Director of Federal Affairs & Government Relations - Higher Education

About McAllister & Quinn, LLC

McAllister & Quinn is a federal and foundation grants consulting and government relations firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. We offer our 200 clients a unique blend of comprehensive grant consulting, strategic advising, and government relations services. We support our clients’ efforts in crafting competitive applications; developing or increasing funding streams through the congressional appropriations process; pursuing and securing congressional directed spending projects and facilitating internal and external partnerships that further their mission.

We are committed to securing funds for our clients that are transformational for the companies who are awarded them, the people who work at these companies every day, and the communities that surround them. The social impact of our work drives us daily to succeed in securing funding for our industry clients and is a major component of why we do what we do. We know that our success leads to better outcomes, changed lives, and a more equitable society for generations to come.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

The Director of Federal Affairs will manage a government relations and lobbying portfolio of higher education clients. The Director will report to the Chief of Staff within the higher education practice, and work closely with Managing Partner, John McAllister.

The focus of the role is providing legislative and appropriations knowledge and support for higher education clients to include:

• Oversight of government affairs portfolio for college and university clients
• Work with the Managing Partner to develop higher education and government relations business
• Monitoring, tracking, and evaluating congressional and administration policy interests and actions to determine potential impact and outcomes on clients
• Analyzing legislation and client issue areas to develop a sufficient level of knowledge to serve as a subject matter expert as it relates to government relations.
• Preparing materials for and leading client meetings via phone and on Capitol Hill
• Proactive engagement with legislative news, keeping abreast of policy updates, hearings, and legislation of interest to clients
• Supporting targeted and strategic business development and forecasting
• Designing and managing all aspects of execution of client appropriations requests strategy including strategy, matching the appropriate appropriations account and program, drafting or reviewing project descriptions, ensuring compliance of request, advising on forms and submissions and relationship building
• Creating materials and presentations for client-facing and business development webinars, blogs, and outreach
• Tracking firm data in Salesforce/Capture platforms on congressional appropriations requests, accounts, progress, and reports
• Tracking Appropriations Committees’ guidance on requests and updating and maintaining relevant client and team-facing materials
• Provide internal staff training, workshops, and create internal and external materials on the Congressional and legislative process, including congressional appropriations requests
• Attend and participate in regular firmwide Government Relations meetings and working groups providing coordination and information sharing, representing the Higher Education practice
• Working closely with the Managing Partner and VPs to coordinate outreach to potential lobbying clients
• Occasional travel outside Washington, DC area

Minimum Requirements and Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of Bachelor’s Degree with a preference for policy oriented field
• Must work in the Washington, DC office (three days a week)
• 4-8 years of Federal legislative experience, and direct appropriations experience
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with different personality types and organizational levels
• Strong working knowledge of Congress, federal appropriations, and the legislative process is required
• Self-starter who can organize their time to add value to the team with light supervision
• Superior writing, editing, and communication skills
• Ability to synthesize and accurately summarize lengthy and complex materials
• Strong verbal communication skills via phone, email, and in personal interactions
• Flexible mindset, ability to work on multiple issues in different areas in a single day, every day
• Comfortable researching new topics, gathering information, and distilling research into useful preliminary recommendations on short timeframes
• Detail oriented with strong project management and planning skills
• Strategic, creative, service oriented, and adaptive professional mindset
• Ability to troubleshoot problems when they arise and to work independently
• Very strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, and Adobe, with focus on Outlook, Word and PowerPoint.
• Candidates will have held a Legislative Assistant, Legislative Director position, or similar
• Experience with appropriations earmark process and higher education issues

Compensation & Benefits:

• Normal work hours are 8:30 am through 5:30 pm Monday through Friday EST (for local staff)
• Location: In-office (Washington, D.C.).

*Hybrid work schedule - 3 days in the office as determined by supervisor and/or practice

• Competitive 401(k), healthcare, dental, life insurance, long-term disability, dependent care FSA, HSA/FSA, and transit benefits.
• Salary consideration will be commensurate with experience: Base range start is $70,000 - $90,000 plus bonus eligibility after first year
• Flexible vacation and leave policy

At McAllister & Quinn, we’re challenging the status quo with the power of diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. When we connect different perspectives, we open ourselves to new possibilities, inspire innovation, and allow us to achieve the full potential of our people. We’re building an employee experience & engagement that includes appreciation, belonging, growth, and purpose for everyone in our team.