AVP Government Affairs

When you join the team at Unum, you become part of an organization committed to helping you thrive.

Here, we work to provide the employee benefits and service solutions that enable employees at our client companies to thrive throughout life’s moments. And this starts with ensuring that every one of our team members enjoys opportunities to succeed both professionally and personally. To enable this, we provide:

• Award-winning culture
• Inclusion and diversity as a priority
• Performance Based Incentive Plans
• Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability
• Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!)
• Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution
• Mental health support
• Career advancement opportunities
• Student loan repayment options
• Tuition reimbursement
• Flexible work environments

*All the benefits listed above are subject to the terms of their individual Plans.

And that’s just the beginning…

With 10,000 employees helping more than 39 million people worldwide, every role at Unum is meaningful and impacts the lives of our customers. Whether you’re directly supporting a growing family, or developing online tools to help navigate a difficult loss, customers are counting on the combined talents of our entire team. Help us help others, and join Team Unum today!

General Summary:

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

• With a focus on company growth, analyzes legislative and public policy environment, identifies threats and opportunities, and helps formulates company’s position on priority matters.
• Lead lobbying efforts including preparing and delivering written and oral testimony before state legislatures, the NAIC and Congress on priority legislative issues, providing extensive technical expertise to external audiences on company positions, 1x1 lobbying of legislative staff and members as appropriate, and developing and maintaining effective relationships with state regulators, legislators, legislative staff and trade association staff in order to carry out lobbying objectives.
• Personally represent company interests in key market states.
• Maximize contract lobbyists in various jurisdictions including managing workflow for vendors providing state legislative tracking and issue identification services to Unum.
• Provide support as necessary on product advocacy/speed to market issues, lobbying state regulators for timely review and approval of significant product and rate filings.
• Collaborate extensively with senior management in functional areas to identify problematic legislative issues, determine company position and influence external audiences.
• Provide timely political analysis and advice to company management.
• Assume leadership role in industry trade associations and help drive industry agenda in a way reflective of company priorities.
• Raise profile of government relations function within the company, and assist in growing the company’s PAC.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Job Specifications

• Undergraduate degree required; advanced degree preferred
• Substantial experience in government relations; preferably in the insurance industry
• Well grounded on political process and campaign finance
• Substantive knowledge of public policy development and proven ability to advocate for priorities
• Meaningful relationships with key public policymakers and policy influencers, especially in Unum home states
• Solid knowledge and understanding of insurance issues and products
• Strong technical/analytical ability
• Strong advocacy skills – oral and written
• Proven leadership and decision making abilities
• Ability to work closely with all product and corporate areas and on broad array of issues
• Broad understanding of corporate philosophy and goals
• Independent thinker
• Ability to manage multitude of tasks simultaneously

#LI-LM2024

Unum and Colonial Life are part of Unum Group, a Fortune 500 company and leading provider of employee benefits to companies worldwide. Headquartered in Chattanooga, TN, with international offices in Ireland, Poland and the UK, Unum also has significant operations in Portland, ME, and Baton Rouge, LA - plus over 35 US field offices. Colonial Life is headquartered in Columbia, SC, with over 40 field offices nationwide.

The base salary range for applicants for this position is listed below. Unless actual salary is indicated above in the job description, actual pay will be based on skill, geographical location and experience.

Additionally, Unum offers a portfolio of benefits and rewards that are competitive and comprehensive including healthcare benefits (health, vision, dental), insurance benefits (short & long-term disability), performance-based incentive plans, paid time off, and a 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match up to 5% and an additional 4.5% contribution whether you contribute to the plan or not. All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of individual Plans.