Director of Policy

Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management fall conference.; Washington, Northern (District of Columbia, KY); Hybrid; USD 128,000 - 144,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental and vision insurance

403(b) employee investment plan

Life insurance

Short-term and long-term disability

Job summary

Project On Government Oversight (POGO) seeks a Director of Policy to advance our policy agenda with Congress and the executive branch. This leadership role guides a policy team focused on oversight, ethics, whistleblower protection, and spending transparency, reporting to the Senior VP of Policy, Advocacy, and Capacity Building.

The position emphasizes managing teams, setting priorities, and producing rigorous, evidence-based policy products for public accountability.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience.
• Minimum of 5 years managing subject-matter specialists or technical staff.
• Strong working knowledge of Congressional and/or administrative procedures.
• Knowledge of government ethics, judicial matters, federal spending, and whistleblower protection issues.
• Experience translating policy expertise into public advocacy.

Responsibilities

• Establish and oversee policy recommendations and goals.
• Supervise policy team managers from multiple units.
• Oversee policy research production and quality control.
• Provide recommendations on public positions for legislation and executive programs.
• Set priorities across a broad portfolio and identify coverage gaps.
• Advise on research sources, data, and proper whistleblower protocols.
• Collaborate to ensure public-facing policy products meet standards.

Skills

Policy leadership

Coalition building

Congressional experience

Public testimony

Policy research

Job description

Salary: $128,000.00 - $144,000.00 Annually

Application Deadline: Sep 23, 2026

Founded in 1981 in partnership with whistleblowers, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that works to expose waste, corruption, abuse of power, and other instances where the government fails to serve the public. We champion reforms to achieve a more effective, ethical, and accountable federal government that safeguards constitutional principles. POGO has an over $7 million annual budget that supports a staff of over 50 employees.

POGO is looking for a talented Director of Policy to advance POGO’s policy agenda with Congress and the executive branch. This role supervises POGO’spolicy teamsspanning congressionaland judicialoversight, government ethics, whistleblower protection, executive power and national security law, federal spending transparency,defense programs,and surveillance policy. Theyworkclosely withouradvocacy team and other subject-matter experts to translate policyexpertiseinto advocacy solutions that correct systemic corruption, abuse of power, and waste.The Director identifies topics and opportunities to further organizational goals or create new ones.

This is a leadership and management role, not a subject-matter-specialist role: the Director is not expected to be the deepest expert in every issue area. Theymust be able to guide, prioritize, and elevate the work of specialists, anddemonstrateexperience managing teams of policy professionals.This position reports to the Senior Vice President of Policy, Advocacy, and Capacity Building.

We encourage potential applicants to apply even if they only have experience or familiarity in some of the areas described below. We fully recognize that many great candidates will not have experience in all of the areas we list, or may have relevant experiences and skills that we have not listed or considered.

Responsibilities include:

• Establish and oversee work on POGO's policy recommendations, including directing and assisting Policy Team members in setting short- and long-term policy goals, promoting POGO recommendations, identifying key civil society allies and opponents, identifying advocacy targets in Executive Branch agencies, distributing POGO’s investigative reporting to relevant officials, and recording the progress of advocacy meetings.
• Supervise the team managers from the Constitution Project (TCP), the Center for Defense Information (CDI), the Effective and Accountable Government Program (EAG), and the policy senior researcher.
• Oversee all aspects of POGO’s original policy research production processes, including reviewing and approving project methodologies, timelines, andlogisticsfor quality control reviews, and collaborating with colleague directors to ensure public-facing policy products meet POGO's standards for evidence and rigor.
• Provide the organization with recommendationsonPOGO’s public positionsforlegislation and executive branch programs and initiatives.
• Set priorities across a broad portfolio, balancing staff bandwidth against emerging opportunities and threats, andhelpidentifyand resolve coveragegapsso specialist knowledge isretainedand institutionalized.
• Advise policy team managers and staff on research sources and methods, including government and non-government data, whitepapersand reports, FOIA requests, and proper protocols forsoliciting, receiving, and sharing whistleblower information.
• Provide the organization with recommendationsonPOGO’s public positionsforlegislation and executive branch programs and initiatives.

Qualifications include:

• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience.
• Minimum of 5 years of proven experience managing subject-matter specialists or technical staff, including setting priorities, protecting focus and bandwidth, and providing substantive feedback.
• A strong working knowledge of Congressional and/or administrative procedures.
• Knowledge of government ethics, judicial matters, federal spending, and/or whistleblower protection issues.
• Experience executing research projects and developing dataand information-driven policy recommendations.
• Demonstrated experience building and managing coalitions of externalstakeholders andtranslating policyexpertiseinto legislative or public pressure through Hill relationships, media engagement, and public testimony.
• Demonstrated commitment to working in a collaborative, respectful manner demonstrating a strong commitment to POGO’s justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles.
• (+) Congressional experience preferred.
• (+) Experience testifying before Congress or serving as a media spokesperson on government accountability issues.

Compensation, benefits, and other information:

This is a work from home position; however, the candidate must be in the Washington, DC region and available to travel regularly to DC for in-person meetings.

This is a full-time, exempt position and includes the listed benefits:

• Competitive nonprofit salary commensurate with experience in the range of $128K to $144K annually
• Health, dental and vision insurance
• 403(b) employee investment plan available, with employer contribution once eligible
• Life insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage
• Paid holiday, vacation, and sick leave

Application Deadline:September 23rd,2026

POGO is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce and provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. We encourage all interested and qualified individuals to apply.