Managing Director of Federal Affairs, Research Universities Practice

McAllister and Quinn LLC•Washington, DC

53d•Hybrid

About The Position

McAllister & Quinn is a federal government relations and research development firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., providing comprehensive federal relations and federal funding services to over 200 clients. The firm equips clients with strategies to advance their federal priorities, supports strategic positioning, assists in crafting competitive applications, develops funding streams through congressional appropriations, and facilitates public-private and international partnerships. The Research Universities Practice specifically supports R1 and R2 universities in advancing federal priorities, enhancing their profile with federal stakeholders, tracking federal policy, identifying engagement opportunities, and navigating congressional appropriations requests. As a Managing Director, you will lead client engagements and serve as a strategic advisor to university leadership, staff, faculty, and government relations teams. You will design and implement federal engagement strategies to help clients engage federal stakeholders, advocate for key policies, and grow their research enterprise by securing funding.

Requirements

Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree with a preference for policy-oriented field.
6-10+ years of federal legislative experience, and direct appropriations experience.
Strong working knowledge of Congress, federal appropriations, and the legislative process.
Strong working knowledge of higher education and research policy and legislative issues.
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with different personality types and organizational levels.
Self-starter who can organize their time to add value to the team with light supervision.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize and clearly summarize complex materials.
Strategic, creative, service-oriented professional who can adapt to changing needs, troubleshoot challenges, and work independently.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, and Adobe, with focus on Outlook, Word and PowerPoint.

Responsibilities

Lead client engagements and serve as a strategic advisor to university leadership, staff, faculty, and government relations teams.
Design and implement federal engagement strategies.
Position clients to successfully engage federal stakeholders, advocate for key policies, and grow their research enterprise by securing funding.
Strategically plan and execute government relations strategies with research universities.
Proactively monitor, track, and evaluate congressional and administration policy, legislation, and appropriations actions to drive and enhance clients’ government relations strategies and plans.
Analyze legislation and policy issues to develop subject matter expertise for client advisement.
Prepare clients for and lead client meetings on Capitol Hill and with stakeholders across the federal government, including executive branch and federal research agency leaders.
Organize and manage large-scale client fly-ins (Washington, D.C.) and campus visits (clients) for productive and efficient engagement of federal stakeholders.
Lead development of policy reports, news briefings, and analysis of priority issues for research university clients.
Lead development of client testimonies and presentations.
Design and manage successful execution of clients’ appropriations requests strategy.
Support strategic business development efforts by representing the firm at national conferences and events.
Occasional travel to clients outside of Washington, D.C. area (less than 20%).