Senior Manager of Government Affairs (Job ID: 2025-3767)

The Brookings Institution • Washington, DC

14d • Hybrid

About The Position

Join one of the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tanks! The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level. We bring together leading experts in government and academia from all over the world, rooted in open-minded inquiry and representing diverse points of view, who provide the highest quality research, policy recommendations, and analysis. Research topics cover a full range of public policy issues in economics, foreign policy, development, governance and metropolitan policy. With fair and transparent business practices, clear communication, mutual respect, and a collaborative atmosphere that offers both professional and personal development opportunities, Brookings offers an inclusive and welcoming workplace that values the efforts of all contributors. The Office of Communications is a centralized service unit that develops effective communications products and strategies to empower and share impactful scholar messages to wide audiences. The Office of Communications meets the daily needs of the institution through web development and publication support, convening and event support, multimedia services like video, animations, and podcasting, governance of visual design and brand systems, social media management, and institutional brand and media communications. The Brookings Studio’s mission is to provide broadcast quality services to the Brookings community enabling global outreach by our scholars to television, radio and web-based news outlets. We are successful when scholars can focus on their interview, while our team operates the facilities and manages the logistics. The Senior Manager of Government and Public Affairs plays a pivotal role in facilitating the Institution's engagement with policymakers and decision-makers in the public, private, and civic sectors through data-informed decision-making and strategic support. Reporting to the Senior Director of Government and Public Affairs, the Senior Manager will foster productive relationships between Brookings and government bodies and stakeholders in all sectors. Additionally, the Senior Manager will execute strategies for measuring and tracking impact and bring experience and expertise in U.S. domestic policy.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Political Science, International Affairs, Public Policy, Law, Communications, Marketing, or a related field is preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressive work experience in government affairs, public policy, audience strategy, communications, or public affairs, with experience and expertise in U.S. domestic policy strongly preferred.
• Proven experience in engaging with government bodies and officials, with a strong understanding of legislative and regulatory processes at the federal level; additional experience at the local, state, and/or international levels is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute strategic plans to engage with policymakers and other key stakeholders.
• Experience providing guidance and support to scholars, nonprofit staff, and/or leadership in their interactions with public officials.
• Strong track record of using data and research to drive strategic decisions and measure impact, including in policy or advocacy environments.
• Substantial experience in developing and executing multi-channel engagement strategies.
• Proven ability to translate complex research into actionable insights and communicate effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with demonstrated ability to tailor messages to a diverse audience and translate complex data and research into compelling insights.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain relationships across policy, government, and research communities.
• Strategic mindset with track record of developing engagement strategies that drive measurable results.
• Experience working in policy or advocacy environments with understanding of legislative and regulatory processes, expertise in U.S. domestic policy preferred.
• Analytical skills to assess the potential impact of legislative and regulatory developments on the institution's mission and research areas.
• Detail-oriented project manager capable of leading multiple complex initiatives simultaneously.
• Collaborative contributor with proven ability to work across teams and guide cross-functional projects.
• Strong understanding of policy landscape and stakeholder ecosystem.
• Commitment to nonpartisanship, scholar independence, civil debate, and inclusive policymaking.
• Must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.

Nice To Haves

• Background in digital strategy and familiarity with contemporary marketing and analytics tools is a plus.
• Proficient in analytics platforms, CRM systems, and audience research tools.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Central Communications and Program Communications team members to support strategies to reach key stakeholders, with Brookings broadly disseminated work, including policymakers, industry leaders, and decisionmakers, including events, briefings, testimony, interviews, digital communications, collateral, etc.
• Serve as a trusted liaison between Brookings and government stakeholders at all levels, broadly disseminating Brookings’ evidence-based work to inform solutions to pressing policy challenges.
• Support senior leadership on engagement opportunities and brand management within governmental and other external spheres.
• Identify and develop relationships with points of contact in the Washington D.C. public policy community, including the White House, U.S. Congress, Executive Branch Agencies, state and local associations, think tanks, trade associations, NGOs, and relevant stakeholders.
• Work with internal, cross-functional teams to integrate public affairs priorities and audience insights into overall organizational objectives.
• Collaborate with Brookings scholars and research programs communications staff to support the broad dissemination of their research and recommendations effectively contributing to public discourse.
• Contribute to optimization of audience outreach strategies across all channels, including digital and multimedia.
• Support frameworks measuring impact of public affairs work.
• Collaborate with various teams to help them understand and identify their target audiences and the most effective ways to connect with them.
• Contribute to the coordination and tracking of official testimony.
• Support scholars in testimony development and on-site at meetings, briefings, testimony, etc.
• Integrate insights gained from monitoring policy developments at global, national, and subnational levels into strategy.
• Identify emerging opportunities and platforms for engagement with key audiences, particularly decision-makers.
• Collaborate across Communications and Public Affairs to ensure cohesive strategy implementation to ensure communications work is high-impact internally and externally.
• Collaborate with internal teams to identify opportunities to promote and broadly disseminate Brookings work to stakeholders via various channels such as written materials, print collateral, presentations, partnerships, digital and multimedia media, etc.
• Serve as an internal consultant to subject matter experts on public affairs and audience engagement strategies.
• Support team processes and workflows, ensuring timely completion of projects across the Government Affairs team to high standards through project management.
• Participate in the development and dissemination of responses to crisis situations/issue management, including handling sensitive and/or confidential information.
• Actively contribute to internal team and/or organizational work that shapes our systems and our culture.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Brookings provides a generous benefit package that is comprehensive and includes both traditional benefits and unique offerings.
• Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision benefits, generous time off, and workplace flexibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 251-500 employees