Manager, State and Local Governments in Washington, District of Columbia at The Aspen Institute

ABOUT US

The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners.

FINANCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s (Aspen FSP) mission is to illuminate and solve the most critical financial challenges facing American households and to make financial security for all a top national priority. We aim for nothing less than a more inclusive economy with reduced wealth inequality and shared prosperity. We believe that transformational change requires innovation, trust, leadership, and entrepreneurial thinking. FSP galvanizes a diverse set of leaders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to solve the most critical financial challenges. We do this through deep, deliberate private and public dialogues and by elevating evidence-based research and solutions that will strengthen the financial health and security of financially vulnerable Americans. Visit our website: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/financial-security-program/

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Benefits Transformation Initiative (BTI), a team within Aspen FSP, is dedicated to reimagining America’s benefits systems so that everyone can navigate everyday life with financial dignity and security. We elevate leaders and drive solutions that are impact-focused, creative, and centered on the lived experiences of the people these systems are meant to serve.

The Manager, State and Local Governments is a full-time, 2-year term-limited position on the BTI team that will provide consistent relationship management, project coordination, and communications support across BTI’s engagements with state and local government leaders, agency staff, and public benefits administrators. This person will help ensure that every government-facing engagement is consistent, coordinated, well-prepared, and aligned with BTI’s broader strategy and values. Anytime BTI is engaging with a state or local government partner, the Manager will help ensure the right context, follow-through, relationship management, and communications are in place.

We are looking for a strong relationship manager, project manager, and communicator who can work across multiple state-facing efforts while keeping the full picture in view. Our ideal candidate is comfortable engaging government leaders and agency staff, effective at juggling multiple workstreams and competing priorities, and able to ensure a fast-moving team maintains consistency across external relationships. They should be able to move between strategy, logistics, relationship management, and partner coordination with sound judgment and attention to detail.

This position reports to the Senior Manager, Benefits Transformation Initiative. The salary range for this position is $90,000 - $105,000. This position is based at Aspen’s Washington D.C. headquarters, with an in-office expectation of a minimum of 2x a week to collaborate with colleagues.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

The Manager, State and Local Government will help manage relationships, communications, project execution, and knowledge-sharing across BTI’s state and local government portfolio. The three key areas of responsibility are as follows:

Leading state-facing communications and materials

• Manage state and local government-facing communication products: draft, edit, and coordinate internal and external communications products for government-facing audiences, including newsletters, memos, case studies, implementation resources, and follow-up materials.
• Work closely with BTI colleagues to ensure communications are clear, consistent, timely, and aligned with the realities of state and local benefits administration.
• Support internal systems that help the BTI team manage state relationships, communications calendars, and deliverables, such as owning the team’s CRM for state contacts.
• Partner with Aspen FSP’s Marketing and Communications team to ensure alignment with FSP’s communications policies, procedures, and overall communications strategy.

Managing the Safety Net Response Network

• Lead the coordination of the Safety Net Response Network, a group of nonprofits who all provide technical assistance to states in response to new programmatic and administrative changes of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), particularly in SNAP and Medicaid.
• Keep a consistent pulse on what the needs of the states are in the wake of OBBBA and ensure the group’s activities align with those needs, such as coordinating the publication of resources, supporting the creation or continuation of workgroups with state staff, and more.
• Coordinate across external partners, including nonprofits, technical assistance providers, advocates, researchers, vendors, and philanthropic partners, to ensure government-facing work is complementary and not duplicative.

Coordinating BTI’s state-facing projects

• Help ensure BTI’s government-facing work is aligned across projects, including by maintaining shared context on state priorities, agency needs, relationship history, and opportunities for deeper engagement.
• Support the logistics for our engagements with state and local benefits leaders, including scheduling, follow-up, coordination across partners, and ensuring timely responses to government needs, particularly for the Aspen Institute State Benefits Leadership Cohort’s virtual and in-person convenings.
• Support planning and implementation of other convenings, peer learning sessions, working groups, leadership forums, webinars, and other engagements involving government partners.
• Help synthesize lessons from BTI’s engagements with government agencies into actionable insights for the team, partners, funders, and the broader benefits delivery field.
• Represent the BTI team and Aspen FSP at relevant conferences, panel discussions, and other public events, sharing insights from our work with states and meeting new potential partners.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO THRIVE

• 5+ years of progressively responsible professional experience in a relevant field such as government, public administration, program management, management consulting, or communications.
• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience is required. A graduate degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, Business Administration, or a related field is a plus.
• A deep commitment to the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s mission of financial security for all and a passion for modernizing public benefits systems.
• Experience working with government leadership and staff, either as a government employee directly or strong collaboration as an external partner, particularly those responsible for administering public benefits (e.g., SNAP, TANF, Medicaid).
• Proven project management experience, specifically in driving and tracking progress across initiatives with multiple stakeholders.
• Strong relationship management skills, with the ability to quickly build trust and credibility with senior leaders in government.
• An entrepreneurial mindset with a track record of taking initiative in dynamic, results-oriented environments.
• Ability to commit to up to 20% domestic travel for presentations, conference attendance, state convenings, and other relevant events.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

While not a minimum or mandatory qualification, we strongly encourage candidates from historically underrepresented demographics, and those with first-hand experience of financial insecurity to apply for this role.

The Aspen Institute offers a generous benefits package including health, dental, vision, and prescription benefits, retirement benefits, and paid leave.

The Aspen Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all District and federal laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or protected veteran or disabled status and will not be discriminated against.

The Aspen Institute welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs, including the interview process. If you would like to request accommodations or have questions about accessibility, please email hrsupport@aspeninstitute.org or call 202-736-2127 in advance of your visit. Requests for ASL or CART services should be made at least two weeks in advance when possible. We will make every effort to fulfill requests, subject to availability.