Director, Government Affairs and Access to MS Care

WHO WE ARE:

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS. To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting‑edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. We partner with volunteers to accomplish our work. Staff members engage volunteers through effective and timely communications, facilitating meaningful opportunities, and continually seeking and providing feedback for reciprocal growth and learning.

Job Summary:

The Director, Government Affairs & Access to MS Care serves is responsible for implementing and advancing an integrated government affairs strategy across state advocacy efforts in coordination with federal advocacy efforts. Reporting to the AVP, Federal Government Affairs, and in close coordination with the AVP, Health Systems, this position provides leadership, direction, and oversight to regional Government Affairs & Access to MS Care Assistant Directors while ensuring strategic alignment between federal priorities and state‑level execution. The Director oversees the implementation of Society advocacy and access strategies that advance the Society's policy and healthcare access priorities, strengthens collaboration across Advocacy and Access to MS Care team, and ensures consistent messaging, stakeholder engagement strategies, and policy objectives throughout the team. This role serves as a key liaison ensuring relevant information is shared between federal and regional advocacy functions and is responsible for monitoring lobbying activities, evaluating advocacy and engagement effectiveness, and ensures the team’s efforts are coordinated, data‑informed, and deliver mission impact for people with MS. Further, the Director also contributes to the achievement of the Society's four strategic pillars by aligning work, decisions, and partnerships with enterprise priorities and actively collaborating across teams to advance mission outcomes.

Location Requirements

Remote – Flexible Location: Work is primarily performed remotely, however, when possible and necessary, teams meet in person to conduct the business of the organization and build team relationships.

Compensation | Benefits:

The estimated hiring compensation range for this role is $100,000 - $120,000. Final offers will be based on the candidate's geographic location, consider career experience, and may vary from this range due to these and other factors. You will have the opportunity for a highly competitive, comprehensive benefit package that the Society provides to employees.

Your benefits include:

• Considerable Paid Time Off
• Plan Paid Holidays
• 401k Retirement Savings Plan with Society match
• Commuter Benefit Plan
• Comprehensive Health & Welfare benefits including: Medical Dental Vision Flex Spending Accounts Life Insurance Disability Coverage
• Spring Health Membership offering free therapy and professional coaching, as well as additional voluntary benefit offerings.

Not to mention, you will join an incredible mission focused team of people!

Main Responsibilities:

Regional Leadership & Team Management (40%)

• Supervise, coach, and develop regional Government Affairs & Access to MS Care Assistant Directors.
• Establish performance expectations, accountability measures, and professional development plans for direct reports.
• Foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and consistency of execution across regions.
• Create consistent connection points for regional TITLES to ensure alignment on work.
• Support regional Assistant Directors in navigating complex stakeholder, legislative, regulatory, and healthcare access environments.
• Support regional Assistant Directors to prioritize work based on need and potential mission impact, and based on overall advocacy and access priorities.
• Promote a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and mission‑driven impact.

Relationship Development Strategy Execution and Evaluation (40%)

• Partner with the AVP, Federal Government Affairs and AVP, Health Systems to ensure alignment and coordination of federal, state, and healthcare access advocacy strategies.
• Support and strengthen relationships with policymakers, regulators, healthcare leaders, coalition partners, and advocacy organizations.
• Coordinate multi‑state advocacy efforts to maximize organizational influence and advance Society priorities.
• Help identify and recommend state‑level priorities each year based on emerging policy opportunities, challenges, and organizational goals, and track progress to inform ongoing adjustments to drive mission impact.
• Establish system to identify states with greatest capacity and potential, allowing ability to pivot based on environmental changes.
• Guide stakeholder engagement strategies that elevate the lived experiences of people affected by MS and strengthen policy impact.
• Ensure advocacy and access initiatives are aligned with organizational goals, messaging, and strategic priorities.
• Oversee systems and processes to track advocacy activities, stakeholder engagement, lobbying efforts, coalition participation, and outcomes.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate advocacy effectiveness, stakeholder engagement, and progress toward organizational objectives.
• Analyze legislative, regulatory, and stakeholder engagement trends and provide actionable recommendations to leadership.
• Develop reports, dashboards, and executive summaries that communicate performance, opportunities, risks, and strategic insights.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of lobbying and engagement strategies and recommend adjustments to improve impact.
• Support compliance with lobbying disclosure requirements, advocacy reporting, and organizational documentation standards.

Government Affairs Strategy Implementation (10%)

• Working closely with the AVP, Federal Government Affairs, ensure continuity, alignment, and coordination between federal advocacy priorities and regional government affairs activities.
• Translate federal policy priorities into actionable state‑level strategies and support regional implementation.
• Identify emerging policy opportunities, challenges, and stakeholder dynamics that may influence organizational priorities.
• Provide recommendations regarding advocacy approaches, stakeholder engagement opportunities and strategies, and policy positioning.
• As needed, serve as main point of contact for contract lobbyists in the regions and ensure strong partnerships between lobbyists and regional Assistant Directors.

Team Responsibilities (10%)

• Attend/actively engage in training, professional development, conferences, and staff meetings.
• Maintain knowledge of Society policy priorities at a high level.
• Share information, lessons learned, and stakeholder insights to support organizational objectives.
• Participate in cross‑functional initiatives and contribute to team success.
• Collaborate across mission and contribute to the integrated mission operations plan.
• Develop a strong working knowledge of all Society and relevant 3rd party (e.g., Komodo) information systems including Salesforce or other Society CRMs.
• Maintain knowledge of MS, current treatments, disease and symptom management.
• Stay up to date on advances in MS through publications and research.
• Implement and follow National MS Society risk management policies and procedures.
• Participate in professional development activities to improve knowledge and understanding of healthcare systems and provider needs.
• Contribute to team meetings, provide support and feedback to colleagues.
• Other duties as assigned.

What We’re Looking For:

• Bachelor's degree in Public Policy, Political Science, Public Administration, Public Health, Healthcare Administration, Law, Communications, or a related field.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in government affairs, public policy, advocacy, lobbying, healthcare policy, public affairs, or related fields.
• Minimum 3-5 years of people leadership experience, including supervision, coaching, and performance management responsibilities.
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing advocacy strategies across multiple states or regions.
• Experience coordinating advocacy efforts involving federal, state, and external stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of state and federal legislative, regulatory, and policymaking processes.
• Demonstrated success managing complex stakeholder relationships and coalition partnerships.
• Experience developing and utilizing advocacy metrics, performance measures, and reporting structures.
• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Strong analytical and strategic planning skills.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across a matrixed organization.
• Ability to travel nationally as required.

Preferred qualifications

• Master's degree in Public Policy, Public Administration, Public Health, Healthcare Administration, Political Science, Law, or a related field.
• Experience within a national patient advocacy organization, healthcare association, nonprofit organization, or mission‑driven advocacy environment.
• Knowledge of neurological disease, chronic illness policy, healthcare access, prescription drug access, utilization management, disability policy, and related healthcare issues.
• Experience leading multi‑state advocacy portfolios or national issue campaigns.
• Experience managing lobbying compliance, advocacy reporting, and government affairs performance measurement.
• Experience working with volunteer advocates, grassroots advocacy programs, and stakeholder mobilization efforts.
• Familiarity with healthcare access challenges affecting specialty care, chronic disease management, and patient access to treatment.
• Demonstrated experience aligning policy strategy across decentralized or regionally based advocacy teams.

We’re committed to supporting the growth of every employee through a structured and transparent approach to career development. We use Talent Portraits to define clear expectations, development opportunities, and advancement paths — whether you’re growing as a people leader or deepening your expertise as an individual contributor. Each role is thoughtfully placed within one of these pathways (Leadership or Partner) to help you understand how it fits into our broader organization and your potential career journey. This position is classified as Leader - Knowledge Leader.

The National MS Society is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We strive to create a workforce that reflects the communities we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. We need you and your unique talents and perspectives to help us write the last chapter on MS.