Cartwheel

Vice President – Government Relations

Cartwheel

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Remote

Location: United States

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Salary

💰 $325,000 - $400,000 per year

Job Level

Lead

About the role

  • Build and lead a high-performing Government Relations team
  • Establish and scale a Government Relations team of 2-3 territorial leads, fostering a culture of strategic thinking, rigorous execution, and collaboration
  • Develop playbooks and processes that enable the team to manage 10-20 active lobbying engagements while monitoring emerging opportunities across additional states
  • Build a continuous training mechanism to ensure leads are always refining their messaging, strategy, and ways of working
  • Manage government relations budget, including lobbyist contracts and team expenses, with clear ROI tracking
  • Report regularly to executive leadership on state pipeline, contract status, and forecasted revenue
  • Collaborate with the marketing and sales teams to consistently communicate with identified government leaders
  • Develop our team’s reputation as the most organized, thoughtful, and strategic partner our state contacts have ever worked with
  • Identify and secure state-level funding and contracts
  • Execute on two primary strategies: (1) Securing state funding that schools can use to procure Cartwheel, and (2) Securing direct statewide contracts that make Cartwheel the sole vendor available to districts at no cost
  • Identify target states for prioritization and develop a winning strategy for every state, including annual goals, stakeholder maps, state-specific messaging, milestones, and critical path
  • Build relationships with governors' offices, legislators, education and health agencies, and key statewide organizations (e.g., superintendents associations, state PTAs)
  • Represent the company with key associations such as NGA, DGA, RGA, and other government-sector networks of both elected officials and advocates
  • Tailor messaging to each state's context and priorities, continuously refining based on feedback from the field
  • Manage external lobbyists, ensuring clear objectives, messaging, and accountability
  • Track funding and legislative opportunities, RFPs, and policy discussions to ensure Cartwheel is a step ahead of any important developments
  • Maintain and expand existing state relationships
  • Partner with Sales and Marketing to ensure seamless handoff once state contracts or funding are secured. Note: this may include partnership across multiple company operating units to ensure consistent communication in defense of existing contracts
  • Steward existing statewide partnerships and funding programs, ensuring compliance, strong relationships, and contract renewals
  • Collaborate with Product, Clinical, and Customer Success teams to ensure Cartwheel delivers the impact required to renew and expand contracts year-over-year
  • Proactively communicate with state stakeholders to demonstrate impact and identify expansion opportunities
  • Manage budget, compliance obligations, lobbying registrations, and ethical standards across all jurisdictions.

Requirements

  • 10+ years building and scaling government relations functions in healthcare or education, with a track record securing state-level contracts worth $2M+ annually
  • Exceptional ability to cultivate trust-based relationships with diverse stakeholders including elected officials, agency administrators, and advocacy organizations
  • Clear, concise written and verbal communicator with the ability to identify the necessary differences for government communications
  • Ability to manage a complex, multi-state portfolio with long sales cycles (12-24+ months)
  • Track record successfully operating in both Republican-led and Democrat-led states and across rural and urban geographies
  • Track record building and coaching high-performing Government Relations teams and managing external lobbyists, including directing strategy, ensuring rigorous execution, and measuring performance
  • Experience working in CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, Gong), project management tools, and Excel/PowerPoint
  • Enthusiasm for building a new function from the ground up in a startup environment
  • Passionate about our mission to support student mental health
Benefits
  • Competitive compensation and benefits
  • Meaningful equity ownership stake in Cartwheel
  • Generous PPO medical, vision, and dental coverage
  • Unlimited/flexible PTO plus federal holidays
  • Paid parental leave
  • 401K with employer match
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
government relationslobbyingcontract negotiationbudget managementstrategic planningstakeholder mappingROI trackingcompliance managementrelationship managementfunding acquisition
Soft Skills
strategic thinkingcollaborationcommunicationtrust-buildingcoachingexecutionadaptabilityproblem-solvingleadershiporganizational skills