Director of Policy & Political Strategy

Position Overview

Lera Strategic Solutions is seeking a Director of Policy & Political Strategy to serve as a senior strategist and client leader across the firm’s policy, political, and public affairs work. This is not primarily a lobbying, research, or project-management role. We are looking for someone who can think.

The right person can quickly understand a complicated political or policy environment, identify what matters, determine what success looks like, and develop a practical strategy to get there. They will help define the work, not simply execute it.

The Director will lead significant client relationships, develop and execute strategy, oversee policy and political work, coordinate internal and external teams, and serve as a senior strategic resource across Lera.

Core Responsibilities

Strategy & Policy Leadership

• Develop policy, legislative, regulatory, political, electoral, and public affairs strategies.
• Help clients define objectives, priorities, and measures of success.
• Analyze policymakers, stakeholders, political dynamics, public opinion, media, and competing interests.
• Identify risks, opportunities, leverage points, sequencing, and potential consequences.
• Turn ambiguous or fast-moving problems into clear, executable strategies.
• Oversee policy and political research, analysis, advocacy strategies, briefing materials, memos, and recommendations.
• Connect lobbying, communications, grassroots, coalition, political, and research efforts into coherent strategies.
• Maintain strong knowledge of Colorado’s political and policy environment while developing familiarity with other jurisdictions relevant to Lera’s work.

Client Leadership

• Own relationships with a portfolio of significant clients.
• Understand clients’ objectives, stakeholders, political environments, and long-term priorities.
• Lead strategy conversations and provide clear recommendations, not simply information.
• Anticipate emerging challenges and translate complex developments into actionable guidance.
• Coordinate Lera teams to ensure work is strategically aligned, timely, and high quality.
• Build trusted relationships with executives, policymakers, advocates, board members, donors, coalition partners, and other stakeholders.

Execution & Team Leadership

• Turn strategy into clear plans with objectives, responsibilities, timelines, and measures of success.
• Direct research that answers the strategic questions that actually matter.
• Manage multiple significant engagements in a fast-moving environment.
• Know when to execute personally, delegate, or bring in additional expertise.
• Help build systems that allow Lera to scale sophisticated strategic work without sacrificing quality.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for a strong generalist whose experience may span policy, government affairs, politics, campaigns, advocacy, public affairs, consulting, or related fields.

The successful candidate will bring:

• Exceptional strategic judgment and problem-solving ability.
• Strong political instincts grounded in analysis rather than conventional wisdom.
• The ability to independently take ownership of complicated problems.
• Strong research, analytical, writing, and communication skills.
• The ability to quickly learn unfamiliar policy areas and make sound recommendations amid uncertainty.
• Strong client-management and relationship-building skills.
• Comfort working with senior executives, policymakers, political professionals, advocates, and other sophisticated stakeholders.
• Intellectual curiosity, personal accountability, discretion, and a willingness to challenge assumptions, including our own.

The Person Who Will Thrive Here

This role is for someone who naturally asks:

• What are we actually trying to accomplish?
• What does success look like?
• Who can affect the outcome?
• What pressures are they responding to?
• What are we missing?
• What happens next?
• What could go wrong?
• What should we do?

You should be comfortable moving from legislative analysis to a client strategy meeting, from political research to an advocacy plan, and from a high-level strategic conversation to making sure the work actually gets done.

Success in the Role

Success means clients trust you with their hardest problems, Lera teams look to you for strategic direction, and firm leadership can hand you a significant client, issue, or political challenge knowing you will take ownership of it.

At its core, this role is about judgment. We are looking for someone capable of becoming one of the central strategic minds of Lera Strategic Solutions.

Compensation

The anticipated salary range for this position is $120,000–$150,000 annually, commensurate with experience, qualifications, and the scope of responsibilities.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should send a resume and brief cover letter to sbelton@lerastrategic.com. Please include “Director of Policy & Political Strategy” in the subject line.

To learn more about Lera Strategic Solutions, visit www.lerastrategic.com.