Senior Congressional Engagement Specialist

Senior Congressional Engagement Specialist

BLN
24 is seeking a highly skilled Senior Congressional Engagement Specialist to support the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Research & Development (R&D) and Medical Research and Development Command (MRDC) Headquarters. This role serves as a key advisor and coordinator for congressional communications and engagement activities, ensuring accurate, timely, and effective communication between DHA R&D leadership and congressional stakeholders.

The Senior Congressional Engagement Specialist will develop, coordinate, and facilitate congressional engagement efforts, prepare communication products for executive review, and support responses to congressional inquiries. The ideal candidate possesses exceptional written and verbal communication skills, deep knowledge of congressional affairs and government communications, and the ability to manage sensitive information in a dynamic federal environment.

Congressional Engagement Support

• Execute congressional communications and engagement activities in support of DHA R&D-MRDC Headquarters and the Public Affairs Office.
• Prepare, coordinate, and disseminate congressional communications materials for review and approval by appropriate Government leadership.
• Coordinate and facilitate congressional engagements, including preparation of background materials, talking points, informational content, and engagement summaries.
• Assist in developing timely and accurate responses to congressional inquiries.
• Document engagement outcomes and maintain records of congressional communications activities for DHA R&D-MRDC Headquarters leadership review and approval.

Legislative Situational Awareness

• Develop and maintain executive-level communication strategies to keep DHA R&D-MRDC Headquarters informed of relevant legislative activity.
• Prepare concise summaries of published legislative actions, hearings, proposed bills, enacted laws, markups, policy changes, and congressional activities impacting DHA R&D-MRDC interests.
• Develop targeted legislative alerts for urgent or high-impact legislative developments.
• Prepare weekly legislative newsletters highlighting key legislative trends, updates, and upcoming congressional events.
• Maintain legislative tracking reports on priority legislation and congressional inquiries.
• Manage or support content updates on internal communication platforms, including the CACO SharePoint site, to provide leadership with real-time access to legislative updates and resources.
• Provide written updates and briefings to leadership no less than bi-weekly, or as directed by the Contracting Officer's Representative.
• Prepare high quality written products for congressional engagement activities, including information papers, white papers, executive summaries, briefing materials, and talking points for senior leadership.
• Ensure all written products are accurate, professionally formatted, error-free, and compliant with DHA R&D-MRDC editorial standards prior to submission or dissemination.
• Write in an executive leader style appropriate for senior Government audiences, congressional stakeholders, and decision-makers.

Coordination with Legislative Liaisons

• Coordinate communications activities with Army legislative liaisons and the DHA legislative affairs office to support accurate communication of DHA R&D-MRDC equities.
• Prepare messaging materials for approval and transmission to support testimony, hearings, legislative engagements, and higher-echelon communications.
• Draft and coordinate the exchange of information between legislative liaisons, PAO leadership, and other stakeholders.
• Disseminate approved talking points, fact sheets, background materials, and other relevant content to support leadership preparation for congressional engagements.
• Communicate testimony schedules and relevant background materials in an executive-level format.

PAO Messaging Coordination

• Coordinate with the Public Affairs Office to ensure all congressional-facing communications are consistent, accurate, and aligned with approved organizational messaging.
• Support communications related to congressional affairs, biomedical research programs and capabilities,…