Community Officer

About the Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), located in Princeton, N.J., is a leading national philanthropy dedicated to taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime. To get there, we must work to dismantle structural racism and other barriers to health. Since 1972, we have focused on developing and promoting innovations in health and healthcare to improve the lives of millions. Through funding, convening, advocacy, and evidence-building, we work side-by-side with communities, practitioners, and institutions to achieve health equity faster and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

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 enable our staff’s wide range of experiences, passions, and perspectives to strengthen our ability to address our nation’s most pressing health issues and support a culture of belonging. Part of this work includes actively shaping an inclusive organization where all staff members thrive as we build and use our capabilities, voice, and power to advance health equity. RWJF 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

Reporting to the associate vice president (AVP), New Jersey department, the community officer works collaboratively with program officers in our New Jersey department and the AVP to build a grantee pipeline; to enhance organizational ways of working with local communities; and enhance RWJF’s understanding of and focus on complex regional challenges in our home state. The community officer will play a central role in the continued development of the Foundation’s emerging and evolving place-based grantmaking strategy. The community officer will inform, iterate, and drive implementation of the department’s regional grantmaking strategy by forging new and deepening existing relationships internally and externally; enacting capacity-building strategies to aid community and power-building organizations; identifying key opportunities to strengthen regional and statewide ecosystems; and facilitate knowledge-sharing for the purposes of policy and systems change. This position will require networks and relationships across the state.

The New Jersey department seeks to honor the legacy of Robert Wood Johnson II in New Jersey by increasing community power, changing narratives about health and wellbeing, and promoting policies, practices, and systems changes to advance health equity. That is accomplished by developing, implementing, and refining New Jersey-specific strategies and programming in collaboration with key external partners and other RWJF departments. 

We envision a future where all New Jersey residents, especially those who have been historically marginalized or harmed by structural racism and other forms of oppression, exercise their power and agency to live their healthiest lives possible. Structural racism, compounded through generations of policies and practices, causes different New Jersey populations to experience vastly different realities. Our work seeks to address the drivers of inequitable health conditions in three key areas of opportunity: birth equity, affordable housing, and public health infrastructure reform. 

As the New Jersey department moves forward with deepening our work with a variety of community partners to address structural racism to advance health equity, we are guided by a comprehensive strategic approach launched in 2023—A Policy Agenda for a Healthier and More Equitable New Jersey. 

As with staff at all levels of RWJF, the community officer is expected to demonstrate a passionate commitment to equity and to the Foundation’s mission and Guiding Principles.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Community Engagement and Leadership:

• Work closely and cultivate relationships with local, regional, and statewide philanthropies, government agencies, and community-based organizations and leaders to strengthen and forge new opportunities for impact. 
• Identify meaningful opportunities to build power and leverage investments from RWJF (monetary and nonmonetary) to achieve health equity. 
• Maintain relationships with intermediaries and fiscal sponsors to support capacity-building of community-based organizations. 
• Work with key partners ¡Equity Ahora! and EQUIP NJ (Equitable Policies in New Jersey) to identify and support events that connect prospective and current grantees focused on similar issues; provide access to RWJF thought leadership and its nationwide learnings and data; and highlight strategic offerings of the New Jersey department to ensure that lessons learned from projects and processes are shared throughout the region. 
• Disseminate information on the Foundation’s goals, desired outcomes, and strategies among New Jersey communities, and convey their perceptions back to the Foundation.

Program Advisement: 

• Advise on the continued development and impact of the Foundation’s emerging and evolving regional grantmaking strategy (e.g., designing inclusive programs).
• Work with New Jersey staff and consultants to identify relevant and timely funding priorities and related strategies with potential partners to achieve long-term outcomes at scale.
• Collaborate with Foundation programmatic colleagues to elevate community needs, regional challenges, and best practices, and track progress against statewide departmental goals.
• Responsible for the project management, implementation, and measurement outcomes of capacity-building and community-engagement efforts.

Departmental Operations: 

• Manage relationships with consultants and partner organizations for community engagement and learning work.
• Identify and develop systems and ways to manage community contacts through the Salesforce tool and other internal grantee portals. 

Foundation and Field Contributions: 

• Build knowledge of best practices for strengthening community collaborative efforts for health equity (including racial equity) and ensure that those practices are part of the Foundation’s work. 
• Act as a subject matter expert internally and externally in community relations, equity, and/or power-building. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions

Minimum Requirements

• Commitment to racial and health equity and to the Foundation’s vision, values, and Guiding Principles.
• Experience working in and fostering an inclusive environment, working as part of a multidisciplinary team, and working effectively with persons from diverse cultural, social, and ethnic backgrounds.
• Experience performing work related to the RWJF New Jersey department’s key areas of opportunity: birth equity, affordable housing, and public health infrastructure reform.
• Preferred industry experience leading work in the fields of program development, community engagement, community partnerships, community organizing, and/or advocacy, ideally in a public health context.
• Working knowledge of municipal and statewide government legislative and regulatory practices.
• Subject matter expertise in technical assistance and/or organizational capacity-building to drive impact.
• Collaborative, team-oriented, and energetic; able to develop relationships with, e.g., colleagues, grantees, consultants, and external funders.
• Skills in time, project, and people management; ability to balance multiple priorities.
• Good sense of humor and ability to have fun with internal and external partners.
• Written and verbal skills; demonstrated persuasive and respectful presentation skills for communications with internal leadership, external high-level partners, and people from the communities working on a range of complex issues.
• Ability to communicate in English (required), as well as languages of New Jersey communities, e.g., Spanish, Chinese, or other languages (preferred).
• Ability to travel and visibly serve as a Foundation representative externally (e.g., at community events, grantee gatherings).
• Undergraduate education with seven (7) plus years of expertise working in complex environments with significant post-graduation experience.

Physical Requirements/Working Conditions

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

Position’s Assigned Office Location

This position is assigned to our Princeton, N.J. office.

Hybrid: Flexible Purpose (HFP) Explained

As of January 1, 2023, the Foundation has implemented a model we call Hybrid: Flexible Purpose (HFP). RWJF’s new operating model is the infrastructure (e.g., policies, practices, protocols, procedures, systems) that forms the basis for how the day-to-day operations are managed, culture is built and nurtured, and mission is delivered. This model is designed to meet the needs of the organization while giving employees as much flexibility as possible. Onsite participation is determined by job responsibilities, organizational and team-level requirements, and mandatory gatherings throughout the year. While there are no fixed days per week, all employees are expected to plan their time on-site and cover commuting expenses as needed to meet those expectations. Learn more about our operating model and in-office requirements.

Salary

The non-negotiable starting salary for this position is $137,900.

Benefits

RWJF offers comprehensive health and retirement benefits to employees, generous paid time off, and more. Why work at RWJF? Learn more about the benefits of working at RWJF.

Transition Stipend

A transition stipend is provided to all new hires to aid in costs related to transitioning to a new job.

Discretionary Year-End Bonus

Employees may also be eligible for a discretionary year-end bonus based on a variety of factors, at the Foundation’s sole discretion.

How To Apply

• Applicants should submit a resume and required letter of interest by the stated deadline.

• Internal RWJF applicants should submit a resume and letter of interest through the Internal Jobs Hub app in Workday.

Application Deadline

Monday, April 21, 2025, by 10 a.m. ET.