Vice President, State Government Relations

Kaiser Permanente; Oakland (CA); Hybrid; USD 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente is seeking the Vice President, State Government Relations to lead enterprise-wide strategy and operations for state government affairs across current and future markets.

The role reports to the Senior Vice President, Government Relations and oversees a network of market-based leaders, coordinating engagement with governors, agencies, and coalitions to advance enterprise priorities.

Qualifications

• Minimum fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in government relations or related fields.

Responsibilities

• Lead Kaiser Permanente's enterprise state government relations strategy and manage a team of market-based Government Relations leaders.
• Design and evolve a One KP state government relations operating model that aligns enterprise and market teams.
• Represent Kaiser Permanente with governors, legislative leaders, state agencies, trade associations, and coalitions.
• Build proactive engagement strategies to strengthen visibility and influence with policymakers and stakeholders.
• Oversee enterprise legislative intelligence, political analysis, and stakeholder landscape assessments.

Skills

Leadership

Government relations

Strategic planning

Stakeholder engagement

Public policy

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Job Summary:

The Vice President, State Government Relationsis the senior-most enterprise leader responsible for Kaiser Permanentes state government relations strategy and operations across all current and future markets.

As a member of the Public Affairs leadership team and reporting to the Senior Vice President, Government Relations, this role leads Kaiser Permanentes state legislative, political, coalition, and stakeholder engagement strategies, including leading and directly managing the network of market-based government relations leaders responsible for advancing the organizations priorities across the states in which it operates.

The Vice President serves as Kaiser Permanentes principal enterprise leader for state legislative engagement and is responsible for building and maintaining the relationships, coalitions, and influence necessary to shape favorable operating environments for the organization. This leader represents Kaiser Permanente with governors, legislative leaders, elected officials, state agencies, state trade associations, coalition partners, and other influential stakeholders while ensuring alignment across markets on enterprise priorities and strategies.

The Vice President oversees, state legislative intelligence, state political analysis, state stakeholder engagement strategy, and state government affairs operations. This leader ensures Kaiser Permanente maintains a comprehensive understanding of legislative, political, and regulatory developments across existing operating markets at the state level while also assessing emerging opportunities, risks, and competitive dynamics in prospective growth markets. The role serves as a strategic advisor to senior leadership, translating complex external dynamics into actionable enterprise strategies and recommendations.

Working in close partnership with market Public Affairs leaders, Community Affairs, Communications, Policy & Regulatory Affairs, and Permanente Medical Group leaders, the Vice President leads the development of coordinated strategies to advance legislative priorities, strengthen Kaiser Permanentes reputation, and improve operating conditions across current and future markets.

The Vice President also partners closely with Advocacy and Government Relations Communications leadership to establish strategic priorities, define engagement objectives, identify stakeholder mobilization needs, and develop coordinated approaches to advancing legislative and political priorities. While Advocacy provides campaign, grassroots, grasstops, and stakeholder activation capabilities, the Vice President, State Government Relations is responsible for identifying legislative and political opportunities and challenges, establishing priorities, and ensuring advocacy efforts are aligned to enterprise and market objectives.

A critical responsibility of the role is proactively building Kaiser Permanentes visibility, credibility, and influence in state capitals across the country. The Vice President develops long-term engagement strategies with governors offices, legislative leadership, state agencies, trade associations, coalition partners, and other key stakeholders to position Kaiser Permanente as a trusted healthcare leader and thought partner, ensuring relationships and credibility are established well before legislative or regulatory challenges arise.

The Vice President is also responsible for building and maintaining relationships with national organizations, governors associations, legislative leadership organizations, healthcare stakeholders, advocacy groups, and trade associations whose engagement is critical to success at the state level. These relationships provide insights into emerging legislative trends, political dynamics, and stakeholder priorities that shape state operating environments across Kaiser Permanente markets.

The role is accountable for creating a modern, enterprise-wide state government relations capability and One KP operating model that enables Kaiser Permanente to anticipate legislative and political developments, strengthen relationships with policymakers and stakeholders, build effective coalitions, influence legislative outcomes, and align market and enterprise activities around shared priorities. This includes establishing common standards, governance, reporting, issue management processes, legislative intelligence capabilities, and ways of working that improve coordination, visibility, and execution across all Kaiser Permanente markets while preserving the local relationships and expertise essential to success.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Lead Kaiser Permanentes enterprise state government relations strategy and leads and manages a team of market-based Government Relations leaders to advance shared legislative, political, and business priorities.
• Design, implement, and continuously evolve a One KP state government relations operating model that aligns enterprise and market teams around shared priorities, establishes clear decision rights and governance, and enables coordinated execution across Kaiser Permanentes markets.
• Serve as Kaiser Permanentes senior enterprise representative with governors, legislative leadership, state agencies, state trade associations, coalition partners, and other key stakeholders across current and future markets.
• Build and execute proactive engagement strategies that strengthen Kaiser Permanentes visibility, credibility, and influence with policymakers and stakeholders, positioning the organization as a trusted healthcare leader and thought partner.
• Oversee enterprise legislative intelligence, political analysis, stakeholder landscape assessments, and issue monitoring to identify emerging trends, opportunities, risks, and enterprise implications.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive enterprise legislative tracking, monitoring, and reporting capability that provides timely intelligence, analysis, issue forecasting, and executive-ready reporting to support decision-making and stakeholder activation across the organization.
• Establish enterprise standards, tools, reporting, governance, and performance measures for legislative tracking, stakeholder engagement, coalition management, consultant oversight, and issue management to strengthen transparency, accountability, and organizational effectiveness.
• Establish enterprise processes for issue management, forecasting, escalation, scenario planning, and executive reporting.
• Monitor political, legislative, regulatory, and stakeholder environments in prospective growth markets and advise enterprise leaders regarding opportunities, risks, and market readiness considerations.
• Partner closely with Permanente Medical Group leaders to align legislative priorities, leverage clinical expertise in support of engagement strategies, and identify opportunities for physician engagement that strengthen Kaiser Permanentes credibility and influence with policymakers and stakeholders.
• Lead Kaiser Permanentes engagement with key state and multi-state trade associations and help shape industry priorities, coalition strategies, and legislative approaches that advance enterprise objectives.
• Partner with Advocacy leadership to establish strategic priorities, define stakeholder mobilization requirements, and develop coordinated engagement strategies that advance legislative and political objectives.
• Build and maintain relationships with national governors organizations, legislative leadership organizations, healthcare associations, and other influential stakeholder groups whose activities shape state legislative and political environments.
• Identify emerging legislative, political, and stakeholder trends across markets and develop enterprise strategies to proactively address issues before they become business, reputational, operational, or regulatory challenges.
• Develop and lead multi-market coalition strategies that advance Kaiser Permanentes priorities and strengthen the organizations influence with policymakers and external stakeholders.
• Build a high-performing enterprise state government affairs capability by developing talent, modernizing tools and processes, fostering collaboration across markets, and establishing clear accountability for results.

Basic Qualifications:

Experience

• Minimum fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in government relations, public affairs, legislative affairs, advocacy, or related fields.

Education

• Bachelors degree required

License, Certification, Registration

Additional Requirements:

• Significant experience representing large, complex organizations before state legislatures, governors offices, regulatory agencies, trade associations, and coalition partners.
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise or multi-state legislative and stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Proven experience advising senior executives and influencing executive-level decision making on complex legislative, political, reputational, and business issues.
• Experience working within highly matrixed organizations and leading through influence across multiple stakeholders and business functions.
• Demonstrated experience managing external lobbying firms, trade association strategies, coalition partnerships, and external consultants across multiple jurisdictions.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree preferred.
• Experience working within a highly regulated industry required; healthcare experience strongly preferred.