Government Affairs Director

Government Affairs Director

Location: Denver Metro

Work Schedule: Non-exempt, Full-time

Deadline for submission:  November 29, 2024

About Conservation Colorado
As the largest statewide environmental organization in Colorado, we work to protect our state’s climate, air, land, water, and communities. We play a unique role in Colorado as our work is at the intersection of policy and politics and focuses on organizing communities, influencing decision-makers, and electing conservation-minded leaders.  We believe that achieving racial, social, and environmental justice are critical to our mission.  Our work is leading on multiple issues and in multiple decision-making venues and includes a focus on building the next set of leading policies for the next generation of elected leaders.

You can learn more about our mission here.

What You’ll Do

This position is a member of our Executive Team, reports to the VP of Programs and oversees a team of seven staff.  The government affairs team develops, leads and works with coalitions, decision makers and community leaders to shape the agenda and influence people, policies, structures, and systems in order to bring about change and to build relationships and communicate with those in power to ensure action.  The work can evolve over time, but you’ll be a leader in the organization and manage the team to:

Lead strategy to build and share power:

• Develop the overall strategy to identify and cultivate relationships with current and future decision makers at the legislature, state agencies, the governor’s administration, and the federal delegation.
• Work with issue campaign managers, the Community Engagement and Political Departments to ensure that Conservation Colorado is a strong and helpful partner to environmental, social justice, progressive, local, and other groups. 
• Support issue managers in growing their advocacy skills, building coalitions and relationships with partners and in their efforts to diversify and grow coalitions.
• Act as a key consultant to the political team in making high-level political decisions including recruitment, education, endorsements, candidate contributions, etc.  
• Lead the coordinated-side strategy to help elect pro-conservation candidates.

Lead policy campaigns:

• Facilitate the design and implementation of policy campaign strategies and tactics.
• Work to set and manage policy campaign goals in service to our long term program plans and goals.

• Maintain a sophisticated understanding of policy issues especially as they relate to equity and racial justice  and disproportionately impacted communities.
• Work with the issue campaign managers and Community Engagement team to convene partners and stakeholders to determine priorities for the legislative session and in other decision making venues. 
• Work in collaboration with the Vice President of Programs, Director of Community Engagement and Political Director to develop a community informed framework for key policy campaigns.
  

Team development and management:

• Hire and manage a team of staff and outside lobbyists & contractors to support the development and execution of the team strategy.
• Develops a result-oriented team through inspiring and motivating others to take action and meet goals.
• Oversee the day-to-day activities of the government affairs team including budgeting, planning, staff development, and ensuring the Community Engagement team has the resources, tools, and support needed to succeed.
• Mentor and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach that matches our organizational values on a consistent basis.

Qualifications

To do any of our work, our staff need to be natural relationship builders, have the resilience to handle tough situations, have excellent problem-solving skills with a results-focused orientation, bring an equity analysis to the work, and be highly collaborative. For this position, fundamentally, we want someone who has the experience and passion to develop and win nationally-leading policy and who has the drive to take our work to the next level. More specifically, you will have or be most or all of the following:

Strong People Manager:  Experience managing a team of people with a supportive & collaborative approach.  We believe in transparency in communication, accountability, humility and collaboration in our people management.  Hiring & managing a results-oriented team is a large part of this job as is the need to closely collaborate with other internal and external stakeholders.

Build & Exercise Power Effectively:  The ability to build  pressure and leverage to drive decision-makers to act in our favor and know when maximum leverage is reached and what victories are actually possible in a particular moment is foundational to this work. You’ll need to be committed to our theory of change, bring together a wide range of interested people, and understand how social identities impact power dynamics.

Campaign Mindset:  You will need to have the strategic and goal-oriented approach focused on achieving specific outcomes through organized efforts to implement our theory of change.  Experience developing and implementing campaign plans, having a successful track record of taking a concept from idea to implementation, and bringing people together to advance goals are critical skills.

Advocacy or Lobbyist Experience:   Experience working as a lobbyist and/or in passing policies through various governmental venues, preferably in issue advocacy with the ability to develop and execute sophisticated strategies to pass policies. 

Equity Analysis:  This position requires an understanding of the impact of systemic inequities on people’s lives and how your own identities impact your work, along with the ability to bring different communities together to develop policy solutions that lead to better outcomes for Coloradoans.  A sophisticated understanding of how racial dynamics in particular impact our mission is important.

Strategic Thinking:  You need to have experience taking complex issues and turning them into understandable and actionable ideas.  Has the skills to diagnose a problem, clearly & honestly communicate the challenges, and leverage the talents of the team to help resolve it; Demonstrates willingness to take risks, pilot new approaches, learn from failure, and continually improve efforts; Can set goals and hold a team accountable to them; Navigates the balance of gathering input in decisions and making & sticking to decisions.

This position does not have an undergraduate education requirement. Spanish/English bilingual is a skill we value, but it is not a requirement. This is a full-time job, but there can be some flexibility in the exact daily schedule.

Compensation and Benefits
The full-time salary range for this role is between $95,000-$110,000 based on a wage analysis across the organization and new staff rarely starting at the top of the range. For candidates with higher-level experience and expertise than those stipulated in the qualifications, we would consider a Senior Director-level position, with an accompanying higher salary range.

We provide high-quality health insurance and a strong benefits package that includes a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan with a match, at least 35 days of vacation & holidays in addition to six physical & mental wellness days in your first year, and parental leave and a sabbatical program. Please note that as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, Conservation Colorado employees are not eligible to participate in the Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

This position does require in-person work in the form of meeting with decision makers and partners, attending events, and participating in team & organizational meetings.  Therefore, we do require our staff to be vaccinated against COVID. We have embraced a hybrid work model and this position generally will need to be in our office or otherwise in person between one and  four days a week depending on the time of year, though everyone is welcome to work in the office 100% of the time if they prefer.

We are committed to building a more diverse and inclusive organization and conservation movement to fully represent and engage all Coloradans and to build as powerful a movement as we can. Recruiting staff that better reflects Colorado is a priority and we encourage applicants from all cultures, race, ethnicity, geographies, political affiliation, sexual orientations, gender identities, and all other identities represented in Colorado or protected by law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.