Position: Deputy Legal Director for Policy 

Department:  Legal 

Office Location: Washington, D.C. is preferred, but we are open to candidates located in any of the other following states or major metropolitan areas where Lambda Legal has an office: New York, NY (Headquarters), Atlanta, GA (Southern), Chicago, IL (Midwest), Dallas, TX (Southern Central), or Los Angeles, CA (Western). 

Work Type Designation: Hybrid 

Reports to: Chief Legal Advocacy Officer 

Union Status and Grade:  Non-union 

Annual Salary Range:  $200,000 - $230,000 annually. The salary for this role will be determined by a candidate's years of relevant experience related to the position, as well as their geographic region.    

Travel:  Up to 30% 

FLSA Status: Exempt / Full-Time 

Supervisory Responsibilities: Yes 
 

Who We Are  

Lambda Legal is a national advocacy organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work. Since 1973, Lambda Legal has used impact litigation and other advocacy tools to decriminalize same-sex relationships; challenge discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV in the workplace, in the home, in schools, in health care, and in the military; and protect LGBTQ+ families, including by winning and defending marriage equality. Our clients are not charged for legal representation or advocacy, and Lambda Legal receives no government funding. Headquartered in New York City, Lambda Legal also has regional offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington, DC.   
  
We believe that serving the full breadth of the LGBTQ+ and HIV communities requires cultural competency and enthusiasm for diversity of all kinds. To be successful, we must approach our work with an understanding that discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status is not the only obstacle to achieving full formal and lived equality for LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV; rather, we recognize the intersectional nature of discrimination, specifically including biases based on race, religion, national origin, gender, disability, education, and class. Considering this reality, we prioritize a proactive commitment to counteracting these biases and their compounding effects in the work we do, but also in how we work together as an organization.  
 

Deputy Legal Director for Policy 

The Deputy Legal Director for Policy (DLDP) leads Lambda Legal’s national policy strategy, shaping and advancing a clear long-term vision for how policy advocacy drives durable gains for LGBTQ+ and HIV civil rights. This role is responsible for articulating a forward-looking policy framework that identifies priority issue areas, strategic geographies, and the appropriate mix of proactive and defensive advocacy across federal, state, and local levels.  

Working in close partnership with litigation, public education, and organizational leadership, the DLDP ensures that policy initiatives are strategic, integrated, and focused on areas where Lambda Legal’s legal expertise, partnerships, and positioning can achieve meaningful impact. The DLDP translates this strategy into action by guiding a policy team engaged in legislative and regulatory advocacy, policy analysis, coalition building, and cross-departmental collaboration, while remaining responsive to urgent threats affecting our communities. 

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in LGBTQ+ and HIV civil rights, a sophisticated understanding of and significant experience with federal and state policymaking and regulatory processes, and strong people and strategic leadership skills. This role requires the ability to exercise influence through partnership, set clear priorities in complex environments, and strengthen Lambda Legal’s strategic policy impact nationwide. 
 

What you’ll do:  

• Policy Strategy & Leadership 
  • Lead development and execution of Lambda Legal’s national policy strategy and initiatives across federal, state, and local levels. 
  • Conduct regular and comprehensive analyses to identify opportunities and threats, including major political, legislative, regulatory, and judicial developments. 
  • Partner with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to integrate policy with litigation and education strategies.  
  • Recommend short- and long-term policy priorities that balance long-term progress, urgent needs, and resource constraints to maximize policy outcomes for the communities we serve.  
• Government Affairs & Policy Advocacy 
  • Oversee Lambda Legal’s federal policy strategy through targeted legislative and regulatory engagement with Congress, federal agencies, and national partners. 
  • Develop and advance policy strategies in select states and localities aligned with the national priorities. 
  • Oversee regulatory advocacy, including analysis of federal rules and drafting and review of public comments and written advocacy. 
  • Build and sustain relationships that advance Lambda Legal’s policy strategy, including peer organizations, community partners, elected officials, government stakeholders, and national coalitions. 
  • Provide strategic recommendations to inform organizational responses in fast-moving policy environments. 
  • Represent Lambda Legal in high-level convenings, briefings, and collaborative spaces. 
• People Leadership & Team Management 
  • Supervise and mentor policy attorneys and staff via performance management, coaching, and professional development to support growth and excellence. 
  • Lead the policy team’s budgeting and resource planning to maximize impact. 
  • Foster an inclusive, equitable, and collaborative team culture grounded in curiosity, self-awareness, and respect. 
  • Collaborate with program teams and the Communications, Development and Finance & Operations departments to advance organizational priorities. 
• External Engagement & Thought Leadership  
  • Serve as a public-facing policy leader for Lambda Legal, including in media, conferences, and legislative settings, and strategically deploy policy team members as appropriate.  
  • Oversee the development of policy briefs, reports, and research that advance LGBTQ+ policy goals and inform public discourse. 
  • Partner with internal teams to ensure timely, accurate legal analysis and messaging for campaigns, communications, and educational initiatives. 

Who you are:  

With the understanding that no one person will offer every desired skill and characteristic outlined below, compelling candidates will offer much of the following:   

• Minimum Qualifications 
  • Juris Doctor (JD) and admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction. 
  • A minimum of 10 years of experience in policy or advocacy work, with significant experience in federal and/or state legislative or regulatory processes (including direct experience working on Capitol Hill or equivalent engagement) and senior leadership responsibilities including management experience of complex teams 
  • Familiarity with state-level legislative processes and experience supporting state or local adoption of policy. 
  • Deep knowledge of civil rights advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV, including policy landscapes and current strategies. 
  • Proven ability to set strategic priorities, manage complex projects, and juggle competing deadlines. 
  • Exceptional collaboration and coalition-building skills, with experience navigating challenging stakeholder dynamics. 
  • Strong research, writing, and analytical skills, including experience drafting comment letters, bill language, or policy reports. 
  • High degree of emotional intelligence and commitment to equity, inclusion, and community-centered advocacy. 
  • Excellent organizational skills and ability to synthesize and manage large volumes of information. 
  • Strong political judgment and ability to act quickly in fast-moving policy environments. 
  • Ability to uphold and advance Lambda Legal’s organizational values 
  • Demonstrated commitment to issues pertaining to DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) 
  • Experience leading multi-stakeholder coalitions or convenings. 
• Preferred Qualifications 
  • Prior experience working in a virtual and unionized environment. 

Successful candidates will welcome the opportunity to work in a racially- and gender-diverse environment and to contribute to a positive and inclusive atmosphere. Working at Lambda Legal requires a demonstrated awareness of and commitment to the concerns of the breadth of the communities that Lambda Legal serves. Prior work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community and/or people living with HIV is highly desirable. Experience working with other historically marginalized communities (in a professional or volunteer capacity) is also desirable. 

All employees at Lambda Legal are expected to adhere to ethical conduct in all interactions and tasks, ensuring a positive and respectful workplace environment.    
 

Our Values 

Integrity at Heart: We center integrity in everything we do. We must model what we seek in the world, which begins with all of us, extends to each other, and reaches the entire organization. We recognize we are imperfect in an imperfect world, and we value progress over perfection. We continually strive to unpack and do what is right, in our public advocacy and with our colleagues - even more so when things are challenging. We strive to be honest, respectful, and accountable for our actions. When we stumble, we work to course correct and support each other. We owe it to ourselves, to each other, and to those most marginalized in our society, to be the change we wish to see in the world.  

A Just Future: United by a collective commitment to a just world. We are One Lambda Legal, united by a collective commitment to creating a just future for LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV. We believe in the rule of law and the ability to use our legal system to achieve justice and equity for the communities we serve. Daily, we engage in policy advocacy, litigation, and public education, to fight for a society in which legal and societal barriers to equality are eliminated. Justice animates our commitment to making the world a better place and enhancing our internal working environment. Within our community and beyond, we strive to create new paths that uplift, honor, and affirm the dignity of all.   

Shared Humanity: We find humanity in each and all of us. Preserving, expanding, and nurturing our shared humanity is essential for achieving collective liberation and freedom, especially in a world where differences often create division. We understand that our common passion for this work binds us together and that investing in our shared humanity is critical. Kindness, care, and compassion strengthen these connections. By striving to understand one another and actively engaging in difficult conversations we become stronger. In our fight against injustice, we commit to treating others with decency and to inviting those who oppose us to do the same.  

Excellence through Growth: We commit to continuous growth and improvement. We strive for excellence and recognize that achieving this requires a culture of learning that emphasizes both individual and collective growth. Excellence also requires a bold willingness to take calculated risks, risks that sometimes produce different outcomes than expected. We therefore view both successes and disappointing results as valuable opportunities for new learning, improvement, and more creative and expansive thinking, all of which are essential to our progress. By embracing a growth mindset, we cultivate resilience and adaptability, allowing us to navigate challenges more effectively. Our commitment to becoming better versions of ourselves today and tomorrow drives our ongoing efforts to enhance our skills, deepen our understanding, and strengthen our connections with one another. This journey toward excellence is a continuous process, and we are dedicated to supporting each other every step of the way.  

Rooted in Community: We hold each other as a beloved community. Building a world for all people to live happy, healthy lives that are free from discrimination starts by fostering relationships that are rooted in respect, joy, authentic participation, and belonging. We continually strive to recognize and honor the depth and breadth of the life experiences we have, upholding each individual’s dignity, and uplifting the strengths in our differences to build a greater whole.  7 As with our DEIB philosophy, we center authentic connection with our staff, board, volunteers, and clients, where each person feels acknowledged and can be a fully energized participant in a beloved community.  

Transformational Impact: Impact guides us, possibility inspires us. We create success by driving impactful change for our communities and transforming lives. To measure our success, we commit to ongoing evaluation of our efforts, using these insights to demonstrate progress and sustain trust across our communities. Our focus on life-changing impact informs the necessary tradeoffs and prioritizations we must make in a world of limited resources and imperfect choices. A bold, strategic vision inspires and motivates us, and guides the assessment of our progress and successes, and our understanding of the wisdom behind our decisions.  
 

DEIB Philosophy Statement  

To fulfill the mission of Lambda Legal, we commit to developing, implementing, and maintaining a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). This means we dedicate ourselves to becoming a diverse organization across staff, board, volunteers, and clients that reflects the full spectrum of backgrounds and experiences of the communities we serve, including the LGBTQ+ community, its allies, and everyone living with HIV.  We strive to build a workplace culture of inclusivity that attracts and retains talent, and supports LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV, and our allies. We hold that racial, gender, disability, economic, and social justice is LGBTQ+ justice and that LGBTQ+ justice is inherently intersectional. Our challenges are interconnected.  

Living this philosophy requires that we make a commitment to our collective liberation. We must treat each other with compassion, mutual respect, and humility to center our shared humanity, our ability to bring our full and authentic selves to this work, and to feel joy while doing it. We strive to recognize that we have more in common than not. We will hold ourselves accountable, as individuals, and in relationship with each other, to deepen equity by removing systemic barriers in our processes, policies, and programs. This will enable the full participation of staff and people in the communities we serve. We strive to create opportunities for collaboration with one another to strengthen our relationships. We recognize that leadership can come from all levels of the organization, and we respect the expertise, skills, and lived experience we each bring to Lambda. We are all responsible for upholding this philosophy both internally in our work with each other, and externally across our programming. We approach this philosophy with a continual growth mindset and are committed to working together.   

Diversity at Lambda Legal is about reflecting and representing the full diversity of the LGBTQ+ community, its allies, and everyone living with HIV across our staff, board, volunteers, and clients. Achieving diversity requires an intersectional approach that acknowledges the full breadth of everyone, especially historically disenfranchised populations, which involves intentional recruitment and retention, the removal of systemic barriers to access and equity, and leveraging data to inform our decisions.    

Equity at Lambda Legal means acknowledging and addressing the diverse needs resulting from historical and present-day disparities across people and communities. Equity is achieved by eliminating structural barriers, meeting unique needs across all stakeholder populations at Lambda Legal, and measuring the experiences of individual, interpersonal, and organizational success and wellbeing.   

Inclusion at Lambda Legal means inviting and creating opportunities for participation, with the understanding that leadership comes from all levels. It involves open, honest, and direct communication, creating opportunities for growth, and embedding policies and practices that seek and incorporate meaningful input from those directly impacted.   

Belonging at Lambda Legal means feeling welcomed as part of One Lambda Legal. It means ensuring everyone feels seen and valued in their full humanity, which requires building mutual trust and taking responsibility for treating each other respectfully. It involves fostering a sense of community that embraces the strengths in our differences and maximizes opportunities for connection. We each play a role in creating a culture where you can find community and envision a future for yourself at Lambda Legal. 
 

Why Work at Lambda Legal? 

You get to do meaningful, life-changing work at a national level for LGBTQ+ people and everyone living with HIV. Lambda Legal also proudly offers competitive benefits for our team. We understand that our staff’s dedication and effort are instrumental in achieving our mission. A highlight of the benefits we offer include: 

• Medical benefits that begin on your start date 
• Dental, Vision, and Life insurance (effective 30 days from your start date) 
• Short & Long-Term Disability plans (effective 30 days from your start date) 
• 403(b) Retirement Plan (employer contribution and matching program begins after 90 days of employment) 
• Paid Time Off: 
• Paid Vacation (15 Days) 
• Sick Leave (12 Days) 
• Personal Leave (3 Days) 
• Religious Observance Leave (3 Days) 
• Bereavement and Bereavement Anniversary Leave 
• Floating Holiday (1 Day) 
• 12 paid holidays and 5 early office closures 
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA/DC FSA) and Commuter Benefits 
• Health Reimbursement Account 
• $50 monthly mobile phone reimbursement 
• Annual professional development fund 
• Summer Fridays from Memorial Day to Labor Day 
• Premium subscription to the Calm App 
• Paid sabbatical after 7 years of service at Lambda Legal (4 weeks for non-exempt positions and 8 weeks for exempt positions) 

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Read more about Lambda Legal's work on our blog and Instagram.

Lambda Legal believes in creating a more equitable playing field for applicants and values the depth of relevant skills built through successful education, work, and life experiences. If your background and skills are a close match for this position, you are strongly encouraged to apply.

Lambda Legal is committed to further building and maintaining a staff that reflects the full range of LGBTQ+, HIV-affected and allied communities, and is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. Lambda Legal encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship or immigration status, disability, veteran status, record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender and gender-diverse people, women, people with abilities in multiple languages, immigrants, people living with disabilities, protected veterans, and formerly incarcerated individuals and individuals living with HIV are all encouraged to apply.