Policy Associate II

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The Public Health Institute (PHI) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting health, well-being, and quality of life for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world. As one of the largest and most comprehensive public health organizations in the nation, we are at the forefront of research and innovations to improve the efficacy of public health statewide, nationally, and internationally.

PHI was distinguished as one of the top 50 “Best Non-Profit Organizations to Work For” by the Non-Profit Times in a national search.

Position Summary

The Policy Associate II position supports key activities of the Prevention Policy Group. These mainly include, but are not limited to, fulfilling its policy evaluation/tracking needs by redesigning/updating, populating, and maintaining the Policy and Evaluation Tracking System (PETS) database of tobacco control policies in local California jurisdictions. Policy Associate II will lead policy analysis work, including policy identification, tracking, and coding; research activities including policy analyses; and supporting project reporting and developing grant-related deliverables.

This is a remote, regular part-time, 75% FTE position that is expected to start on July 2, 2025.

Full salary range for this position: $91,910 to $137,348 per year based on 100% FTE. The typical hiring range for this position is from $68,932.50 (minimum) to $85,971.75 (midpoint), based on 75% FTE. The starting salary is determined using a variety of factors, such as the candidate’s knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as internal equity consideration and budget availability.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Contributes, as needed, to the online identification, searching and monitoring of pending or enacted tobacco-related ordinances across CA. This includes reviewing ordinance reports and sources of ordinance data to identify new ordinances.
• Provides feedback, as needed, to revise the search strategy to continually improve the detection of new ordinances.
• Leads the creation and management of a variable dictionary.
• Serves as lead legal analyst for reviewing, analyzing, and scoring new and revised tobacco-related policies.
• Supports the development of a comprehensive plan for executing the PETS project.
• Assists with the review of the most recent tobacco control model ordinances and updating of scoring rubrics.
• Tracks relevant state and federal law.
• Provides input to address technical assistance requests, as needed.
• Assists with pilot testing an automated approach to collecting and reviewing new ordinances.
• Develops a plan for prioritizing the analysis of new and updated tobacco-related ordinances.
• Contributes to the creation, design and maintenance of a monthly tracking log of newly identified ordinances and the estimated timeline for completion of coding and data entry into PETS.
• Attends and participates in communications with CDPH.
• Attends PETS Policy Advisory Committee web-conference meetings.
• Participates in monthly CDPH/CTPP coordinated videoconference calls to learn about local policy work.
• Contributes to progress, quarterly, and final reports to CDPH.
• Provides input, as requested, on the annual needs assessment of PETS users, including input to edit/update the assessment instrument.
• Participates in related research publications and reports.
• Provides support to other Prevention Policy Group activities as needed and as funding permits, potentially including our cannabis policy work.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 years of increasingly responsible experience in policy analysis and tracking.
• Bachelor’s degree, or substitute with four additional years of related experience.

Other Qualifications

• Juris Doctor or Master of Laws (LLM) degrees is highly preferred.
• Additional master’s degree in biostatistics, epidemiology, public policy, public health, public administration, or a related field and/or experience in tobacco control is highly desirable.
• Experience using policy tracking tools.
• Experience with basic database management.
• Demonstrated abilities in data collection and analysis.
• Established relationships with partners in priority policy areas.
• Demonstrated ability to establish strategy, develop work plans, multi-task, and deliver quality work within deadlines and budgetary guidelines.
• Strong analytic and critical reasoning skills.
• Excellent writing and communication skills, with an ability to reach a wide variety of different audiences effectively.
• Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills.
• Excellent judgment and decision-making skills.
• Ability to work in a team environment and effectively build relationships with staff on all levels inside and outside of the organization.
• Ability to work independently with little supervision and to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent computer literacy, including proficiency with Microsoft desktop applications including the most recent versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT (FLSA) STATUS

This position is classified as exempt based on the job duties. However, based on the FTE, salary level of the employee, or federal/state/local laws, the employee may be classified as nonexempt.

EEO Statement

The Public Health Institute is committed to a policy that provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and to make all employment decisions so as to further this principle of equal employment opportunity. To this end, the PHI will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition including genetic characteristics, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identification and expression, sexual orientation, and will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are offered employment and employees are treated during employment without regard to these characteristics.

For further information regarding Equal Employment Opportunity, copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

ADA Statement:

The Public Health Institute is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Recruitment Team at least 48 hours in advance at Recruitment@phi.org.

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We’re so pleased the Public Health Institute is an organization you would like to work with. Do you have questions about this opportunity? If so, email our recruitment team at Recruitment@phi.org.

Additional information about PHI’s benefits and compensation offerings can be found here.