, engaging enough that a captain who's muted with their camera off isn't just paying attention, but might decide to turn their camera on and join in. This role requires comfort building genuine connection and energy with an audience that isn't giving much live feedback, and turning that into real relationship-building. That's the particular challenge of training in a virtual, remote environment.

This person will manage a small team of part-time trainers who support and lead trainings and virtual events across different times and days. A goal of the program is to be accessible: because we're working with volunteers, we need to meet them where they are, which means keeping a flexible, available training calendar with multiple opportunities to join.

We're looking for someone with familiarity with rural communities and extensive experience training and managing volunteers. This role reports to the Distributed Neighborhood Captains Program Manager, who owns the back-of-house and digital infrastructure supporting this project. This role is front of house: it's the one that interfaces directly with our participants, so amazing customer service and a genuine focus on the volunteer and voter experience are essential. Questions like “What would make a captain most comfortable? What's the takeaway you want them to leave with? What are people's pain points?” are ones that come naturally to this person as they design training content.

This person needs to be adaptable: when something isn't working, they're proactive about changing it, and they're comfortable with an ever-evolving program. If we know how to do something better, we should do it better. They value feedback, both giving and receiving, and strive to make trainings the best possible environment they can be. The themes of our Get Out the Vote program, from a participant's perspective, are most conversations, most fun, most new people, and this role should embody that.

Programming

• Create compelling virtual trainings that set captains up for success and keep them engaged.
• Partner with comms on templates and social toolkits used in captain recruitment.
• Identify and pursue creative opportunities to deepen the program's impact and refine its model.

Curriculum Design & Materials

• Co-design, build, and continuously refine training curriculum, drawing on existing resources and lived experience.
• Own the shared resource library: messaging house, best-practice guides, FAQs, and quick-reference one-pagers.

Training Delivery

• Lead live virtual trainings for captains across dozens of states and hundreds of counties, and train staff to do the same.
• Adapt delivery to different audiences: rural versus suburban, younger versus older participants, and everything in between.
• Ensure biweekly office hours for captains, which may include peer captain learning opportunities.

Management

• Coordinate scheduling of part-time staff to ensure every training is covered, with backups and set schedules at least two weeks in advance.
• Hold at least a 30-minute one-on-one with each direct report once a week.

• Creative and opportunistic: you spot the opening, pitch the idea, and try the thing, defaulting to action and learning from what happens.
• Project management: you can hold a lot of moving parts, prioritize well under pressure, and know when to ask for help in a fast-moving environment.
• Adaptable and proactive: comfortable with an ever-evolving, ever-improving program.
• Values feedback, both giving and receiving.
• Mission-driven: you believe we can make this country and the Democratic Party better, and that it starts with us.
• Exceptional communication: strong training and facilitation skills, with the ability to coach others on emotional intelligence, leading with empathy, and boundary management.
• Comfort presenting and performing in a virtual environment; experience in theater, podcasting, or micro-influencing is a plus.
• 2–3 years of experience managing staff and volunteers in a campaign environment, with extensive experience training and managing volunteers.
• Preferred: roots in a rural community and an understanding of organizing in a rural context.
• Strongly preferred: experience in the food service or retail industry, in addition to campaign and volunteer experience.

We're looking for someone who genuinely embodies:

• Hustle
• Automation
• Empathy
• Trustworthiness
• Rejoicing

• Annual salary of $72,000–$78,000 (Level 2).
• Work-life stipend of $700/month pre-tax to support employees during our highest-intensity work period, starting August 1 (prorated for partial months).
• Excellent health, dental, and vision benefits; 401(k) matching.
• Remote-first culture with teammates across the country.
• Possible on-call requirements.
• This is a temporary cycle role, running through December 15, 2026.
• This position is eligible for the collective bargaining unit.

Applications submitted by July 27, 2026 will be given priority. Applications may be reviewed earlier on a rolling basis so it benefits candidates to apply as soon as possible. The application process includes an initial screen, an exercise, 2 interviews, and a reference check. Due to the nature of our work, the process is moving quickly, and we hope candidates will start by August 3, 2026. Applicants must be legally eligible to work in the United States. We are not able to provide sponsorship at this time. 

We’re looking for candidates with a wide range of skills and experience. If you’re excited about the job, even if you don’t match all the characteristics, we encourage you to apply.

Movement Labs is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to economic and social justice. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, people from rural communities and members of other historically disenfranchised populations are strongly encouraged to apply. If you require accommodations as part of the hiring process, please contact [email protected].

Applications are reviewed by our hiring team—not automated systems. Our hiring process may include AI-assisted analysis of candidate materials, however, hiring decisions are made by human reviewers.