Are You Passionate about Technology and Social Good? Benetech Needs You!

Guest post by Betsy Beaumon, President, Benetech

We are seeking visionary leaders to join Benetech in applying technology to advance the rights of disadvantaged people around the world. Technology is playing an ever larger role in increasing respect for human rights and delivering better services, and we have two rare opportunities to lead world-class tech-for-good programs. Benetech is hiring new Vice Presidents for our Global Literacy and Human Rights programs.

You are the leader we are looking for if you see the combination of social good and businesslike management as the answer to pressing problems throughout the world. You are someone who dreams about using your management and leadership skills and love of technology for social impact, exceeding the bounds of what a regular for-profit business can do.

You’ve come to the right place: Benetech.

We are Silicon Valley’s deliberately nonprofit software company. Benetech is organized as a nonprofit, but run like a business. Our goal is not to make gobs of money, it’s to make maximum social impact while breaking even. We use technology today to help hundreds of thousands of students with disabilities succeed in school, as well as help human rights activists around the world document abuses and seek justice. Our Benetech Labs is busy looking for the next tech social enterprises that could make similar global impact.

We operate at the intersection of technology and social impact, and therefore our ideal candidates will demonstrate these dual interests and experiences. Whether you are a nonprofit leader with a track record of using technology to improve outcomes, or a for-profit tech leader with a history of commitment to social justice organizations, we want to see a commitment to both sides. To be successful, our leaders have to be bilingual in speaking tech and social good.

The Vice President of Human Rights will lead the work of the Benetech Human Rights Program, harnessing the power of technology to meet the pressing needs of advocates and human rights defenders to securely gather, store, and appropriately report sensitive data. The technology and training Benetech provides keep human rights defenders safe and have become critically important in larger efforts to pursue reform, seek justice, and begin the process of reconciliation. As one of our partners from an LGBT group in Uganda noted last year, “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen.” We must help ensure that every report of abuse is a tool for justice.

The Vice President of Global Literacy leads Benetech’s biggest program, standing at the confluence of some of the most active and rapidly evolving fields: digital content, EdTech, domestic and international education, and user-centered design. Our Bookshare service is the world’s largest online library of accessible ebooks for people with disabilities, serving over 350,000 users in 60 countries. This leader also provides the vision, leadership, and partnerships for a number of our Benetech Labs projects, including our DIAGRAM Center for accessible STEM, and our latest work on 3D printing in education, museums and libraries. Our dream is that every person on the planet with a disability that gets in the way of reading will have access to the content they need for education, employment, and full social inclusion. Along the way, we expect to drive innovations that will make learning better for all students around the world.

Working for Benetech is hugely rewarding, but not necessarily in a monetary sense. You have to feel strongly that the karmic rewards tip the balance to join a social enterprise. So if you are driven to make a real difference from a leadership position, at the unique intersection of technology and social change—and you are willing to work on delivering maximum social good—then we want to hear from you. Check out our job postings and apply now!

This post originally appeared on Benetech's Blog.