Senior Technical Advisor, Children’s Legal Services

Background: As a part of the RAI Asylum and Immigration Legal Protection Unit, the U.S. Legal Services team provides technical oversight and support to immigration legal services in IRC offices in the United States, which collectively serve over 20,000 immigration clients per year, and offers advice and guidance to local management as they expand and enhance services to meet urgent needs for quality, low-cost immigration legal services. The Unit also collaborates with IRC’s Policy & Advocacy and Communications teams to promote public awareness on immigration matters and adherence to international norms concerning humanitarian immigrants.

Job Overview: The Senior Technical Advisor, U.S. Legal Services, delivers support, guidance, and technical oversight to IRC’s immigration staff across the RAI U.S. network; engaging in program design and implementation to ensure effective and responsive delivery of immigration legal services. Leveraging IRC’s role as a leader in the sphere of international refugee protection and relief, the Senior Technical Advisor also serves as a liaison with colleagues inside and outside the IRC on matters of immigration and refugee law, policy, advocacy and client and community outreach and education.

Major Responsibilities:

• Oversee provision of legal guidance, training and technical assistance to immigration legal services (ILS) staff throughout the RAI US network, to drive quality, capacity, and impact of IRC’s services.
• Provide guidance and mentoring to RAI HQ Regional Immigration Technical Advisors.
• Monitor changes in U.S. immigration law, policy and procedures and provide regular, timely updates, analysis, and practice advisories to ILS staff.
• Support efforts to foster cooperation and coordination between ILS and other programmatic components within the RAI U.S. network, including Resettlement, through training and information sharing on topics such as unauthorized practice of law, refugee family reunification, documentation of immigrant eligibility for HHS-funded benefits and services, among others, to increase program integrity and effectiveness.
• Provide technical support and assistance to RAI colleagues in drafting and preparing immigration KYR and other client-facing informational material and videos and responding to legal questions.
• Represent the IRC and its constituents in engagements with partners, federal agencies, and other external stakeholders.
• Represent the IRC as a thought leader by contributing to national coalitions, working groups, immigration conferences and serving on steering and planning committees.
• Oversee the training and preparation of staff seeking accreditation through the Department of Justice. Serve as liaison with DOJ Recognition and Accreditation Working Group and EOIR R&A program personnel.
• Identify best practices; contribute new evidence, ideas, and analysis to promote program impact, quality, and scale.
• Coordinate the development of new project proposal initiatives in close collaboration with the U.S. Legal Services Director including new program design, prospect research, and grant writing. Prepare and edit grant proposals and reports for Immigration HQ and field offices.
• Engage with IRC’s policy and advocacy teams and ILS staff to cultivate immigration advocacy efforts at all levels with the goal to increase the visibility and impact of IRC’s immigration legal programs.
• Recruit, train and supervise volunteers and interns as needed.
• Maintain authorization to practice law, as either a DOJ accredited representative or an attorney.
• Special projects and other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Law degree required, or the equivalent work experience (eg, Department of Justice accreditation).
• Minimum 8-10 years’ work experience in immigration legal services.
• Extensive knowledge of immigration law and procedure, including experience representing clients pursuing humanitarian protections, family reunification and naturalization before USCIS
• Familiarity with U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
• Proven leadership and management skills to lead staff and promote productivity, and ability to be flexible and to work well under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• Prior experience and/or collaboration with DHS, DoS and UNHCR preferred.
• Strong analytical, training, organizational, oral, and written communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and partners in a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary environment; excellent interpersonal, diplomatic, and networking skills, ability to manage a variety of internal and external relationships, to multi-task and prioritize tasks.
• Fluency in English required.

Working Environment:

• Fully Remote.
• Occasional domestic (non-local) travel required; up to 20%.
• May require occasional weekend and/or evening work.

Compensation: Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits: The IRC offers a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. All US employees are eligible for sick time, a 403b retirement savings plans: up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus an 3-7% additional IRC contribution, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

In addition, full-time employees are eligible for 10 US paid holidays, 20-25 paid time off days, disability & life insurance, medical, dental, and vision insurance (employee contribution starting at $135, $7, and $5 per month respectively) and FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs. Part-time employees are eligible for a proportionate amount of paid time off. These additional benefits apply to employees who work at least 6 months within a 12 month time period.