Federal Government Affairs Manager/Director

# Applications Reviewed on a Rolling Basis

We expect to move quickly with a hiring decision made over the next few weeks.

**Location:** Washington, D.C. (in‑person role requiring regular Hill and agency presence)
**Reports to:** Federal Policy Director
**Status:** Full‑time
**Compensation:** Offers expected between $108,000 – $193,000 depending on experience and other factors, plus competitive benefits

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# About the Recoding America Fund

The Recoding America Fund (RAF) is a new, bipartisan hybrid 501(c)(3)/501(c)(4) initiative to strengthen America by building the federal and state governments we need to compete globally and serve citizens effectively.

RAF aims to restore the core capabilities of government and move to a new operating model—the right people, doing the right work, with purpose‑fit systems and test‑and‑learn frameworks—so it can reliably deliver on its goals.

The Fund seeks to help accelerate the growth and development of an ideologically diverse field of state capacity organizations, connect them to each other, fill in the gaps, and help them set ambitious common goals to drive transformational change across all levels of government in this time of unprecedented disruption.

Change is coming to public institutions, and now is the time to shape that change in the public interest. That ambitious task cannot be the work of just one party or faction.

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# The Opportunity

The state capacity field has produced strong policy ideas on civil service, procedure, digital, and oversight and accountability. What the field broadly lacks is the political and advocacy infrastructure to turn those ideas into reform.

This gap is urgent. The current environment—driven by ongoing government management reforms, public frustration with government performance, and technological advancements—has created an unprecedented bipartisan openness to structural reform.

The field employs only a few government affairs staff focused on state capacity issues, and requests for engagement exceed the ability to respond. There is a narrow window to build relationships with policymakers and socialize its policy ideas to make the most of this moment.

We are hiring a Federal Government Affairs Manager/Director to build and run the federal state capacity government affairs function at Recoding America.

This is not a traditional government affairs role. We are not building a lobbying shop for one organization’s interests. We are building government affairs infrastructure for an ecosystem of organizations that share a vision for a more capable, accountable government but currently lack the collective political capacity to realize it.

This role succeeds by strengthening the ecosystem’s collective capacity to engage—coordinating shared resources, filling gaps no individual organization can fill, and ensuring outreach adds up to more than the sum of its parts—not by duplicating the Hill engagement that partner organizations already do well.

This is a senior role on the Federal team that owns the day‑to‑day management of RAF’s congressional and executive branch relationships, coordinates the government affairs work across the broader state capacity ecosystem, and develops the strategic and political groundwork for targeted legislative wins in the 120th Congress and beyond.

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# Key Responsibilities

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## 1. Congressional and Executive Branch Engagement

Building and managing Recoding America’s relationships with Congress and the executive branch while coordinating ecosystem engagement to ensure outreach adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

– **Build and manage relationships** — Engage members and staff across both parties and chambers, focusing on committees and offices relevant to the state capacity reform agenda, as well as executive branch officials central to implementation.
– **Manage day‑to‑day engagement** — Schedule meetings, prepare leadership and staff with tailored briefing materials and talking points, draft follow‑ups, and track outcomes and commitments.
– **Clarify messaging** — Work with programmatic policy staff to develop tailored materials and appropriate leave‑behinds for Congressional and executive branch partners.

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## 2. Ecosystem Coordination and Capacity Building

Identify ways to increase visibility and capacity across the ecosystem’s government affairs teams, ensuring the field’s collective Hill presence is coherent, coordinated, and growing.

– **Support coordination** — Develop shared field infrastructure and serve as a resource to partner organizations.
– **Produce coalition materials** — Create processes for shared drafting of legislation, co‑signing letters, and cross‑ecosystem bill endorsements.
– **Identify capacity gaps** — Flag gaps in Congressional and executive branch outreach and determine appropriate responses.
– **Expand advocacy capacity** — Recommend funding for additional organizations, leverage existing capacity, and deploy C4 resources for time‑sensitive opportunities.
– **Advise on external partners** — Vet and manage relationships with lobbying firms, political strategy consultants, and other organizations engaged to fill coordination or capacity gaps.

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## 3. Strategic Planning

Develop a multi‑horizon political strategy that positions the ecosystem for legislative and administrative wins in the next two years and beyond.

– **Map legislative pathways** — Create committee‑specific champion strategies for each reform priority.
– **Advise on policy development** — Ensure policy ideas are tractable, socialized with the right stakeholders, and aligned with engagement strategies.
– **Plan outreach opportunities** — Co‑develop a prioritized list for the 120th Congress.
– **Deploy C4 resources strategically** — Allocate resources across lobbying firms, polling, message testing, events, or sub‑granting.

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## 4. Messaging and Political Strategy

Support development of the political language and public narrative needed to build support for structural government reform across partisan lines.

– **Develop bipartisan messaging** — Create framings that resonate with both progressive and conservative audiences.
– **Evaluate polling needs** — Scope and manage polling or message testing when useful.
– **Build a constituency** — Develop messaging that creates political support for state capacity reforms despite low natural grassroots salience.

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# Who You Are and What You Bring

You know the Hill. You understand the substance. You’re a field builder. You see the political landscape clearly. You build with sustainability in mind. You are credible across the political spectrum. You bridge political and programmatic work.

RAF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, including ideological diversity.

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# What RAF Offers

– Automatic 3% employer 401k contribution, fully vested immediately
– Flexible Time Off
– Federal holidays plus Dec 24 – Jan 1 office closure
– 100% employer‑paid medical, dental, and vision for employees; 50% for dependents
– Access to pre‑tax accounts (Healthcare FSA, Dependent Care FSA, Commuter Benefits)

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# Next Steps and Start Date

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Interviews will be conducted with high‑potential candidates.
Target start date: mid‑June.

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# Reasonable Accommodations

If you require accommodations during the application or interview process, email **[email protected]** with the subject line “Accommodation Needed.”

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# Equal Opportunity

Recoding America Fund is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered without regard to protected characteristics.

Apply here