[Hiring] Regulatory Affairs Manager @Swimply

Role Description

The Regulatory Affairs Manager runs Swimply's regulatory program end to end. Half of the job is operational: every notice a host or the company receives is logged, answered and tracked to a close. The other half is strategic: finding the bills, partners and officials that let us fix the rules for a whole state at once instead of town by town.

What You Will Do

• Run the notice program
• Own the regulatory intake: the regulatory inbox, the host reporting form and escalations from the Host Success team.
• Log every cease-and-desist letter, notice of violation, HOA demand and listing takedown in the regulatory tracker, by state, city, issuing agency and legal theory.
• Sort each matter by the theory being used against us: public pool classification, home occupation or zoning, short-term rental rules, business licensing and tax, or HOA covenants.
• Send the approved standard response to the host or code officer, and follow up until the matter is closed or escalated.
• Escalate to the General Counsel within one business day anything involving a subpoena, a records demand, a lawsuit, criminal exposure or a threat to a whole market.
• Publish a weekly regulatory report for the CEO and General Counsel: new notices, open matters, trends and recommended next steps.
• Change the rules, state by state
• Track bills and ordinances in our priority states, starting with New Jersey, New York, California and Texas, and flag any short-term rental or health-code bill our language could be added to.
• Keep our model state bill and model city ordinance current.
• Prepare the testimony, one-pagers, fact sheets and talking points our lobbyists and executives use with legislators and staff.
• Reach out directly to selected city planning, code enforcement and health departments to explain our safety standards before a problem starts.
• Manage outside firms and budget.
• Day-to-day manager for our lead lobbying firm, state lobbyists and local zoning counsel: scopes, weekly updates, deadlines and invoices.
• Build and maintain a bench of zoning counsel and lobbyists in each problem state, ready for when a matter escalates.
• Own the regulatory budget against the plan the board approves, and give leadership a clear cost-versus-outcome view before any new engagement is signed.
• Build allies
• Represent Swimply in short-term rental coalitions, state chambers of commerce, realtor associations and pool and spa industry groups.
• Recruit and prepare hosts to speak at hearings and council meetings.
• Keep us compliant
• Handle lobbying registrations and periodic disclosure filings at the state and city level.
• Support Finance on offers to collect and remit local taxes in jurisdictions that confirm our legality in writing.
• Research permit, occupancy and licensing requirements for new products and new markets, including Canada, and brief the General Counsel and product teams.
• Pull and organize platform data when counsel needs it to respond to a government request.

Qualifications

• 5 to 8 years in government affairs, public policy, regulatory operations or local government.
• Hands-on experience with how state legislatures and city councils actually move a bill or ordinance: committees, staff, hearings and timing.
• Experience managing outside vendors such as lobbying firms or consultants, including scopes and budgets.
• Clear, plain-English writing. You can turn a zoning code section into a one-page explanation a homeowner or council member understands.
• A system for high volume. You keep dozens of open matters across many states moving without losing one.
• Calm, professional manner with code officers, health inspectors, HOA boards and frustrated hosts.
• A bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.

Preferred

• Policy or government affairs work at a sharing-economy or marketplace company, such as short-term rentals, space rentals, ride-share or car-sharing.
• Experience as a legislative or council staffer, or in a city planning, zoning, code enforcement or public health department.
• Existing relationships in New Jersey, New York, California or Texas.
• Prior registration as a lobbyist, or experience handling lobbying disclosure filings.
• Familiarity with pool safety, public health or short-term rental regulation.
• Spanish proficiency.