Account Manager

Coover | Goss; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Coover | Goss, a Texas-based public affairs and local engagement firm, is hiring its first senior team member to own client relationships and run engagements in the field. This boots-on-the-ground role requires comfort in county commissioners meetings in rural Texas and strategy calls with corporate clients, and includes mentoring junior staff as the firm scales.

You will carry your own engagements, represent the firm in client meetings, public hearings, and build engagement strategies for

Qualifications

• Eight to ten years in public affairs, community or grassroots engagement, communications, political campaigns, or government relations.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with clients day to day and help lead engagements from strategy through execution.
• Lead local and community engagement on the ground: stakeholder mapping, relationship building, and direct work with elected officials, county and city staff, and community leaders.
• Represent the firm in client meetings, public meetings, and hearings.
• Build engagement strategy for permitting, zoning, and abatement fights, and adapt it as things move.
• Develop community goodwill strategies, plans and facilitate client engagement.
• Produce and oversee sharp written work: assessments, research briefs, stakeholder lists, memos, and client updates.
• Mentor junior staff and help set the standard for how we deliver.

Skills

Public affairs

Community engagement

Grassroots engagement

Communications

Political campaigns

Government relations

Texas politics

Strong writer

Job description

Coover | Goss is a Texas-based public affairs and local engagement firm advising large-scale infrastructure and development projects across the state. Our work focuses on navigating complex political, regulatory, and community environments for projects including data centers, energy infrastructure, and grid-scale development. We help clients understand local realities early, read the landscape clearly, and build engagement strategies grounded in trust, timing, and community context.

Position Overview

We are hiring our first senior team member to own client relationships and run engagements in the field. This is a boots-on-the-ground job for someone as comfortable in a county commissioners meeting in rural Texas as they are on a strategy call with a corporate client. You will carry your own set of engagements and often be the face of the firm in the communities where we work You will also help us build, mentoring our junior staff and shaping how the firm delivers as it scales.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with clients day to day and help lead engagements from strategy through execution.
• Lead local and community engagement on the ground: stakeholder mapping, relationship building, and direct work with elected officials, county and city staff, and community leaders.
• Represent the firm in client meetings, public meetings, and hearings.
• Build engagement strategy for permitting, zoning, and abatement fights, and adapt it as things move.
• Develop community goodwill strategies, plans and facilitate client engagement.
• Produce and oversee sharp written work: assessments, research briefs, stakeholder lists, memos, and client updates.
• Mentor junior staff and help set the standard for how we deliver.

Qualifications

• Eight to ten years in public affairs, community or grassroots engagement, communications, political campaigns, or government relations.
• A campaign or grassroots background is a strong plus. We value people who know how to work the phones, read a room, and build a coalition from nothing.
• The gravitas to earn the trust of sophisticated corporate clients and hold your own in the room with them.
• Real fluency in Texas politics, local government, and the regulatory landscape.
• A strong writer who takes pride in the work.
• Willing and able to travel heavily across Texas, often to places that are not easy to get to. This is a road job.
• Someone who operates with autonomy and a bias for action.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in energy, infrastructure, land use, or another regulated industry.
• An existing network among Texas local officials and community leaders.
• Agency or consulting experience carrying several clients at once.