Vice President, Government Relations and Public Policy

BusPatrol • Austin, TX

7d

About The Position

BusPatrol is seeking an agile Policy Leader with distinct expertise in both Public Policy and Government Relations (GR) to serve as our Vice President of Public Policy and Government Relations. This role requires a senior leader who has previously worked as the Head of Policy and GR function with a proven track record of successfully lobbying multi-state legislation on controversial political issues, and who is highly effective at managing at scale (people, process, and systems). You will navigate a unique and highly complex political environment and will be responsible for designing and executing complex political strategies. This position heavily emphasizes the Government Relations and Policy work necessary to manage and build political strategies, and lead pioneering legislative enablement. As the accountable process owner, you must be comfortable enabling and driving enterprise decision-making. This person will be responsible for continuing our success in defending and authorizing automated enforcement laws by balancing direct advocacy, building complex strategies, and coordinating subject matter experts to be on the frontline.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10+ years of leadership experience, featuring a mix of state and local in-government experience (e.g., state legislature or Executive branch), followed by advocacy or government relations (GR) roles. State lobbying experience is an absolute must; having only lobbied in a large municipality is not sufficient. (Note: Federal experience is nearly meaningless for us).
• Proven track record of successfully lobbying multi-state legislation into existence on contentious political issues.
• Proven track record of leadership in a legislative enablement function, specifically managing policy and GR at scale for an enterprise within highly complex political environments.
• Experience operating as the #1 leader of a policy or government relations function.
• Agile, high IQ, high EQ, and a humble leader who excels at managing people, processes, and systems at scale.
• Deep knowledge of the legislative process at the state and local level, including a strong background in legislative defense, navigating glitch bills, and executing complex political strategies.
• Comfortable working in a collaborative team environment, acting as an accountable process owner who enables enterprise-level decision making versus their own.
• Proven staff management and project management skills, including experience managing remote teams and contract lobbyists.
• Excellent time management, organizational, and research skills.
• Ability to strategically prioritize workload and execute a high volume of work in a fast-paced, hyper-growth environment.
• Superb written and verbal communication skills, with a high degree of accuracy, attention to detail, and the ability to draft legislation and policy memos.
• Must be proficient with the Microsoft Office suite and comfortable working with CRM and legislative tracking software.

Nice To Haves

• Deep knowledge, experience, and interest in traffic safety policy development (nice-to-have, but the primary requirement is lobbying multi-state legislation on contentious issues).
• A Juris Doctorate (JD) or an advanced degree in public policy, public administration, political science, planning, or a related field.
• Experience working within or closely with a state or local transportation agency, department of education, or law enforcement agency.
• Subject matter expertise in camera-based traffic enforcement, transportation policy, education policy, or GovTech/B2G sales environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead BusPatrol's public policy development, GR strategies, and pioneering legislative enablement efforts. Focus heavily on managing both offensive legislation and critical glitch bills/defense bills to protect and expand automated school bus stop-arm enforcement, Speed Zone Safety (SZS), and other related legislative efforts at the state and municipal levels.
• Manage policy and GR at scale on behalf of the enterprise. Direct and execute complex political and advocacy strategies in highly complex political environments while heavily coordinating internal SMEs to serve on the frontline, ensuring the entirety of the function's delivery requirements are met.
• Supervise a high-functioning internal government relations team and manage a diverse network of external contract lobbyists and outside counsel. Explicitly identify and coordinate Business Development (BD) consultants, ensuring this GR/BD work effectively aligns with the company's complex political strategies.
• Develop tactics and strategy for a number of distinct state-by-state policy initiatives, working closely with BusPatrol’s Growth, Legal, and Communications teams to ensure compliance and market readiness.
• Work with our partner municipalities and school districts across the U.S. to help them prepare policies for emerging technological innovations in traffic safety, automated enforcement, and smart city data platforms.
• Build the capacity of our local champions and partners to effectively engage with state and local leaders on our shared child safety and traffic enforcement policy agenda.
• In target growth states, work directly with local partners to promote violator-funded safety programs and secure the necessary legislative and regulatory frameworks for new deployments.
• Travel and speak on behalf of BusPatrol and its safety coalition, including testifying at legislative hearings, participating in industry workshops and conferences, and engaging in media interviews.
• Utilize and support established coalition-building functions. Work alongside the Gov Ops team, which manages day-to-day coalition activities in perpetuity, to leverage these groups for targeted policy and legislative initiatives rather than leading the coalition building directly.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Unlimited PTO
• A purpose-driven career, working to protect children and improve public safety
• The occasion to participate in BusPatrol’s culture of safety, learning, and teamwork
• A team of innovators, committed to leveraging AI and smart technology for social good

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive