Politics Fellow

Third Way’s Politics team is seeking a fellow to join our team and help us give moderate voters a stronger voice in Washington. The Politics fellow will help the team make our case that winning elections and governing both require appealing to a broad coalition of voters, not just one party’s activist base. The fellowship may also involve work on our social policy portfolio, to find ways to talk about and make progress on divisive issues like abortion, immigration, religious liberty, policing reform, and guns.

Third Way’s Politics team conducts research to support center-left political leaders, including public opinion research to give policymakers a deeper understanding of the values held by voters in the center of the electorate, and analysis of primary data to identify important trends in the electorate.

The fellow will report to the Senior Political Analyst.

Fellowship Info

The Third Way Fellows Program is a full-time, 12-month program that comes with a $55,000 annual stipend and two weeks paid vacation, plus healthcare and benefits. It also comes with the chance to meet with top Washington policy players; to co-author papers and work with our policy teams to produce new ideas, research, and insights; to learn our methodology; and to leverage our wide-ranging D.C. network into future career opportunities.

During your time at Third Way, you will learn skills in workflow management, leveraging polarities, meeting facilitation and participation, parallel thinking, dynamic presentation and communication, creativity, design thinking, networking, and interview skills.

Upon completion, our fellows find fulfilling work at other think tanks, congressional committees, private-sector firms, advocacy organizations, and the federal government. They take full advantage of Third Way’s ever-growing network of public policy professionals. If you are a future-oriented thinker and a political nerd/policy wonk willing to listen and learn, we’d like you to join us.

Third Way has a hybrid work policy, so this position has the option to be remote on Mondays and Fridays, but must come into the DC office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Skills

The ideal candidate has:

• An interest in moderate politics and commitment to Third Way’s mission;
  
• An advanced degree (master’s or law) in a related field OR several years of experience in politics.
  
• The ability to take initiative on individual projects, but willingness to work collaboratively on a team;
  
• Strong research and technical skills, with a talent for knowing and telling the story that a dataset demands;
  
• Knowledge of elections and the ability to explain complicated concepts in a way that makes sense to a lay audience;
  
• Diplomacy and discretion when dealing with external groups.

Duties

• Analyzing historical and recent electoral and political data to come up with new insights and proof points that advance our case;
• Assisting senior leadership with rapid requests for political data such as public opinion or historical election data;
• Collecting, analyzing, and summarizing qualitative and quantitative public opinion research to help policymakers, campaigns, and political influencers understand how American voters view a wide variety of issues, and how to best navigate them to build broad support;
• Drafting high-impact written reports, memos, op-eds, and presentations to support center-left political leaders;
• Organizing and participating in high-level external meetings, briefings on Capitol Hill, professional networking events, and other activities to promote Third Way ideas;
• Supporting other members of the team with research and minor administrative tasks as needed

Compensation

$55,000 annual stipend and two weeks paid vacation, plus healthcare and benefits

Requirements

The ideal candidate will possess a graduate degree (Masters, J.D., or other) or have experience in politics, including internships and coursework. Fellows must be able to explain complicated concepts in a way that makes sense to the general public while engaging and exciting the audience.

While this position requires strong technical skills, Third Way’s success relies on our ability to build relationships and communicate our message. A willingness to work collaboratively on a team while taking the initiative on individual projects, an aptitude to multi-task on various assignments in distinct issue areas, and a penchant for solving problems creatively and thinking outside the box are integral to the job. Finally, fellows must have a deep commitment to Third Way’s mission of representing Americans in the “vital center.”