Federal Policy Director

Title: Federal Policy Director
Type: Full-time
Location: Washington, D.C., area (Meetings in D.C. with work from home)
Industry: Bicycle industry nonprofit
Employment and Classification: “At will” employment status

About PeopleForBikes
PeopleForBikes unites millions of Americans, thousands of businesses, and hundreds of communities to make every bike ride safer, more accessible, and more fun. Our mission is to get more people on bikes more often and make biking better for everyone. Nationwide, PeopleForBikes represents more than 325 supplier members and 1.4 million individual supporters. The U.S. bicycle industry contributes $88 billion annually to the U.S. economy and supports more than 780,000 jobs. PeopleForBikes is composed of a Coalition that is the U.S. bicycle industry’s trade association and a Foundation that supports and promotes bicycling’s benefits and backs crucial bike infrastructure projects and programs. Our goal is to make the U.S. the best place in the world to ride a bike.

Position Summary

PeopleForBikes is hiring a Federal Policy Director to help manage the organization’s federal policy portfolio, including legislation, regulation, and administrative guidance addressing policies that seek to provide better and safer infrastructure for bicycling as well as a stronger business environment for the U.S. bicycle  industry.  This work covers issues across several sectors, including transportation, health and wellness, climate change, conservation, trails, public lands, outdoor recreation, consumer product safety, business operations, and trade.  This role will help move PeopleForBikes forward on securing meaningful policies that advance bicycling in the United States, support our Coalition members, achieve our legislative and regulatory goals, and support our overall vision of becoming the best place in the world to ride a bike. 

We are looking for an individual that is excited to advocate for the bike industry and help build PeopleForBikes’ brand across the policy ecosystem in Washington, D.C. This position will work closely with our existing policy team in D.C. and PeopleForBikes’ infrastructure and policy team, coordinating across PeopleForBikes teams.

Responsibilities

• Work with the D.C. policy team to create and implement the federal policy strategy and collaborate with the PeopleForBikes marketing team and infrastructure and policy team to communicate the strategy with our audiences.
• Design and execute strategic federal campaigns and communications across social media, blogs, emails, and other tools.
• Conduct regular meetings with federal policymakers and staff in coordination with the D.C. policy team.
• Develop documents that support PeopleForBikes’ policy priorities.
• Run industry fly-ins and other events. 
• Incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion into professional work and commit to personally growing in this space.
• Direct and manage PeopleForBikes’ Political Action Committee and other relevant committees.
• Speak to the press on policies related to bikes and electric bikes.
• Provide regular updates and briefings to PeopleForBikes members, relevant industry committees, and PeopleForBikes leadership.
• Attend Coalition meetings for issues that align with PeopleForBikes’ priorities.
• Develop relationships with other nonprofits, industries, and organizations that could align with PeopleForBikes’ policy agenda.
• Some travel required, including to events and Boulder, CO, and Bentonville, AR for all-staff week meetings.
• Other duties as assigned.
  

Qualifications

Don’t meet every requirement? No problem. Studies show that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they do, so we encourage you to apply anyway.

• Ability to work in a nonpartisan environment.
• Strong customer service ethic and willingness to go above and beyond to assist PeopleForBikes members and stakeholder groups.
• Self-motivated, enthusiastic, and willing to learn. 
• Ability to write clearly and concisely, including condensing public policy language into terms non-experts can easily understand. 
• Ability to communicate effectively to a variety of internal and external audiences. 
• Ability to consider program and policy opportunities and threats through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens.
• Strong time management skills with the ability to direct multiple projects simultaneously and meet competing deadlines.
• Can quickly master new subjects and be the expert for constituents as unexpected policy challenges arise. 
• Ability to collaborate and work efficiently with multiple stakeholders and teams.
• Strong work ethic, self-directed, able to work independently to accomplish assigned tasks and meet critical deadlines. 
• Willingness to perform moderate travel to attend meetings, conferences, trainings, and site visits. 
• A commitment to safe, healthy, reliable, and affordable access to bicycling for all members of a community.
• Willingness to work closely with existing policy team consultants in Washington, D.C.
• PeopleForBikes will consider alternative ways that an applicant may have gained the required qualifications, outside of traditional pathways.
• Our office is ADA accessible. This role will require the use of a laptop for several hours and the ability to lift and move packages, tents, tables, and other event-related materials.

Desired Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Government Affairs, or similar. Master’s degree preferred.
• At least five years of prior policy work for a member of Congress, government agency, or nonprofit organization.

Compensation and Benefits
This “at-will” position offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience and appropriate for living in the D.C. metro area of $95,000 - $120,000. The salary may be adjusted based on the education and experience of the final candidate. PeopleForBikes offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid health insurance for employees, a generous paid-time-off (PTO) policy including 23 days plus federal holidays, paid parental leave, a flexible work schedule including work-from-home options, and optional participation in a deferred compensation retirement plan with immediate vesting of a competitive employer match. In addition, we provide long-term disability insurance, a cell phone plan, and a laptop computer along with many other benefits like industry discounts. As icing on the cake, PeopleForBikes also pays you to ride your bike.

At PeopleForBikes, our agreed-upon set of team norms are what drives us to do our best every day we show up to work. Our core purpose is to make life great and our core values are: put others first, include everyone, and it can always be better. We’ll talk more in the interview process about what these mean, but for now, know that we continually strive to build and strengthen our team, we work together effectively to serve our mission, and we have fun. Beyond that, we’re casual, we work flexibly with remote work allowed, and we really love dogs. You don’t have to be an amazing bike rider to work here — what matters to us is a desire to work alongside passionate people improving the world through bikes (and hopefully you love bikes too).

Location

PeopleForBikes is based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. Because this position involves in-person meetings with policymakers, it is located in the Washington, D.C., metro area. Regular domestic travel is necessary regardless of location.

To Apply

• Interested applicants should apply here. 
• The cover letter should be no longer than one page and briefly explain the candidate’s applicable experience, including experience working with people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• Due to volume, we will not respond to telephone or in-person inquiries.
• Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• The position is available immediately and will remain open until the position is filled.
• Interested applicants are encouraged to visit peopleforbikes.org for general information and organizational background.

Equal Opportunity

Our work to create safer, more comfortable, and more accessible places for everyone to bike starts with us. As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to hiring a diverse workforce. You can find more on our hiring page here. We want our staff to be reflective of the backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives of the communities we serve and to create an inclusive work environment where employees and the communities we serve feel welcomed, valued, respected, and received. We believe that no matter who you are, where you're from, or why you ride, everyone can find joy on a bicycle.