What are the responsibilities and job description for the Head of Policy and Government Affairs position at Mercury?
You don’t have the votes
You don’t have the votes
You’re gonna need congressional approval and you don’t have the votes
Hamilton: An American Musical, Cabinet Battle #1
Since this country’s founding, politics and finance have been deeply enmeshed.
As Lin-Manuel Miranda catchily memorialized in the rap battle between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, the national banking system in the United States was far from a given. Virginians like Jefferson and James Madison were staunchly opposed, arguing that a national bank would undermine their agrarian vision for the country. It took Hamilton’s brilliant Report on a National Bank to make the case for central banking in the United States, followed by an intensive lobbying effort to secure congressional approval.
So it’s no surprise that still today, our financial system–and financial innovation more broadly–depend heavily on our political and regulatory system. Mercury is on a mission to enable ambitious companies to operate at their highest level, with banking and credit cards* engineered for the startup journey. To accomplish this mission, it is essential that we understand the political and regulatory environment, develop a sound policy strategy, and build strong relationships with key lawmakers, regulators, and other stakeholders.
As Mercury’s first policy and government affairs hire, you will build that foundation. Specifically, you will:
- Build the policy and government affairs function at Mercury
- Develop our strategy to ensure Mercury has awareness and influence on relevant policy and government relations matters
- Establish strong relationships with key regulators, lawmakers, trade groups, and other stakeholders
- Ensure Mercury has the right internal and external resources for policy matters
- Help refine and tell Mercury’s story in relevant policy circles
While Alexander Hamilton-like writing and oration skills would be a nice to have, we are primarily looking for someone who has:
- 10-15 years experience in policy and/or government affairs work
- Deep knowledge of and experience working with federal banking regulators, as well as other relevant state and federal regulators and lawmakers
- Some experience in fintech or tech more broadly is a nice to have
- A zero-to-one mentality, with an ability to both develop Mercury’s strategy at a high level and execute against it on the ground
- Enjoys building strong relationships on behalf of Mercury, including by attending relevant conferences, networking events, etc.
The total rewards package at Mercury includes base salary, equity (stock options), and benefits.
Our salary and equity ranges are highly competitive within the SaaS and fintech industry and are updated regularly using the most reliable compensation survey data for our industry. New hire offers are made based on a candidate’s experience, expertise, geographic location, and internal pay equity relative to peers.
Our target new hire base salary ranges for this role are the following:
- US employees in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle: $278,000 - $327,000
- US employees outside of New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle: $250,200 - $294,300
*Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC. The IO Card is issued by Patriot Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Mastercard
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Salary : $278,000 - $327,000
