December 4, 2024—The American Literary Translators Association seeks an Executive Director. Please see the following call:
DESCRIPTION OF ALTA
ALTA is a nonprofit arts membership association that provides programs and professional affiliation to the literary translation community: individual translators, academic institutions, presses, and others working in literary translation. The annual ALTA conference and year-round events are structured around the creation of high-quality art. ALTA also administers awards to recognize excellence in translation and provides fellowships and mentorships to support emerging translators.
ALTA’s mission is to support the work of literary translators, advance the art of literary translation, and serve translators, and the students, teachers, publishers, and readers of literature in translation.
DESCRIPTION OF ED ROLE
The ALTA Executive Director has primary responsibility for implementing ALTA’s established strategic priorities, which includes growing and diversifying its membership as well as retaining members; integrating inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility into all functions of the organization; ensuring ALTA’s programmatic, financial, and operational sustainability; and raising the profile of literary translation.
The ED manages the staff and all personnel needs, including hiring and training new employees, as well as serving as the staff liaison for all Committee and Board work. The ED develops and executes plans for ALTA’s three programs (awards, conference, mentorships), and is the primary liaison with ALTA’s organizational partners (AWP, Translation Review, etc.). The ED is responsible for grant writing (NEA and other grants), annual fundraising, and financial administration, and ensures ALTA’s legal compliance. The ED reports directly to the ALTA President.
Core Duties
Fundraising and development (30%): grant writing, donor relations and stewardship, working with staff to run fundraising campaigns
Program management (25%): oversight of the annual conference, virtual programming, mentorships and awards, as well as oversight of ALTA’s strategic initiatives and partnerships
Administration and finance (15%): budgeting, financial planning and reconciliation, liaising with vendors
Staff management (10%): motivating and leading a small, close team of professionals, being responsible for HR queries and managing employee benefits
Board relations (10%): working closely with the President, facilitating communication, and attending Board meetings as well as committee meetings in an ex officio capacity
Outreach, community building (10%): increasing ALTA’s public profile as a central player in the literary translation ecosystem.
And other duties as assigned and appropriate.
Qualifications:
The ideal candidate for this position will have:
- A strong understanding of nonprofit financial management, including budgeting and fiscal oversight;
- Experience with grant writing, major gifts, and donor stewardship, and a track record of building relationships with board members and donors;
- Excellent people management skills that encourage collaboration and growth, and ability to motivate team members with a range of work styles;
- Organizational skills and the ability to work well as a part of a close-knit remote team spanning multiple time zones;
- Writing skills and the ability to tailor communications to different audiences;
- Cross-cultural communications skills to work and liaise effectively with individuals from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds;
- Appreciation for the work of translation and familiarity with the literary translation community and the literary industry more broadly;
- A vision for ALTA’s sustainability and continued growth.
Please do apply if you’re excited about the position—you do not need to have all of the qualifications and experience listed above to apply, and we fully anticipate that the best person for the role may not be someone with experience in all its component parts.
Remote Working
This position may be a remote working position or may be based in our offices in Tucson. A minimum of 5 hours’ overlap with Mountain Time is required. Ability to work in the US is required. Attendance at the ALTA conference is required.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
ALTA is an equal opportunity employer. ALTA is committed to ensuring equity and access across the broad range of our activities and initiatives, maintaining a culture in which all members, staff, conference attendees, and participants in ALTA programming feel welcome, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, language, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, ability status, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and other forms of difference, and valuing myriad and differing intellectual and artistic contributions, political and ideological views, and lived experiences for their capacity to enrich ALTA’s work and contribute to its success as a membership organization.
Salary & Benefits
This is a full-time position. Salary will be in the range of $75,000-$85,000 USD.
To apply, please submit a cover letter addressed to the ALTA Search Committee along with a CV to edsearch@literarytranslators.org with “Candidate Name – ALTA ED Search” as the subject line. A list of professional references and additional materials may be requested at a later stage in the search process. The priority deadline for applications is December 31st, 2024, but applications will remain open until the position is filled.
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