Vice President, Government Relations

About the Role

Do you excel at client and project management? Kasirer is seeking to hire an energetic, hard-working strategic thinker to join our team. As Vice President, they will work closely with the firm’s current clients and lead complex projects, as well as look to expand the firm’s practice in our work with critical stakeholders to improve City and State operations.

Kasirer is looking for an individual with strong intergovernmental skills and experience who has either worked for or with government or private sector organizations in Government Relations roles and has a deep understanding of advocacy, community relations, coalition building, and a range of issues and policy areas important to NYC (New York City). They will develop strategic plans designed to engage decision makers in government and elected office to achieve concrete goals for our clients, including reputational development, positioning clients for competitive procurement opportunities, and more. They must have a keen understanding of the intersection of community stakeholders, influencers, third party organizations and labor to craft a coalition of supporters; they must be swift, focused, and effective in crisis situations and have an ability to guide clients through delicate situations; and they must be strategic negotiators and messengers. This person will be highly organized and capable of identifying opportunities and utilizing a network of connections relevant to our clients.

The Vice President must have a calm response to crisis and thrive in a high-pressure environment to lead clients through complex situations that spontaneously emerge, all while managing workflows on a variety of long-term projects with a discerning eye on the ever-changing political landscape. They must be able to manage and move multiple projects forward for numerous clients simultaneously and stay on top of external events and developments that can be leveraged to help achieve a client’s goals. Relationships with City Council Members and Borough Presidents and their staff, as well as with members of the Mayoral administration are important. The successful candidate will be a skilled communicator and able to work collaboratively with the firm’s leadership and staff to promote a respectful and inclusive environment that emphasizes cooperation and teamwork. In addition, they must be respectful of the perspectives of others and possess sound judgment.

This Vice President’s diverse portfolio includes a variety of organizations, companies, and membership associations in industries such as hospitality, media, communications, production, education, technology, data analysis, retail and chambers of commerce, luxury retail, transportation, energy, aviation, finance, healthcare and more. We work with a range of different clients on many policy areas, and the VP thrives covering many issues.

The VP uses their traits of self-motivation, superior organizational skills, and ability to follow-up on and be attentive to all details to manage the diverse client portfolio. The VP consistently oversees and manages a team of Associates and Directors to support client management. The VP owns all aspects of assigned clients and does so through holistic project management. The VP is a quick-study and becomes well-versed in industry trends and New York-specific details relevant to assigned clients.

Responsibilities

• Leading on the development and execution of strategic plans, including crafting the strategy, tracking progress, and ensuring each piece of the strategy moves forward.
• Identifying when a client requires support from leadership, and ensuring the right people are engaged when challenges arise.
• Proactively and consistently communicating progress and status updates to clients, both verbally and in writing.
• Taking responsibility for client next step action emails after all recurring meetings and meetings with external stakeholders.
• Connecting the client leadership with Kasirer leadership, when appropriate.
• Strategizing on a variety of communication methods to ensure connections with every stakeholder, and following up until connections are made.
• Identifying events that are important for clients to participate in and attending events with clients to ensure introductions and follow-ups are made.
• Focusing on the briefing process for clients, ensuring Kasirer leadership is briefed with a clear objective, concise background, and talking points.
• Overseeing the briefing process for clients for all external meetings, ensuring clients receive information in advance with background, talking points and clear asks.
• Connecting with internal and external contacts to ensure appropriate connections for the client on all outreach.
• Distributing daily relevant news, updates, procurement opportunities, and more to clients.
• Attending relevant political, civic, and social events with clients and introducing them to key stakeholders.
• Leveraging their contacts with elected and government officials, key senior staff of elected and government officials, third-party and community stakeholders to benefit the firm’s operations.
• Managing Associates who work on their client portfolio with them by delegating tasks, helping Associates develop their lobbying skills and guiding them through the strategy process for the client (mentorship).

Knowledge and Skills

• Extremely strong organizational skills including detail-orientation. Ability to organize, prioritize, track, and manage workflow/resources. Ability to strategically manage multiple projects in a deadline-driven environment.
• Exceptional ability to distill complicated information into easy-to-understand memos;
• Proactive about trying to get better at whatever they do; reflect on successes/failures, seek feedback, incorporate feedback immediately to improve, ask for the help or resources they need to be successful, and assume personal responsibility.
• Understanding of New York City’s political landscape, and a strong interest in learning more about City government.

Experience and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree a plus;
• Minimum of five years experience working in either Government Relations, City or State government, political campaigns, or advocacy;
• Knowledge of and/or experience working in NYC government strongly preferred;
• Exceptional oral and written communications skills and high attention to detail;
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment with a strong team ethic;
• Existing network of contacts with government officials, New York City elected officials and their staff, and community board members and civic leaders;
• Ability to manage multiple projects and lead multiple lobbying advocacy campaigns;
• Willingness to attend night events/meetings and occasional weekend events;
• Working knowledge of MS Office software, i.e., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

Kasirer is an equal opportunity employer. The salary range for this position is $125,000 to $150,000.

To apply for this position please send your cover letter and resume with the subject line “Vice President” to [email protected].