Legislative Analyst

Advantage Capital

Advantage Capital is an impact investor dedicated to using the lever of capital access to increase economic mobility, lift up underserved communities, create quality affordable housing and generate renewable energy. Our core business line has invested $2.5B in nearly 800 small businesses, the vast majority in highly distressed urban and rural neighborhoods. The firm has built a strong and successful track record of public-private partnerships with state and federal economic development organizations, creating over 70,000 permanent, quality jobs and facilitating the flow of billions of added investment dollars into these communities. Founded in 1992, Advantage employs over 180 people in offices across the country, including St. Louis, New Orleans, New York, Austin and Napa.

The Legislative Team works with state elected officials to identify the areas in a state that are most in need of economic development, then craft policy to drive investment to those areas through public-private partnerships. The team builds and maintains relationships in 40+ states while supporting active legislation in 20+ states every year. 

Duties and Responsibilities

· Accompany and support state-leads seeking to pass new or renewal legislation in key states in meetings or hearings with lobbyists, legislators, and industry partners

· Research, identify and game plan potential state-level opportunities and future program models by attending conferences or gathering, meeting with government and industry experts, and conducting online research

· Support team initiatives with strategic and tactical research and materials, including new program models, state-level economic and access-to-capital reports, white papers, one-pagers and other educational documents critical to the advocacy cycle

· Cross-unit collaboration on investment or program impact projections, data management, analytics and reporting 

· Create and design all state or program specific collateral, including decks, one-pagers, reports, memos or briefs

Skills and Requirements

· Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, marketing, public relations, political science, or a relevant field

· 1-2 years’ experience with economic development programs, research, advocacy and state government, and/or sales

· Understanding of legislative process with ability to understand bill language and roughly draft amendments

· Strong intrapersonal communication skills

· Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite with eye for appealing design and outward facing documents

· Strong presentation skills in one-on-one and one-on-many situations

· Expert persuasive and professional writing ability 

Important Characteristics

· Passionate ambassador of firm’s double bottom line mission

· Shows vision, commitment and enthusiasm to all projects

· Expresses innate curiosity, thoughtfulness, and attention to detail 

· Does what is right because it’s right

· Embraces all-hands-on-deck culture and able to brings together firm components for success

· Mentors team colleagues and others at the firm

· Proactively assists other team members before asked

· Eager to assist or participate in new firm projects beyond typical responsibilities and expectations

· Ability to manage constantly changing schedule including frequent work-related travel