Director, Federal Government Relations

Since 1984, Share Our Strength® has led the fight against hunger and poverty by inspiring and organizing individuals and businesses to share their strengths. Today, through the No Kid Hungry campaign, Share Our Strength is ending childhood hunger in America by ensuring all children get the healthy food they need. No child should go hungry in America – we’re on our way to making that a reality and we want you to join us. We’re bold, creative, always open to new ideas, and 100% dedicated to our mission. If that sounds like you, we’d like you to consider becoming part of our team.

The Director, Federal Government Relations will serve as the principal liaison between Share Our Strength and federal policymakers in Congress, the Administration, and national advocacy partners. They will be responsible for leading the development, management, and implementation of Share Our Strength’s government relations efforts on federal policy priorities, working collaboratively with external partners and colleagues across Share Our Strength to develop and execute federal strategies and tactics and serve as Share Our Strength’s representative in coalitions, meetings on Capitol Hill and with the Administration.

This position will be in Washington D.C. and the candidate must be local to the Washington D.C. area (Hybrid 2 days in the office). This position offers a salary range of $120k-135k. Exact compensation within the stated salary range may vary based on skills, experience, and internal equity.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead work related to the development and execution of Share Our Strength’s federal legislative and regulatory priorities across child nutrition programs (School Breakfast and Lunch, CACFP and Summer Food Service Program), SNAP, WIC, CTC and other federal anti-poverty programs.
• Manage and maintain strong and effective relationships with legislative staff and external partners on federal policy issues. This includes managing difficult conversations, finding shared common ground and identifying and establishing new partnerships.
• Leverage experience and preexisting relationships with Congressional Leadership and key Committees; including Appropriations, Agriculture, Education and Workforce, Finance and HELP, among others.
• Strategic oversight over the preparation and distribution of letters, one-pagers, legislation, testimony, etc. for Members, Congressional staff and other federal policy makers.
• Initiate strategy development and coordination with colleagues to identify, track, and influence federal policy developments impacting child nutrition and anti-poverty programs and coordinates analysis and response on specific bills.
• Lead efforts to set and successfully reach federal government relations goals by providing strategic leadership, ongoing feedback, conducting regular needs and progress assessments, identifying barriers and opportunities and developing strategies and marshaling resources from across the organization.
• Develop an understanding of broader organizational goals and strategies and identify opportunities to leverage federal government relations to further enterprise goals.
• Communicate progress and facilitate shared understanding of government relations metrics, strategies, tactics and impact among external and internal stakeholders, including senior leadership.
• Assist team leadership in setting and tracking federal government relations budgets and making timely recommendations on project funding.
• Represent Share Our Strength to external audiences, including through presentations at conferences, community events, meetings with policymakers, donors and similar forums.
• Provide strategic counsel and guidance to internal leadership during annual planning, campaign reviews and on other strategic matters.
• Lead organizational workgroups as needed.
• Manage federal government relations staff and external consultants.
• Decision making guided by less defined instructions and over more complex matters. Makes decisions on issues and priorities for own work areas within strategic guidelines and with supervisor input on emerging or significant issues and spending.
• Up to 20% Travel
• This position requires to be local to the Washington D.C. area.

SUPERVISION:

This position has supervisory responsibilities of Senior Manager, Federal Government Relations.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• BA/BS required, MA/MS preferred; typically requires at least 8-10 years of relevant experience and/or an equivalent combination of education and experience with a focus on federal issue advocacy, lobbying, public policy, and/or experience in a policy role on Capitol Hill or with a federal government agency.
• Proven leadership skills and a minimum of 3-5 years of people management experience overseeing direct reports
• Demonstrated knowledge of federal legislative processes and experience working with elected officials, legislative staff, agency personnel and other policymakers.
• Ability to register as a federal lobbyist
• Success at developing and managing effective and collaborative partnerships both externally and internally, including ability to cultivate and maintain positive relationships across diverse, bipartisan coalitions, especially within anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.
• Strong commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion through the integration and elevation of individuals with lived experience in all levels of policymaking and program implementation.
• Outstanding written and oral communications skills, including experience presenting to high- level audiences.
• Outstanding judgment and demonstrated ability to initiate, organize and prioritize multiple projects and work independently in a fluid environment.
• Excellent analytical, project management, and organizational skills required.
• Ability to work evenings and weekends as necessary.

COMPREHENSIVE BENEFIT PLAN:

We offer a comprehensive benefits plan which currently includes, but is not limited to, health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, retirement, wellness benefits, and paid time off (vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, holiday, parental leave, bereavement leave, military leave, and jury duty leave).

DIVERSITY:

At Share Our Strength, we value an individual’s diversity of backgrounds, experiences, ideas and perspectives. A hallmark of our history, culture and values has been the organization’s desire to bring together motivated, intelligent, and talented people to work together to find and implement solutions to end hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. We each come to Share Our Strength with a unique background, but together we form a team that yields amazing results. This shared value of encouraging and embracing diversity in our organization fosters a workplace and culture that is highlighted for its innovation, open expression of ideas, and collaboration. With a strong shared commitment to the organization’s mission, and a unique blend of individual strengths, we are all working toward ensuring that every individual can live a healthy and productive life.