"Federal Relations Specialist - Office of Government and Community Relations"

Position Summary

Washington University in St. Louis seeks a team player to join the Office of Government and Community Relations in its Washington, DC office. The position will play a central role by leading efforts that advance the University’s federal priorities and by managing administrative, logistical, and programmatic functions of the DC office and federal relations personnel.

WashU Federal Relations engages decision makers on legislative, regulatory, or other policy activities that impact the University. By leveraging expert resources from campus, our federal relations staff seek to elevate the visibility and influence of WashU in the nation’s capital. The office also works closely with the many higher education associations and coalitions headquartered in Washington, and in tandem with partners at other universities and organizations.

Job Description

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

Provide substantive contributions to WashU’s federal relations activities and engagements, including but not limited to:

• Monitoring congressional activities (hearings, markups, briefings, etc.) and other public events relevant to WashU and providing recommendations for follow-on engagement, if necessary.
• Creating and maintaining briefing materials and background for use
• Performing research on policy issues relevant to WashU and providing recommended engagement or programming actions as necessary.
• Reviewing and editing documents for content, accuracy and format.
• Assistance with the development of annual appropriations requests and other WashU priorities before federal decisionmakers.

Develop strategies and manage implementation of programming/events held at the DC Office, Capitol Hill, or elsewhere in Washington DC designed to increase awareness of WashU’s academic, research, healthcare strengths among policymakers.

A subset of this responsibility will involve managing the planning and logistics associated with programming/events at the DC office sponsored by campus stakeholders.

Provide administrative support for the WashU Federal Relations team including but not limited to:

• Managing day-to-day administrative tasks required to seamlessly maintain an organized, efficient, and functioning DC office.
• Scheduling virtual and in-person meetings
• Tracking and submitting expense reports
• Managing the preparation and submission of required lobbying disclosure reports, congressional engagement tracking, and other compliance responsibilities.

Perform other duties, as assigned.

Working Conditions:

Job Location/Working Conditions
This role will be located in Washington, D.C.

• Normal office environment
• Ability to travel to various on- and off-campus locations

• Typically sitting at a desk or table
• Repetitive wrist, hand or finger movement

• Office equipment

Required Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree
Work Experience: Relevant Experience (1 Year)

Preferred Qualifications

• Minimum of one year of experience directly related to the duties and responsibilities.
• Connections to Washington University in St. Louis.
• Familiarity with the state of Missouri and the Missouri congressional delegation.
• Familiarity with federal issues and policies affecting research universities.
• Experience working on or with Capitol Hill.
• Ability to work independently and proactively, and to exercise good judgment and discretion in the performance of all work assignments.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills that reflect courtesy, discretion, and a collaborative approach in order to develop and maintain effective work relationships and to effectively interact with University staff and federal personnel.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to navigate complex issues.
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize work in order to meet deadlines while staying on task with daily assignments.
• Ability to handle sensitive internal information regarding University operations and procedures appropriately.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Salary Range

$53,100.00 - $90,600.00 / Annually

The salary range reflects base salaries paid for positions in a given job grade across the University. Individual rates within the range will be determined by factors including one's qualifications and performance, equity with others in the department, market rates for positions within the same grade and department budget.

Grade: G11
Scheduled Hours: 40