Senior Executive Vice President of Government Affairs (International) - Washington, D.C.
617MediaGroup
Washington, DC, USA
Posted on Feb 4, 2025
The Senior Executive Vice President of Government Affairs (International) will work in conjunction with the President and the Managing Director to maximize the Agency’s ability to fulfill its mission to advance the public good at scale through the execution and provision of key GA and communications strategies and services to client-partners whose missions are rooted in social justice. This position will be based at the agency’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Who we are:
We’re veteran campaigners, communicators, designers, strategists, storytellers, and web developers. We love what we do. We’re results-driven. And we only work with clients we believe in.
What we do:
We move public opinion. We win tough fights. We tell stories simply, and with maximum impact. We offer comprehensive communication services: from earned media to paid, from digital strategy to eye-catching design. Websites. Video. We do it all for the benefit of our clients’ social justice causes and campaigns.
What we offer:
617MediaGroup provides a generous benefits package, including:
- 100 percent coverage for health, vision, dental, disability, and life insurance premiums
- Up to sixteen weeks of paid parental leave
- Time off, including up to 25 vacation days, plus 13 paid holidays each year, plus 10 additional annual paid time off days
- 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match
- Union membership
- Wellness initiatives, including monthly meditation sessions, monthly yoga classes, fitness reimbursements
- 24-hour access to mental health resources through our union’s Employee Assistance Program
- An emphasis on continuing education and professional development
- Discounted rates on tickets to professional sporting events
- Paid company cell phone
Qualifications:
- At least ten years of cumulative experience working in a political affairs, lobbying, or internal government role (non-communications) directly advocating for or managing program on labor-specific issues, including several years national experience on the prior
- Experience advocating for, lobbying on, and winning tangible political outcomes for labor unions and other progressive causes
- Experience engaging labor unions and labor members at mass scale in key electoral and legislative campaigns
- Deep familiarity with labor movement structures in both North America and Europe
- Demonstrated record of building and maintaining key relationships with national labor leaders and staff
- Demonstrated record of supervising and leading teams in a government affairs or labor engagement capacity
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- A strong personal network of contacts that could create potential partnerships in national progressive and/or labor organizations
- Ability to work in the agency’s D.C. office or other offices as assigned on a regular basis
- Experience driving not just government affairs but also marketing, public relations, and advertising campaigns
- Ability to register as a lobbyist in relevant jurisdictions
- Strong record of effectively directing lobbying for mission related causes and national organizations, especially labor unions
- Demonstrated commitment to the labor movement and progressive causes
- Has drivers license and reliable vehicle
- Ability to travel semi-regularly for client and partnership development purposes
- Other qualifications to be discussed in the interview process
Campaign and client work:
The SEVP will:
- Provide the highest level of executive leadership, practice management, strategic guidance, and mentorship to assigned staff and projects
- Ensure that GA program and efforts are aligned around and helping to support and fulfill the Agency’s vision
- Ensure that a GA program is built that it is aligned around and achieving the Agency’s goals for professional staff development, partnership development growth, and client service that wins for and delights our partners
- Help to expand the agency’s reach for GA and marketing offerings both in North America and globally
- Demonstrate an ability to set high-level strategies that achieve client goals and effectively integrate and apply the broad range of Agency tactics in support of those goals and strategies
- Implement strategies and author/execute campaign plans to ensure victories and positive outcomes/experiences for clients
- Supervise senior and junior staff within to ensure adherence to the highest quality standards and all Agency best practices and protocols
- Ensure adherence to best practices across GA efforts
- Bottom-line a range of A+ deliverables and client service that reflect the breadth and depth of the Agency service offerings
- Provide the highest level of GA expertise in service to clients’ missions and goals
- Ensure the quality and consistency of all GA related budgets, work plans, and reports through the effective management of direct and indirect supervisees
- Write, pitch, and strategize placing client materials before key GA stakeholders
- Mentor staff and increase their skills and effectiveness with intentionality and purpose that aligns with the Agency vision
- See the whole field—across projects and departments — to effectively cut through the clutter and prioritize what matters
- Manage all aspects of IE and other PAC and Super PAC campaigns and budgets entrusted to the agency’s stewardship
- Provide ongoing landscape analysis: Have a finger on municipal, state and federal government landscape and evolving trends.
- Inform clients and internal decision makers on process including related strategy and risk analysis.
Relationship management and external relations
Maintaining a network of contacts (both elected and staff) and using those relationships to drive narratives and messages around key issues, as well as proactively identifying individuals and groups to amplify clients’ messages.
Client Management
The SEVP will:
- Ensure Divisions, Groups, Teams and individual staff assigned to the SEVP are owning and driving day-to-day client work, scopes, and calendar
- Ensure Divisions, Groups, Teams and individual staff are executing all deliverables laid out in the scopes
- Ensure Divisions, Groups, Teams and individual staff are consistently hitting deadlines and taking what actions are needed to outsource or find efficiencies in order to fulfill the scopes
- Lead client calls and partnership development calls when assigned
- Serve as a day to day contact for major clients or when there is a problem that needs to be solved for a client within the Division that requires senior executive intervention
- Internalize client goals and the Agency’s vision and financial goals
- Ensure Groups and Teams within the Division send agendas to the client before calls or meetings, and follow-up / to-dos sent after
- Ensure Groups and Teams within the Division understand and plan for upcoming work appropriately
- Ensure Groups and Teams within the Division are identifying opportunities to consistently add value for the client
- Ensure Groups and Teams within the Division communicate wins / deliverables to clients
- Other responsibilities as determined by the President and Managing Director
Developing Strategy
The SEVP will:
- Take responsibility for conceiving and delivering high-level strategy, including having high-level strategy conversations with clients, and helping Groups and Teams to execute that strategy
- Frame and shape strategic conversations
- Ensure Groups and Teams are focused on strategy
- Author, implement feedback on, and ensure execution of strategies and strategy documents/plans
Internal
The SEVP will:
- Ensure all Groups and Teams within the Division are hitting their professional development, strategic, and financial goals including through vigorous partnership development efforts
- Ensure Groups and Teams within the Division adhere to file server, basecamp, and other protocols
- Create a culture within the Division whereby drafts are near perfect – reflect client priorities, formatted for readability, well written, proofed, error-free
- Ensure the ability to quickly produce materials within the Division
- Ensure Division is capable of producing excellent writing involving the highest level of complexity and strategy
- Conceptualize nuanced concepts and manage senior staff on their writing
- Know client issues, media landscape, context, reporters
- Ensure elected official contact and e-advocacy lists are maintained
- Participate in business development meetings
- Take responsibility for closing key contracts assigned to your Division
- Lead internal meetings
- Other responsibilities as determined by the President and Managing Director
Advocacy campaigns
The SEVP will:
- Conceive and author high-level advocacy plans and concepts that connect earned media, paid media, and GA efforts into cohesive strategy
- Provide quality control on all relevant documents and content output under the SEVP purview
- Help the Division develop smart, innovative campaign budgets and strategies
- Engage in frontline work and write copy or create key storyboard, scripts, art direction memos, or other concepts when needed
- Provide feedback on work product and be a bulwark against errors or output that are off-message or not aligned with strategy
- Manage Division to produce hard-hitting collateral across platforms
- Ensure Division keeps all client advocacy plans on schedule and deliver results through well-written and visually appealing content
Marketing & Business Development
The SEVP will:
- Maintain a competitive image in all business dealings.
- Contribute to effective public marketing strategies to promote the Agency’s image, products, and services to a broader audience base.
- Generate new business clients and new business leads, capitalize on new business opportunities, and close deals to bring new clients into the agency and to consistently meet budgetary goals
All employees in this position are expected to retain a valid driver’s license and a purchased or leased automobile for personal transportation to work events with a valid inspection sticker. If this expectation will create an unmitigable hardship, and you would like to request an exemption, please note that in your cover letter.
Starting salary offer amounts are furnished at the discretion of the agency with adherence to contractually guaranteed minimum pay rates and are also based on the relevant experience level of the applicant and agency hiring needs. 617MediaGroup is proud to be a union shop and 617MediaGroup employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Employees of 617MediaGroup enjoy robust opportunities for professional and financial growth and advancement.
Please note that we receive hundreds of applications each month, and we are not able to respond to every individual application. If you do not receive a response from our organization within 90 days either in the form of initial outreach or follow-up correspondence, please assume that your application has not been chosen for the specific career opportunity to which you applied. You may re-apply at any time for future opportunities. While we do our best to ensure timely and thorough correspondence with applicants, the volume of applications we receive does not allow us to respond individually in all cases. Thank you again for your interest in pursuing employment with 617MediaGroup.