Vice president, regional advocacy

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is the nation's leading cancer advocacy organization. Together with our charitable partner, the American Cancer Society, we work in Congress, state legislatures and local jurisdictions to support evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem.

The Vice President, Regional Advocacy is a senior leader responsible for driving legislative and regulatory progress across approximately 25 states and developing and overseeing a high-performing team of 60+ advocacy professionals. This role leads strategic efforts to secure evidence-based state and local legislative wins, defend patient protections, and support federal campaigns. The position also plays a critical role in external relations, volunteer engagement, and donor development, ensuring grassroots power and philanthropic support are aligned with the organization’s mission to improve patient outcomes and advance health equity. This role develops, plans, and manages a budget for regions and state operations. The Vice President, Regional Advocacy serves on the organization’s Senior Leadership team (SLT).Develops and manages budget for organization. Senior Vice President, State & Local Advocacy plays a unique role in driving organizational priorities and plays a key connective role with OneACS colleagues Enterprise-wide. This position serves on the organization’s senior leadership team. The position also plays a role in external relations, volunteer engagement, and donor support, ensuring grassroots power and philanthropic support are aligned with the organization’s mission to improve patient outcomes and advance health equity.

This is a remote role

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

Strategic Leadership & Legislative Impact (40%)

• Develops and executes a multi-state advocacy strategy to achieve legislative wins, policy defense, and state and regulatory engagement.
• Aligns state teams with federal priorities and works with both federal and state and local campaigns’ team to ensure cohesive national impact.
• Leads rapid response efforts to emerging legislative threats or opportunities.
• Provides timely and regular updates to executive leadership on regional advocacy impact.
• Ensures collaborative planning and execution of federal, state and local campaigns.

Team Management & Development (30%)

• Oversees a regional advocacy team of 60+ team members across approximately 25 states, including regional Managing Directors, state Government Relations Directors, Grassroots (volunteer) Managers, and operations roles.
• Has overall responsibility and accountability for hiring within the region.
• Develops, plans and has accountability for regional and state budgets.
• Ensures state advocacy positions align with organizational policy.
• Fosters a culture of collaboration, trust, accountability, inclusion, and innovation within the team.
• Provides coaching, professional development, and performance management to ensure excellence.
• Tracks legislative progress, campaign metrics, and team performance to meet goals.
• Ensures compliance with lobbying regulations and internal policies.

Volunteer Engagement & Mobilization (10%)

• Partners with grassroots teams to expand and activate volunteer networks in respective states.
• Supports the development of training programs, recognition initiatives, and storytelling platforms that elevate patient voices.
• Ensures volunteer engagement strategies are integrated into legislative campaigns.
• Drives successful volunteer fundraising.

Development & External Relations (10%)

• Works closely with ACS and internal functions to ensure alignment on mission, policy trends, and political dynamics.
• Represents the organization in coalitions, conferences, and public forums.
• Collaborates with development teams to cultivate relationships with major donors, foundations, and corporate partners.
• Represents advocacy priorities in donor meetings, events, and communications.
• Identifies opportunities to align advocacy wins with fundraising strategies and impact reporting.

Senior Leadership Team (10%)

• Executes organizational responsibility and leadership on the Senior Leadership Team (SLT)
• Provides a broad perspective on organizational issues, surfaces and vets ideas, and aligns on how best to advance ACS CAN’s mission priorities.
• Engages in cross-functional planning for ACS CAN, the ACS CAN Board, and high-level organizational messaging.

EXPERIENCE/QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in public policy, political science, law, or related field (Advanced degree(s) is preferred).
• Minimum 15+ years of experience in government relations, advocacy, or public affairs, with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven success in leading multi-state legislative campaigns and managing large, geographically distributed teams.
• Experience in volunteer engagement and donor relations within a mission-driven organization.
• Experience with high-level stakeholder engagement across advocacy and other organizations.
• Deep understanding of state legislative processes and healthcare policy, with strong experience collaborating with state health policymakers and advocacy leaders.
• Willingness to travel frequently across regions for team support, legislative meetings, and stakeholder engagement.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITY:

• Passion for improving cancer patient policy outcomes and advancing health equity through the legislative and regulatory process.
• Experience in grassroots organizing and community engagement.
• Experience with budget management and external vendor oversight.
• Ability to navigate politically sensitive environments with discretion and empathy.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in advocacy and leadership.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

This position may require travel up to 30%, including overnight and occasional weekend travel, primarily within assigned regions to support legislative campaigns, attend strategic meetings, and engage with stakeholders. Periodic travel to national conferences or headquarters may also be required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to travel by car, train, or plane as needed.

The starting rate is $190,000 to $220,000. The final candidate's relevant experience/skills will be considered before an offer is extended. Actual starting pay will vary based on non-discriminatory factors including, but not limited to, geographic location, experience, skills, specialty, and education.

ACS CAN provides staff a generous paid time off policy; medical, dental, retirement benefits, wellness programs, and professional development programs to enhance staff skills. Further details on our benefits can be found on our careers site at: jobs.cancer.org/benefits. We are a proud equal opportunity employer.