Senior Public Policy and Government Affairs Manager

About the role:

Samsara's Public Policy and Government Affairs team is looking for a Senior Public Policy & Government Affairs Manager to expand our work on Capitol Hill and beyond to help develop and drive new tailwind opportunities to support Samsara’s Public Sector business. This is a senior, highly cross-functional role for someone with a track record of moving concepts to reality, building coalitions, and navigating the authorizing and appropriations process to drive powerful programmatic and funding opportunities to enable U.S. cities, states, and the Federal Government to adopt technologies that improve the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of their operations. 

This person will represent Samsara directly before Congress, and will work closely with our Public Sector Sales team to identify and generate opportunities.  This role will also work closely with outside consultants – developing, prioritizing, and actioning campaigns – and will be looked to as an expert in the field. 

This role is based in Washington, D.C. and reports to the Head of Global Public Policy & Government Affairs.

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: Your efforts will result in real-world impact—helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, reduce emissions, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.
• You are the architect of your own career: If you put in the work, this role won't be your last at Samsara. We set up our employees for success and have built a culture that encourages rapid career development and opportunities to experiment and master your craft in a hyper growth environment.
• You're energized by our opportunity: The vision we have to digitize large sectors of the global economy requires your full focus and best efforts to bring forth creative, ambitious ideas for our customers.
• You want to be with the best: At Samsara, we win together, celebrate together and support each other. You will be surrounded by a high-caliber team that will encourage you to do your best.

In this role, you will:

• Represent Samsara directly before Congress, building and maintaining relationships with members, committee staff (particularly on appropriations and authorizing committees), and select federal agency officials.
• Be proactive. Identify and generate new funding or programmatic opportunities — formula funding, grant programs, appropriations language, and other mechanisms — that Public Sector Sales can sell into at the local, state, and federal level. 
• Build and maintain a living, prioritized opportunities list, bringing clear, well-reasoned recommendations on where to focus — grounded in market opportunity, feasibility, timing, and cost to pursue.
• Partner closely with Public Sector Sales on an ongoing basis, providing critical intelligence into legislative and funding developments, and translating that information into concrete input for their pipeline and go-to-market strategy.
• Stay ahead of developments across Congress, agencies, and target states, and use that intelligence to help shape Samsara's broader policy strategy and priorities.
• Manage outside consultants by, among other things, participate in their strategy calls, critically evaluate their proposals and recommendations, and hold them to a high bar.
• Draft and help advance legislative language, funding tasks, letters, testimony, and other materials in support of Samsara's government affairs priorities.
• Collaboration with Legal, Marketing, and Product to ensure our government affairs work reflects an accurate and compelling picture of Samsara's technology and roadmap, and that our advocacy is in-line with the direction of the business.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in public policy, government affairs, or government, with a strong preference for appropriations-focused experience — for example, on Capitol Hill (personal office, leadership office, or committee staff) or at a federal agency.
• In-house government affairs experience at a company, ideally working in direct, sustained coordination with a sales, GTM, or revenue organization.
• Deep, first-hand understanding of the federal appropriations and budget process, and demonstrated experience translating that process into concrete funding outcomes.
• A track record of proactively generating opportunities, not just monitoring or reacting to a legislative calendar.
• Established relationships with congressional offices, committee staff, and/or federal agency officials relevant to transportation, infrastructure, or technology funding.
• Demonstrated judgment in evaluating policy or funding opportunities — able to build a rigorous case for why something is or isn't worth pursuing, not just identify that it exists.
• Experience working with outside consultants, including the ability to critically assess their strategy and pitches.
• Skilled at persuasively and diplomatically advocating complex policy positions before a wide variety of audiences.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to concisely summarize policy issues and advocacy points for both government and internal business audiences.
• Experience managing multiple high-priority projects simultaneously in a fast-moving, dynamic environment.

An ideal candidate also has:

• Experience with DOT, surface transportation, infrastructure, or public safety funding programs, or with technology procurement processes at the state or local level.
• The ability to translate government-to-business and business-to-government issues fluently in both directions.
• The ability to issue-spot, identifying potential opportunities for sales enablement and challenges before they materialize.
• Familiarity with the physical operations, transportation, or public sector technology landscape.