What are the responsibilities and job description for the Legislative and Internal Communications Liaison (Senior) position at Highlight?
Overview
The Communications Office leads on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) legacy on external affairs and provides central focus and overall coordination for all aspects of legislative and public affairs matters. This office serves as the central point of contact with Congress, the media, interested stakeholders from the international development community, and the American people regarding USAIDs legacy international development programs and policies.
Among its principal responsibilities are coordination of USAID legacy legislative programs by securing congressional appropriations, providing information to Congress related to legislation, and advising the Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and the Chief of Staff regarding the status of pending legislation and related concerns of Members of Congress. This office also directs the external communications strategy and is responsible for positioning, messaging and branding.
In short, the Communications Bureau serves as the liaison between the Office and the American people, Congress, the media, and other key constituencies on USAID legacy programs.
The Legislative and Internal Communications Liaison serves as a senior program analyst in the Legislative Affairs team within the Communications Bureau. The Legislative and Internal Communications Liaison supports the coordination of functions for effective communication with the U.S. Congress, including facilitating communications regarding budget and appropriations; advocating, tracking, and reporting relevant legislative actions; and engaging with internal and external audiences regarding legislative priorities. This role provides communication coordination with other relevant legacy entities of USAID as needed.
Responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities
Qualifications
Relevant professional experience may be substituted for education requirements.
For over ten years, Highlight has provided Development and Modernization, Secure IT, and Mission Solution services to our federal government customers. Our team knows the technology; we understand how our customers and their stakeholders work; and we know how to implement industry best practices to deliver high-quality, end-to-end solutions that minimize risk and maximize results.
Since our inception, Highlight has had an employee-first mindset. Our mission is to provide employees with rewarding and impactful career opportunities. In 2021, Highlight’s founder, Rebecca Andino, implemented an Employee Stock Ownership Plan to embody and expand our culture of transparency, teamwork and rewarding the work of our employees. By becoming an ESOP, our employee-owners share in the success of the company through their ownership stake. To learn more about ESOPS, check out: www.esopinfo.org.
We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) that empowers our people to fearlessly drive change - regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other characteristics. Our team is dedicated to foster diversity within our teams to promote creativity, innovation, and teamwork to deliver the best solutions for our customers.
To receive compensation and benefits information for this role, contact us or email us at Recruiting@HighlightTech.com Please include the Req ID (this is at the top of the posting under the position title) in the subject line of the email.
Recruitment Fraud Disclaimer
Highlight takes your security seriously. Please be aware that fraudulent actors may attempt to circulate fictitious job opportunities and impersonate our recruiters. The main purpose of these correspondences is to obtain privileged information from individuals.
To protect yourself, keep the following in mind:
The Communications Office leads on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) legacy on external affairs and provides central focus and overall coordination for all aspects of legislative and public affairs matters. This office serves as the central point of contact with Congress, the media, interested stakeholders from the international development community, and the American people regarding USAIDs legacy international development programs and policies.
Among its principal responsibilities are coordination of USAID legacy legislative programs by securing congressional appropriations, providing information to Congress related to legislation, and advising the Administrator, Deputy Administrator, and the Chief of Staff regarding the status of pending legislation and related concerns of Members of Congress. This office also directs the external communications strategy and is responsible for positioning, messaging and branding.
In short, the Communications Bureau serves as the liaison between the Office and the American people, Congress, the media, and other key constituencies on USAID legacy programs.
The Legislative and Internal Communications Liaison serves as a senior program analyst in the Legislative Affairs team within the Communications Bureau. The Legislative and Internal Communications Liaison supports the coordination of functions for effective communication with the U.S. Congress, including facilitating communications regarding budget and appropriations; advocating, tracking, and reporting relevant legislative actions; and engaging with internal and external audiences regarding legislative priorities. This role provides communication coordination with other relevant legacy entities of USAID as needed.
Responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and analytical support to the Office of Legislative Affairs within the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs (LPA), and other parts of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) legacy programs as appropriate, for strategic Legislative engagement planning.
- Facilitate meetings between Agency staff and Members of Congress and Congressional staff, including the Agency’s oversight committees and others.
- Coordinate schedules and security clearance transfers as needed, ensuring that staff are prepared to brief others on the issues of concern.
- Assist in providing written or other materials, and follow up as needed on all Congressional inquiries
- Coordinate and facilitate with staff on management of tasks related to congressional investigations and oversight inquiries.
- Edit and advise regarding the presentation of USAID legacy program funding and programmatic notifications and briefings for Congress.
- Design, develop, and recommend congressional outreach efforts to promote the mission, as appropriate.
- Report on congressional hearings, briefings, legislation mark-ups, and floor action, as necessary.
- Ensure that responses to Congressional inquiries—including Questions for the Record, factsheets, and prepared talking points for briefings—are organized in a system that is easily retrievable.
- Work closely with the counterpart press and public affairs officers and communicators to ensure consistency of message and unity of purpose with regard to outreach to the Congress and external groups.
- Provide support for Reports to Congress and coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding interagency legislative referral memoranda.
- Serve as back-up to Legislative Reference team members.
- Develop weekly updates on work accomplished and upcoming tasks for various reporting mechanisms as to outreach and office activities, as requested.
- Provides communication coordination with other relevant legacy entities of USAID as needed.
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
- Ability to obtain a Secret-level security clearance.
- Bachelor’s degree and minimum of six (6) years relevant experience, preferably in policy or legislative affairs. Relevant professional experience may be substituted for education requirements.
- Knowledge of Congress and experience working with or for a Congressional member or Committee.
- Detailed Knowledge of USAID programs, processes, and procedures.
- Prior experience drafting and executing legislative strategies to advance foreign policy and/or foreign assistance-related objectives.
- Detailed knowledge of the federal budget and appropriations process and other relevant foreign assistance-related legislation.
- Ability to work well under pressure and with tight deadlines, and to multitask in a challenging environment.
- Superior oral and written skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well in teams.
- Ability to work independently.
- Knowledge of MS Office Suite programs, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Relevant professional experience may be substituted for education requirements.
For over ten years, Highlight has provided Development and Modernization, Secure IT, and Mission Solution services to our federal government customers. Our team knows the technology; we understand how our customers and their stakeholders work; and we know how to implement industry best practices to deliver high-quality, end-to-end solutions that minimize risk and maximize results.
Since our inception, Highlight has had an employee-first mindset. Our mission is to provide employees with rewarding and impactful career opportunities. In 2021, Highlight’s founder, Rebecca Andino, implemented an Employee Stock Ownership Plan to embody and expand our culture of transparency, teamwork and rewarding the work of our employees. By becoming an ESOP, our employee-owners share in the success of the company through their ownership stake. To learn more about ESOPS, check out: www.esopinfo.org.
We’re an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) that empowers our people to fearlessly drive change - regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other characteristics. Our team is dedicated to foster diversity within our teams to promote creativity, innovation, and teamwork to deliver the best solutions for our customers.
To receive compensation and benefits information for this role, contact us or email us at Recruiting@HighlightTech.com Please include the Req ID (this is at the top of the posting under the position title) in the subject line of the email.
Recruitment Fraud Disclaimer
Highlight takes your security seriously. Please be aware that fraudulent actors may attempt to circulate fictitious job opportunities and impersonate our recruiters. The main purpose of these correspondences is to obtain privileged information from individuals.
To protect yourself, keep the following in mind:
- All emails will come from an official @highlighttech.com or @talent.icims.com email address.
- We will never request payment or personal financial information during the recruitment process.
- We will not send job offers via email. All offers are first extended verbally by a member of our recruitment team whenever possible, and then followed up via written communication through official channels.
