Open Position:
Closed Position:
Director of Community Partnerships & Policy

Lead engagement efforts with communities and craft approach to public policy

This position closed on
4/21/2023

General Info

Location:
Remote (U.S. Only)
Type:
Full Time
Experience:
Mid to Senior-Level
Department:
Marketing & Communications
Reports to:
Head of Marketing & Comms

Compensation

Salary Range:
*
Benefits:
Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, and 401k.
*In compliance with Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act the salary for this role is listed. Final compensation for this role will be determined by various factors such as a candidate's relevant work experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location.
*Final compensation for this role will be determined by various factors such as a candidate's relevant work experience, skills, certifications, and geographic location.

About Underline

Underline starts with our people.

At Underline, we've rapidly built a culture around ownership, trust, community, and innovation. Underline is dedicated to cultivating a growth environment where people feel valued, work with a purpose of mission, are personally rewarded, and are professionally challenged.

Are you ready to join this team and transform American communities?

Underline was founded in 2019 with a singular mission: to ensure the vibrancy of our nation through building intelligent community infrastructure in a socially equitable manner. We work with American communities to design, finance, and construct open access fiber-optic networks. These networks are critical to secure internet access that’s fast, affordable, and fair. As open access networks, this infrastructure is also the essential foundation for distributed healthcare services, new wireless solutions, and resilient infrastructure including modernized water systems and responsible energy creation. Our first two projects are in Colorado Springs and Fountain, Colorado.

About this Position

Does this sound like you?

  • Expertise in developing relationships with senior-level city officials, community organizations, political entities, or executives  
  • Experience developing policy initiatives and driving policy consensus including among think tanks and/or the academic/research community 
  • You have a consistent track record of building a team internally and/or external growth through partnerships and business development
  • You are detail-oriented and able to juggle and execute on multiple tasks and projects in sometimes a nebulous and fluid work environment
  • You are a strategic thinker who can also double as a day-to-day executor and balance short- and long-term challenges
  • You have an entrepreneurial spirit—you have no problem getting your hands dirty and have an intense ability to learn quickly and from others
  • You are a true believer in the social, economic, and environmental benefits of bringing intelligent infrastructure to communities across the country

What you'd be doing:

  • Work closely with data science, industry partnerships, and marketing teams to prioritize community opportunities, serve as the leading edge of Underline community evangelism efforts, opening doors and engaging business dev and revenue colleagues once community interest is developed
  • Engage advocacy groups, elected officials, and legislators, acting as both an advocate and an expert, to build beneficial partnerships and unlock more opportunities to build networks
  • Position Underline and open access infrastructure as the ideal solution for a community’s needs
  • Serve as the policy lead for Underline, driving thought leadership across the policy, government and academic communities
  • Be the initial point-of-contact for city officials, local businesses, and other community stakeholders
  • Work directly with the Director of Communications and Marketing on marketing initiatives, events, local campaigns, written materials (blog posts, fact sheets, etc), and customer service
  • Partner closely with cross-functional teams including biz dev, product, marketing, communications, networks, and decision science
  • Collaborate on localized strategies, launch plans, and budgets for each market to operationalize demand aggregation and community engagement efforts 
  • Create and iterate on launch playbooks to help scale our efforts across communities
  • Systematically monitor industry developments and standards in the telecom space, identifying and analyzing key issues, and sharing action-oriented analysis
  • Represent Underline at conferences, local events, speaking engagements, press opportunities, and through thought leadership
  • Influence peers and stakeholders in a cross-functional capacity through the organization by surfacing local issues and suggesting solutions
  • Drive operational rigor and efficiency to improve internal intelligence and process improvement, including but not limited to: CRM platform, database development, and other workflow tools (Asana, Google Drive, etc)

Experience we require:

  • At least 5-7  years experience and an outstanding track record in partnerships, business development, or community engagement, preferably in fast-paced environments
  • Experience in politics, government, or policy realms
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills. This may manifest through product presentations, written proposals, speaking engagements, or customer relationships. You understand how to strike the right tone and you’re able to communicate clearly and persuasively 
  • Demonstrated ability to influence both internally and externally, and across levels
  • Exceptional analytical skills, both quantitative and qualitative 
  • Extensive experience building consensus across a broad set of stakeholders
  • Must be willing to travel potentially 30-50% +  of the time

Bonus points:

  • Experience in local regional politics and/or a high-growth startup engaging governments is a plus
  • Master’s level academic work at intersection of policy and economics/business strongly preferred

Hiring Manager

Eva Arevuo
Head of Marketing & Comms

Unsure about applying?

Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But here’s the thing: there's no such thing as a 'perfect' candidate. Underline is a place where everyone can grow. So however you identify and whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this is a role that would make you excited to come into work every day.

Position Application

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We maintain exceptionally high standards for talent and recognize that there are many paths to developing expertise. We don't discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors. If you have the skills we need and the ambition to grow fast with us, that's all that matters.