Government Affairs, Political Strategy and Programs, Senior Manager

# Cox Enterprises – Senior Manager, Government Affairs, Political Strategy & Programs

Cox Enterprises is a diverse global enterprise with more than a century of ambitious reinvention. Its businesses span multiple industries, addressing complex challenges and evolving markets. The **Senior Manager, Government Affairs – Political Strategy and Programs** is a key member of Cox Enterprises’ Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C., responsible for setting and driving enterprise-wide political engagement strategy in support of Cox’s business and policy priorities.

This role owns the end-to-end strategy, governance, and execution of Cox’s political engagement ecosystem, including Cox’s employee-funded political action committee (CoxPAC), corporate political giving, and broader political programming. It establishes a multi-year PAC and political engagement strategy for Cox’s full portfolio of businesses, ensuring alignment with enterprise advocacy priorities and evolving policy landscapes.

In addition, this role will develop and expand lobbying capabilities, integrating political programming with federal and state advocacy strategies to maximize impact. The Senior Manager serves as a strategic advisor to Government Affairs and executive leadership, ensuring that political support, relationships, and engagement efforts are tightly aligned to business outcomes.

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## Key Responsibilities

### Enterprise Political Strategy & PAC Ownership

– **PAC and engagement strategy** — Establish and lead the enterprise-wide PAC and political engagement strategy across Cox’s portfolio of businesses, ensuring alignment with public policy priorities and long-term advocacy goals.
– **Strategic roadmap development** — Define and execute a multi-year strategic roadmap for CoxPAC and related political giving programs, including priorities, support frameworks, and success measures.
– **Political landscape translation** — Translate evolving political, legislative, and regulatory dynamics into proactive engagement strategies that position Cox effectively.
– **Thought partnership** — Serve as a strategic thought partner to Government Affairs leadership on political support, relationships, and influence strategy.

### PAC Governance, Strategy Execution & Operations

– **Governance and oversight** — Own governance, oversight, and operational excellence of CoxPAC, ensuring strong controls, decision transparency, and executive alignment.
– **Committee advisory role** — Serve as primary advisor and lead staff liaison to the CoxPAC Management Committee, including agendas, briefing materials, recommendations, decision documentation, and reporting.
– **Governance model development** — Build and maintain best-in-class governance model, including policies, controls, reporting mechanisms, and audit readiness.
– **Budgeting and performance** — Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and performance measurement for all political programs, ensuring ROI alignment with enterprise objectives.
– **PAC solicitation management** — Manage the annual PAC solicitation campaign and year-round engagement programs, including leadership-supported initiatives and fundraising activities.
– **PAC communications** — Oversee PAC communications (newsletters, updates, educational materials) and prepare executive-level presentations and internal briefings.
– **Event and engagement programming** — Design and coordinate PAC events and engagement programming, including tracking and analyzing participation and outcomes; lead efforts around major Washington, D.C. engagement moments (e.g., fly-ins).

### Political Programs Strategy & Governance

– **Political program planning** — Lead planning and execution of Cox’s political programs strategy, including CoxPAC and related engagement activities, in coordination with Government Affairs leadership.
– **Program priorities and budgets** — Develop and manage multi-year program priorities and annual operating plans that align political engagement with Cox’s broader public policy goals.
– **Federal advocacy support** — Support federal advocacy efforts by tracking political dynamics, stakeholder priorities, and election-cycle considerations.
– **Governance frameworks** — Establish and maintain best-in-class governance frameworks, controls, and reporting mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability.

### Federal & State Compliance (PAC + Political Giving)

– **Federal compliance management** — Ensure end-to-end compliance with Federal Election Commission requirements, internal controls, and audit-ready safeguards; oversee contribution processing, reporting, recordkeeping, and approvals.
– **State compliance coordination** — Coordinate state political giving and compliance with state laws, including monitoring limits, disclosure requirements, and registration rules; support state-level giving programs where permitted.
– **Scalable compliance systems** — Maintain scalable systems, workflows, and internal approval processes that ensure reliable and consistent compliance.

### Cross-Functional Partnership & External Engagement

– **Internal coordination** — Coordinate across government affairs, legal, communications, and executive stakeholders to ensure political engagement activities reinforce company positioning and advocacy strategy.
– **Leadership development support** — Work with Talent Development and internal partners to support the DC-based Leadership Development Fly-in and related programs.
– **External representation** — Represent Cox Enterprises externally at events, conferences, and meetings; build relationships with peer companies, trade associations, and relevant organizations.
– **Vendor management** — Manage vendor relationships supporting political programs.

### Integrated Political Engagement & Lobbying

– **Lobbying capability expansion** — Develop and expand lobbying capabilities, integrating PAC strategy with federal and state advocacy efforts.
– **Direct lobbying engagement** — Support and increasingly lead direct lobbying engagement, including congressional meetings, coalition work, and policy advocacy initiatives.
– **Alignment of giving and advocacy** — Ensure alignment between political giving, stakeholder engagement, and legislative priorities to maximize enterprise influence.
– **Candidate strategy advising** — Advise on candidate strategy, relationship-building, and election-cycle engagement decisions.

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## Qualifications

### Required

– **Education and experience** — Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of experience setting and driving political engagement strategy; OR Master’s with 6+ years; OR Ph.D. with 3+ years; OR 12+ years of experience without a degree.
– **Communication skills** — Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience creating executive-ready materials and presentations.

### Preferred / Differentiators

– **Campaign finance knowledge** — Strong working knowledge of federal and state campaign finance laws and compliance controls.
– **Outside counsel partnership** — Experience partnering with outside counsel on campaign finance compliance.
– **Political experience** — Experience in a Congressional office, political campaign, or fundraising organization.
– **Lobbying exposure** — Experience supporting federal lobbying efforts or interest in expanding into that work.
– **Cox policy familiarity** — Familiarity with or interest in Cox’s major policy areas and operating businesses.

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## Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary in the range of **$161,900.00 – $269,900.00**. The base salary may vary based on location and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. The position may be eligible for additional compensation, including an incentive program.

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## Benefits

The Company offers eligible employees:

– **Flexible paid vacation** — Employees may take as much paid vacation as they deem consistent with their duties and company needs.
– **Paid holidays** — Seven paid holidays annually.
– **Paid wellness time** — Up to 160 hours of paid wellness time annually for personal or family needs.
– **Additional leave** — Bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.

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Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship.

Apply here