Sr. Director - Government Affairs

What is the Role:

Reporting to the Assistant General Counsel and Global Head of Commercial Legal, with a dotted line to the Chief Legal Officer, we are hiring a Government Affairs leader to join the legal department in this fast growing, truly globally distributed company! This position is ideal for a self-sufficient and resourceful specialist, based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area in the United States. There are currently 2 direct reports to this position, one based in Brussels and one based in the DC metropolitan area. This is a growth position in a fast-paced technology company covering Open Source, Licensed Product, SaaS and Managed Services.

What You Will Be Doing:

• Define and lead the Government Affairs strategy for the company.
• Work with the global Public Sector business to identify key funding opportunities and messaging aligned to further Elastic’s brand and reputation with its government customers.
• Ensure company engagement on key legislation and policy initiatives that impact Elastic’s business.
• Work with business leaders across the company to align the Government Affairs strategy to the key business priorities.
• Develop and manage a global Government Affairs strategy, including advisement of key relationships with trade and industry associations; collaborate with other industry leaders to build common areas of interest.
• Ensure preparedness for key meetings with regulators and other leaders in Washington, D.C. and other U.S. and international locations as deemed necessary and appropriate to the program; may testify or work with other legal leaders to support others to testify before government committees in support of the organization and/or industry.
• Act as Elastic’s Government Affairs voice in Washington, D.C., building and maintaining professional relationships with members of federal, state and local government entities and agencies.
• Partner with co-workers, in a company culture that is open, welcoming and unequaled.

What You Bring:

• You have 10+ years of experience in public policy / government affairs related work. You have demonstrated experience related to the business of complex software and SaaS solutions; an emphasis on search, data governance, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and open source products will be considered a plus.
• You have a bachelor’s degree in public policy, political science, public administration, business or equivalent.
• You have a demonstrated ability to collaborate with industry groups and/or organizations with complimentary objectives to achieve objectives. You will create communication vehicles to deliver messaging and to inform and support business leaders (and, vice versa, to assist business leaders to collaborate with you to deliver key messaging to the right government officials, as directed by the Government Affairs office).
• You have demonstrated ability to build plans and policies and to collaborate across teams to build relationships and liaise with government entities (Federal, State and local – with an initial emphasis on U.S. Federal – expanding horizons to key global initiatives) that regulate or influence business activities.
• Direct ongoing monitoring and analysis of proposed legislation, emerging issues and trends to advise on and determine the potential impact on the business.
• Candidates who have any combination of in-house, trade association or other relevant experience will be considered.
• Are you someone that thrives in an environment where you can drive innovation? Do you have the ability to flexibly prioritize, think creatively on your feet? And do genuinely enjoy working independently while collaborating cross-functionally within a team environment? Then Elastic could be the ideal place for you!