Careers and Internships

NCJA has the following open position. To view other opportunities, please visit the NCJA Career Center, Connect2Justice Jobs.

Director of Government Affairs

National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA)

📍 Remote within the DC Metro area

💼 Full‑time

💰 $145,000 - $160,000, commensurate with experience

NCJA is seeking an experienced, strategic, and trusted Director of Government Affairs to lead our federal policy efforts. This senior level role serves as NCJA’s primary representative on Capitol Hill and with Department of Justice (DOJ) grantmaking agencies and other federal agencies as appropriate, ensuring that federal policymakers understand states’ needs in addressing crime and public safety - and that states understand federal intent related to legislation, funding and grant making.

This position works closely with the NCJA staff, board leadership, and all NCJA members, and has a primary responsibility for maintaining NCJA’s commitment to nonpartisan policy, education, and advocacy. This role does not supervise staff.

What You’ll Do

Federal Education

Work on a nonpartisan basis to build and maintain relationships with congressional offices and federal agency partners.
Educate congressional offices, relevant congressional committees, and federal agencies (principally DOJ grantmaking components) about State Administering Agencies’ criminal justice policies and practices and administration of federal grant funds.
Track, analyze, and communicate to NCJA members about the federal legislation affecting state criminal justice systems and their agencies’ operations.
Educate congressional offices about the impact of proposed federal legislation on state justice system policy and practice and federal grants administration.
Lead NCJA’s annual appropriations strategy for key DOJ grant programs and other funding important to NCJA members.
Build and maintain relationships with a wide range of national stakeholder organizations.
Build and maintain coalitions appropriate to advance state policy and practice goals.
Coordinate a stakeholder working group and lead a monthly call of national criminal justice stakeholder organizations.

Member Support and Learning

Build strong relationships across the entire NCJA membership to understand their priorities and challenges and to best address their needs.
Provide timely, accurate, and nonpartisan policy guidance to members.
Design and deliver learning sessions for NCJA members throughout the year, including monthly Learning Lunches, quarterly policy calls and government affairs updates.
Lead content development for NCJA’s annual Policy Summit and support content development for the annual Forum on Criminal Justice.
Draft and publish NCJA’s weekly federal policy newsletter.

Strategic Leadership

Advise NCJA leadership on emerging federal and state criminal justice trends.
Support NCJA’s strategic planning and policy agenda.
Represent NCJA at national convenings, conferences, and stakeholder meetings.

What You Bring

10+ years of federal government affairs experience and 5+ years in criminal justice policy.
Strong knowledge of state and local criminal justice systems and trends.
Established relationships within the Washington, D.C. criminal justice community.
Established and trusted relationships with relevant House and Senate staff and on the key congressional committees.
Deep understanding of federal grantmaking, especially DOJ formula grant programs to SAAs.
Experience working with or within state executive or legislative branches (preferred).
Demonstrated ability to work effectively across political lines and maintain NCJA’s commitment to nonpartisanship.
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including developing Capitol Hill-style materials (e.g., issue one-pagers) and translating federal legislative practice into plain English.
Experience in reading and drafting (preferred) federal legislation.
Strong leadership skills with demonstrated problem-solving and analytical skills.
Demonstrated desire and ability to create and maintain a collaborative, mutually supportive work environment.
Ability to work independently in a remote environment and manage multiple priorities with minimum supervision.
Ability to attend meetings regularly on or around Capitol Hill.
Limited travel to NCJA membership meetings, conferences, or other convenings.
This is a remote position, in a professional virtual office. Applicants must have a home office or equivalent workspace.
College and master’s degree preferred, though equivalent experience is fully valued.

Benefits and Culture

Competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, long-term disability coverage, paid leave and federal holidays, 401(k) match, basic life insurance, and the possibility of paid sabbatical leave after seven years.
Laptop and cell phone provided, plus a monthly stipend for routine office supplies.
Flexible schedules and a supportive, mission-driven team.
A culture built on trust, passion, and respect for life outside of work.
A commitment to learning from, and hiring, people from all backgrounds.
Accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform their duties.
NCJA is an equal opportunity employer. We are dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every qualification, we encourage you to consider applying anyway.

How to Apply

Interested candidates must submit a resume, cover letter, and one or two writing samples to jobs@ncja.org. The writing sample(s) should be a short bill summary or a one-pager that summarizes a federal bill. Additional writing samples may be requested in the interview process. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Application deadline: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until late October. Interviews are expected to begin in mid-October.

Application Timing and Start Date

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with the goal of beginning interviews the week of October 12. The start date is flexible, though ideally by the beginning of December. NCJA will accommodate any previously planned time off for holiday plans in November and December.

About NCJA

The National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) is the national nonprofit membership organization representing the State Administering Agencies (SAAs) and other state criminal justice stakeholders. We support state and local justice agencies through education on policy and program best practices, engagement with the federal legislative process, and training and technical assistance to our members and their partners. Our mission is to strengthen state and local criminal justice systems and improve public safety through informed, nonpartisan policy leadership.

NCJA Military Internship Program

NCJA, in partnership with WorkEx and the Department of Defense’s Skillbridge program, has established an internship specifically designed for military service men and women. As military personnel transition out of service and into civilian community, it is easy for them to believe that careers as corrections or police officers might be the extent of opportunities open to them in the criminal justice system. NCJA, with State Administering Agencies as its core membership, is perfectly suited to provide service members leaving the military with a view of the wide range of career choices in criminal justice if that is how they would next like to service their community, state and country. As such, NCJA offers an internship for military personnel interested in pursuing careers in the Criminal Justice system.

We at NCJA are proud to give back to our Service men and woman through this internship program.

Undergraduate Internship Program

THE NCJA UNDERGRADUATE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IS CURRENTLY ON HOLD. WE ARE NOT ACCEPTING NEW APPLICATIONS AT THIS TIME

The NCJA offers semester-long and summer internships. This internship program is designed to provide substantive experience in criminal justice policy. Interns primarily research and write articles for two weekly newsletters; summarize and analyze criminal justice research reports; report on congressional hearings, Justice Department briefings, and other events; and participate in other projects as assigned. Clerical duties are minimal.

This is a remote position. Interns may work from anywhere in the United States. (*We can offer office space for those preferring to work at an onsite location).

The position requires access to the Internet, Microsoft Office or similar office suite applications, and a phone.

Qualified candidates will have excellent writing skills, be inquisitive and hard-working, and have a general interest in criminal justice and/or journalism. Internships are unpaid and available on a full-time or part-time basis throughout the academic year and during the summer. While we prefer students to work between 30 and 40 hours per week, we can work to accommodate academic schedules.

Submit an application: send a cover letter, resume and writing samples (5 pages max) to the internship coordinator listed below. Current transcripts are strongly encouraged.

Bethany Broida

Director of Communications
Email: bbroida@ncja.org