Associate Vice President, Federal Affairs
R Street Institute
Washington, D.C.
The R Street Institute—a free-market think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices around the country—seeks an energetic associate vice president of federal affairs to lead R Street’s federal engagement and manage a team of skilled professionals, working with policymakers in Washington. This position will report to the vice president of implementation.
Ideal candidates will be hard-working, well-networked, tactically minded and comfortable managing a team that moves in tandem with issues on the Hill and whose members frequently will be out of the office. The R Street Institute is experiencing rapid growth in both personnel and scholarly output. A successful candidate must have the ability to transcend politics as usual and work across ideological lines to promote our policy work in an effective manner as we grow. In addition, the AVP will work in concert with R Street’s state affairs and communications teams to ensure we maximize our ability to promote policy solutions that support free markets and effective governance.
Responsibilities
- Lead R Street’s federal affairs team, which focuses on advancing the organization’s priorities and sharing its research with Congress and federal agencies.
- Create and implement a coherent and integrated strategy for the federal affairs team.
- Build and manage federal coalitions, with a focus on maintaining R Street’s position as a nonprofit think tank among conservative organizations.
- Research and write on R Street’s key policy priorities in a number of different formats.
- Serve as a representative for R Street on federal policy priorities.
- Ensure that R Street meets grant deliverables related to the federal affairs team.
Requirements
- At least 10 years professional experience focused on public policy.
- At least four years of experience in Congress or a federal agency in a capacity that engages R Street’s policy interests.
- Demonstrated ability to work across ideological lines and find commonalities amid a challenging political environment.
- Experience building and flexibly managing a team of talented professionals.
- Excellent writing and verbal communication skills.
- We expect that most candidates will have a bachelor's degree or higher but no specific educational background is required. We care far more about demonstrated results than any credential.
This is a full-time job based in Washington that requires a daily presence in our office. R Street is growing rapidly but remains a close-knit team.
R Street strives to provide a compensation package superior to those at other think tanks and nonprofits. In addition to a highly competitive salary, we provide a health insurance option entirely paid by the employer (even for families); wellness benefit; employer-subsidized mobile phones benefit; 401(k) contributions with no employee match required; and an exceptionally generous vacation policy.
R Street does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, era of military service, gender identity or anything else that's illegal, immoral or stupid to use as a basis for hiring.
We currently plan to accept applications for this job until filled. Candidates we are interested in will be contacted for a telephone interview, which is done on a rolling basis. In-person interviews will be held in our D.C. office. Candidates who believe they are highly qualified and haven't heard back from us should follow up.
To apply, please send us a resume in Microsoft Word or PDF along, with a cover letter pasted into the body of an email. The email address for applications is [email protected].