Government Relations Operations Manager

Cartwheel is an early-stage company building a new kind of mental health program for kids that puts schools at the center. We see our role as supporting school staff who see kids every single day. Instead of going around them, we collaborate with them. This means: 

• Earlier intervention
• Higher student and family engagement in care
• Better coordination among the trusted adults in a student’s life 

Kids shouldn't just aspire to get out of bed and drag themselves to class. They should be able to experience joy. They deserve to envision and build a life they’re excited to live. If you join Cartwheel, you’ll help make this vision a reality for millions of students across the country. We’re backed by top investors including A Street Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Reach Capital, General Catalyst, BoxGroup, and Able Partners, and we're looking for mission-driven teammates to join our team.

As a Government Relations Operations Manager, you'll be the operational backbone of Cartwheel's government relations team—the person who makes sure our GR strategy translates into impact at scale. You'll manage the systems, workflows, and intelligence that enable our GR executives and state-based team to influence education policy and secure funding for student mental health. This is a high-leverage operations role: you won't be in the room for every negotiation, but you'll ensure everyone in the room has what they need to succeed. You'll own the end-to-end operations of our government affairs function across 10+ states, from tracking legislative opportunities and coordinating lobbyist partnerships to producing monthly impact briefs that shape how policymakers think about student mental health.

Role type: W2, Full-Time, Salaried position
Salary range: Competitive base + meaningful equity
Location: Remote with occasional travel (e.g. 1-2 times per quarter)

• Government Relations Marketing: 
• Coordinate with Marketing, Data, Thought Leadership, and other teams as needed to develop monthly marketing impact briefs across our active states (combination of personalized and more generic briefs depending on state tier)
• Manage distribution schedule and delivery of briefs to legislators, governor’s staff, agency staff, and community partners
• Gather feedback on and continuously improve brief development process
• Develop additional collateral as needed (e.g., two-pagers, slide decks, fliers) 

• Government Relations Team Knowledge Management: 
• Maintain centralized opportunity trackers with high accuracy 
• Maintain GR event trackers (conference calendars, attendee lists, follow-ups)
• Maintain library of GR collateral (monthly briefs, two-pagers, talking points)
• Maintain library of GR team onboarding and training materials

• Government Relations Team Enablement: 
• Support field team members to maximize their effectiveness (prepare briefings, direct to appropriate collateral, maintain attendee lists, track follow-ups)
• Plan and execute major GR team events including state events and road shows
• Ensure all team members have access to up-to-date materials and intelligence
• Note: This role is not expected to represent Cartwheel in the field on a regular basis, though may involve staffing some in-person events

• Contract Lobbying Operations: 
• Track spend & outcomes for lobbyists in coordination with GR Executives
• Support development of lobbyist ROI analyses and performance reviews
• Develop standardized lobbyist onboarding materials and information sessions
• Manage contracting, compliance, registrations, budget tracking, and ethical standards across all jurisdictions
• Note: GR Account Executives own day-to-day lobbyist management and strategy; this role provides enablement 

• Research & Strategic Support
• Conduct research and produce regular intelligence briefings covering notable developments across states, including emerging funding sources
• Track KPIs across government activities (e.g., pipeline value, conversion rates)
• Provide recommendations to VP of GR on state opportunity prioritization

Must have: 

• 5+ years experience in operations, project management, or chief of staff roles (government affairs, healthcare, education, or high-growth startup environment preferred)
• Mission aligned: Genuinely passionate about expanding access to student mental health services. Enthusiastic about building in a startup environment.
• Strong writer: You are an excellent writer who can distill quantitative and qualitative information into crisp briefs for a range of external and internal audiences. You've consistently received feedback that your writing is clear and easy to digest.
• Eye for design: Able to partner closely with marketing colleagues to develop clear and compelling assets for government audiences (e.g., flyers, slide decks)
• Exceptionally organized: You create systems, maintain trackers with precision, and never let balls drop. You like to build templates, create workflows, and document standard operating procedures. You're excited to coordinate across 10+ concurrent workstreams with competing deadlines.
• Cross-functional coordinator: You know how to get buy-in, create clear frameworks, and keep teams aligned, including in situations where you don't have formal authority.
• Technically proficient: You’re fluent in project management tools (e.g., Asana, Google Sheets) and CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, Gong). You can learn new tools quickly.

Preferred: 

• State government relations or public affairs background
• Healthcare or education policy knowledge
• Familiarity with lobbying compliance requirements
• RFP/procurement process experience

Please apply even if you don't meet all of the criteria. If your past experience doesn't perfectly match the job description, but you bring other relevant experience or skills, we'd still love to hear from you. You may be a great fit!

Our hope is that Cartwheel will be your best career decision! In addition to tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time, at a company well-positioned to do so, you'll have:

• Mission-oriented and inclusive colleagues who will go to bat for you
• Competitive compensation
• Generous PPO medical, vision, and dental/ortho coverage
• Life Insurance
• Generous paid time off, including company closure from Christmas-New Years (12/25-1/1)
• Paid holidays and sick leave
• Paid parental leave
• 401K with employer match
• Meaningful equity ownership stake in Cartwheel
• Flexible and remote role with regular in-person retreats
• Annual learning stipend
• Laptop