Associate Director for Habeas Bridge Project

About Acacia Center for Justice:

The Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) provides legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination, and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country. Acacia’s goals are twofold: to support immigrant legal services and defense networks to provide exceptional legal services to immigrants; and to advocate for the expansion of these programs and the infrastructure critical to guaranteeing immigrants access to justice, fairness, and freedom. Acacia ensures accountable, independent, zealous, and person-centered legal services and representation to protect the rights of all immigrants.

Job Summary:

The Associate Director (AD) for the Habeas Bridge Project will lead the implementation and strategic development of the Habeas Bridge Project, a rapid-response initiative designed to defend the rights of unlawfully detained immigrants. This pilot program matches immigration attorneys with federally barred criminal defense attorneys to file emergency habeas petitions in federal court. The Associate Director will oversee project operations, mentor coordination, intake systems, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring the program is sustainable, scalable, and responsive to urgent legal needs.

Primary Duties/Responsibilities:

Project Leadership & Management

• Develop and execute strategic work plans that set short- and long-term goals, success indicators, and milestones for piloting, scaling, and transitioning the project from incubation to sustained operations, ensuring alignment with the broader strategy set within the Program Design and Development team. Oversee day-to-day operations of the Habeas Bridge Project, ensuring alignment with organizational and strategic goals and the project’s scope
• Lead internal cross-teams collaboration (including Legal, IT, External Affairs, Communications, Development, REDA, and other Programs) to shape strategy, set priorities, and guide the vetting and approval of project activities and communications
• Lead the final push and launch phases, including soft and hard rollouts

Mentorship & Volunteer Coordination

• Design and oversee systems for recruiting, onboarding, training, and supporting federal criminal and immigration litigators to serve as habeas counsel and habeas mentors
• In collaboration with the Public Education and Training team, develop scalable structures and processes for training curricula and resource libraries tailored to the Southern and Central Districts of California, with the capacity to expand to additional jurisdictions in later phases.
• Maintain relationships with mentors and litigators, ensuring ongoing support and engagement.

Intake & Case Management

• Supervise the intake system, including screening criteria and referral workflows for emergency habeas petitions.
• Ensure timely coordination between intake monitors, habeas counsel, and legal representatives for case assignments.
• Develop secure information-sharing systems and protocols in coordination with Legal, IT, and Compliance teams, ensuring alignment with organizational data security standards and best practices.

Partnerships & Outreach

• Cultivate relationships with law firms, federal defender organizations, university clinics, and nonprofit partners.
• Represent the project in NILRA working groups and other spaces of coordination with national partners.
•  Serve as the lead internal representative for the Habeas Bridge Project, coordinating and collaborating with existing program teams and other new initiatives across Acacia when project activities intersect or require alignment.

Fundraising & Sustainability

• Collaborate with the Development team to identify funding sources and manage fundraising efforts
• Monitor budget allocations and ensure responsible use of internal and external resources

Required Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Uncompromising commitment to immigrants’ rights, racial equity, and person-centered approaches, with a demonstrated understanding of how systemic inequities shape access to legal information and representation.   

• Demonstrated experience leading interdisciplinary teams and managing programs to translate strategic goals into achievable work plans, build sustainable systems, and define clear roles, workflows, and deliverables.

• Demonstrated high-level adaptability, readily embracing change and effectively managing diverse tasks in a fluid landscape,  along with strong problem-solving skills and resilience under pressure.
• Experience building partnerships with legal services providers to meet the needs of people in jails, prisons, and/or immigration detention 

• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills; the demonstrated ability to build credibility within the immigrants’ rights field; and the ability to engage and persuade broader audiences without resorting to technical language   

• Demonstrated capacity to engage in strategic planning and innovation, especially to remove barriers to, expand, and strengthen legal access for all immigrants   

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with others toward short- and longer-term goals 

Preferred Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Experience negotiating obstacles to access to justice for people in carceral, detention, or institutional settings 

• Experience providing legal defense to people who are detained or incarcerated 

• Experience with community organizing and connecting grassroots ideas to innovative solutions  

• Lived experience and/or demonstrated commitment to challenging inequities and racism in the immigration legal system 

• Demonstrated ability to promote team/coalition cohesion, to build staff morale, and to function as an equitable team member 

Education and Experience:

• J.D. and admission to practice law required; experience in immigration and/or federal litigation strongly preferred.

• 9-12 years of relevant work experience in legal access or representation services, immigration policy, or a related field 

• Experience managing teams
• Comparable work and educational experience will also be considered, particularly where the candidate has direct experience with the immigration legal system and has been personally impacted by it

Compensation and Benefits:

Acacia has established an internal compensation philosophy that centers equity and pay transparency. The salary for this position is set at $126,000. The salary listed is just one component of Acacia’s total compensation package for employees. Supporting Acacia staff—both personally and professionally—is our priority.

• Medical/Dental/Vision- Some plans at $0 cost to the employee
• Employee Assistance Program
• 20 days per year of vacation time
• 12 days per year of sick time
• 5 personal days
• 4 organization-wide Wellness Days
• 11 observed holidays, including the last week of December
• First time home office set-up stipend
• Internet Stipend
• 401k with 5% employer contribution, no employee participation required.

People of color and those who have been impacted by the criminal system and immigration system are strongly urged to apply. Acacia is deeply committed to race equality, inclusion and belonging and strives to create a work culture that recognizes everyone's unique lived experience.

To Apply:

Submit your resume and cover letter through the Acacia Careers site. If you encounter technical issues or have accessibility needs, email your resume and cover letter to hiring@acaciajustice.org with Subject: ATTN: Human Resources / [Job Title], Acacia Center for Justice

PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT THROUGH ONE METHOD.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

Acacia is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit persons of diverse backgrounds and support their retention and advancement within the organization. We are committed to fostering a workplace culture inclusive of people with respect to their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, marital status, age, disabilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or any other characteristic. Our commitment to justice and diversity also means providing a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.

This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties, responsibilities and requirements but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function within our organization.

Acacia Center for Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.