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Cartwheel · 1 day ago

Government Relations Executive - South, Great Plains, Mountain West

United States

Full-time

Hybrid

Senior Level

5+ years exp

Cartwheel is a leading provider of mental health services for K12 schools, aiming to tackle the student mental health crisis. As a Government Relations Executive, you will manage a portfolio of states to secure funding and contracts, building relationships with state leaders to expand the impact of Cartwheel's services.

Health CareMental HealthmHealthTherapeuticsWellness

Responsibilities

Own the strategy and execution for 5-10 states

Develop and execute winning strategies for each state in your portfolio, including annual goals, stakeholder maps, state-specific messaging, milestones, and critical path

Execute on two primary strategies: (1) Securing state funding that schools can use to procure Cartwheel, and (2) Securing direct statewide contracts that make Cartwheel the sole vendor available to districts at no cost

Track funding and legislative opportunities, RFPs, and policy discussions to ensure Cartwheel is a step ahead of important developments in your territory

Cultivate trust-based relationships with governors' offices, legislators, education and health agencies, and key statewide organizations (e.g., superintendents associations)

Tailor messaging to each state's context and priorities, continuously refining based on feedback from the field

Manage external lobbyists in your states, ensuring clear objectives, messaging, action plans, and accountability

Proactively communicate with state stakeholders on Cartwheel's impact and learnings from peer states to highlight our value propositions and ability to advance their top goals

Ensure Cartwheel is the most organized, thoughtful, and strategic partner your state contacts have ever worked with

Maintain detailed pipeline tracking, stakeholder mapping, and opportunity management

Report regularly to the Head of Government Relations on state pipeline, contract status, and forecasted revenue

Share learnings with teammates to continuously improve our shared GR approach

Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Success teams to ensure Cartwheel delivers the impact required to renew and expand contracts year-over-year

Qualification

Government relationsSales strategy executionStakeholder managementPipeline management toolsHealthcare policy experienceStartup environment experienceRelationship-buildingWritten communicationVerbal communicationTeam collaboration

Required

5-7+ years in government relations, government sales, or policy roles in healthcare or education, with a track record securing state-level contracts worth $1-3M+ annually

Exceptional relationship-building skills with diverse stakeholders including elected officials, agency administrators, and advocacy organizations

Clear, concise written and verbal communicator

Ability to manage a complex, multi-state portfolio with long sales cycles (12-24+ months)

Track record managing external lobbyists, including directing strategy, ensuring rigorous execution, and measuring performance

Proficiency with pipeline management tools (Salesforce) and Excel/PowerPoint

Enthusiasm for helping build a new function from the ground up in a startup environment

Passionate about our mission to support student mental health