National Detention Hotline Manager

Applications received by December 2, 2024 will be prioritized

Click here for a PDF version of this job description

Position Overview

Started in 2013, FFI’s National Immigration Detention Hotline receives nearly 40,000 calls annually from immigrants in detention across the nation. FFI’s free and unmonitored hotline provides a lifeline to people inside of immigrant detention by providing critical resources and supporting organizing campaigns - like mass labor and hunger strikes - and political actions and policy initiatives centering detained survivors’ needs and strategies. 

The primary responsibility of the National Detention Hotline Manager is to sustain, manage, and evolve the National Immigration Detention Hotline, which is central to the work of the entire organization. The National Hotline Manager will recruit, onboard, train, and supervise our 100+ multilingual and multicultural volunteers while sharing critical information from the hotline with FFI staff and key partners.  All staff members will participate in ongoing learning and growth opportunities, which will build FFI into an anti-racist and welcoming organization for all directly impacted people.

This is a remote, full-time role, and we encourage candidates who have been directly impacted by immigration detention or the mass incarceration system to apply.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities 

Volunteer recruitment, retention, and management: 

  • Recruit value-aligned, committed, and multilingual hotline volunteers to ensure language diversity on the hotline.

  • Onboard and train incoming volunteers by providing robust training and resources to new volunteers.  

  • Strengthen the volunteer base by building a sense of community through monthly meetings and other activities.

  • Provide day-to-day and individualized support to hotline volunteers during their hotline shifts. 

  • Offboard outgoing volunteers and gather feedback to strengthen the volunteer experience.

  • Manage volunteer appreciation activities.

Respond to needs inside of immigrant detention: 

  • Identify and expose human rights violations inside detention centers by reviewing hotline calls and providing a weekly report of patterns and trends.

  • Use a secure online case management database to track rights violations that take place inside detention facilities.

  • Exposing human rights violations inside detention centers through community outreach.

  • Manage the civil rights complaint submission project, including volunteer assignment, complaint tracking, documentation, submission, responses, and other tasks, as needed.

  • Manage mail correspondence to people detained by reviewing, tracking, documenting, and responding to mail.

  • Manage the Resource Mobilization Team, which provides financial, legal, and self-help resources to people detained. 

Program development and management: 

  • Ensure that FFI’s hotline schedule is accurate and up-to-date by ensuring that shifts are filled.

  • Analyze the impact of FFI’s hotline by analyzing hotline data weekly.

  • Process voicemails left on the FFI Hotline.

  • Create and administer surveys to the program and volunteer base to make the hotline program more effective.

  • Maintain strong partnerships with Universities and other programs.

  • Track settlement violations by gathering information from partners and people inside.

  • Communicating settlement violations with attorneys. 

Other duties: 

  • Participate in FFI staff meetings and retreats.

  • Supervise interns when needed.

  • Support the Organizing Director and other team members in the Organizing and Advocacy Department with other duties, as needed.


Qualifications & Skills

  • Minimum of three years experience in program management, community organizing, administrative roles,  volunteer management, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience.

  • This position requires a person with a high attention to detail who enjoys task-oriented work and can work independently.

  • Demonstrated commitment to immigrants’ rights, decarceration, and/or other social justice causes impacting communities of color and a basic competency in race equity and inclusion.

  • Excellent time management and multi-tasking skills.

  • Performs job duties with a high degree of initiative.

  • Strong project management skills.

  • Strong writing and communication skills.

  • Excellent interpersonal skills to facilitate community meetings and speak with diverse audiences and vulnerable populations.

  • Basic proficiency with databases and spreadsheets.

  • Data analysis skills are a plus.

  • Proficiency in Google Suite, Slack, and data entry software.

  • Fluent in Spanish or another priority language is required.

  • Direct experience with the immigration detention system: candidates who have been directly impacted by immigration detention or the mass incarceration system are highly encouraged to apply.

Compensation and Benefits 

This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position. The salary range begins at $75K.  All FFI staff are offered a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental,  and vision plans. Paid time starts at 25 vacation or closed-office days in your first year, sick and mental health leave, 13 holidays, and a generous sabbatical policy.  Other benefits include life insurance, long and short-term disability, retirement planning with an employer match after one year, remote office and cell phone stipends, and professional development funds.

Equal Opportunity

FFI is an equal opportunity employer, and we strongly encourage and seek applications from women, BIPOC, immigrants, people with disabilities, people who are bilingual or multilingual, including non-native speakers, as well as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. FFI complies with all federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (“EEO”)  laws. FFI strictly prohibits discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment because of the individual’s race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, height and/or weight, disability, gender identity or expression, medical condition including acquired immune deficiency syndrome  (AIDS) or AIDS-related conditions, marital status, partnership status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, military status, arrest record and any other characteristic protected by law. 

Accommodations will be made so that qualified disabled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application. While performing the job responsibilities, accommodations will be made to enable people with disabilities to perform the job's essential functions.  

Application Process 

Please email hr@freedomforimmigrants.org with the following information:  

I. In lieu of a cover letter, please provide responses to the following:

  1. What does abolition mean to you?

  2. Why do you think Black liberation is relevant and important to this work?

  3. What approach do you use to keep multiple projects moving along in a timely manner proactively?

  4. How do you balance quantity (work output) and quality in your work? 

  5. Please provide an example of a time when accuracy and attention to detail were extremely important in your work.

  6. What questions do you have about FFI or the role?

II. Resume

III. Include your first and last name followed by “FFI Hotline Manager” in the subject line

Applications received by December 2, 2024, will be prioritized. Applications will be reviewed until the opening is filled. Start date is Monday, January 20, 2025.  Applications must respond to cover letter questions to be considered.

Thank you! 

Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this job description. We’re looking forward to getting to know you!