Posted February 12, 2026

Senior Consultant, Public Policy & Issues

Heart+Mind Strategies  | CA, US

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Heart+Mind Strategies LLC, an insights, strategy, and activation consultancy with its organizational roots from Reagan Pollster Richard Wirthlin, seeks a Senior Consultant to join our team. The position requires an individual who is curious about uncovering audience perceptions on highly technical or complex issues and effectively communicating on these types of issues.

This position has primary responsibilities in sales and delivery – sourcing profitable sales and providing clients with strategic solutions. The incumbent will develop and manage a book of business built from their own relationships and may partner with existing Senior Consultants on opportunities. You will work with a team of consultant-researchers to drive growth and form long-term client relationships by providing ongoing consultative support in addition to research and insight driven strategies. 

A Senior Consultant has three primary roles within the Heart+Mind Strategies organization: 

1.    To source, generate, and deliver profitable sales and revenue.

2.    Lead Heart+Mind staff throughout the market research, consulting, and strategy/activation process, with primary responsibility for project design and final client deliverables.

3.    Contribute to development of future leaders through mentoring with high integrity and the ability to inspire others.

Ideal Candidates

·         Five or more years of sales and market research, insights and strategy experience - vendor, client side, or both - working in one of the following areas: public policy, public sector and quasi-government organizations, education, transportation, non-profits, foundations, associations, government relations, or corporate communications.    

·         Demonstrated consultative sales experience generating and managing a book of business in this particular area. The position includes annual sales and revenue targets. 

·         Expertise in primary research methods (qualitative and quantitative), analysis and interpretation of results, and recommendations for implementation.

·         Can design and execute research projects from beginning to end, with staff support.

·         Practical experience applying insights to drive activations, campaigns, and strategic planning for stakeholder and marketing communications, branding, campaigns, and/or crisis management.

·         Proven experience building and maintaining successful client relationships, winning new business, and an expectation that some current client relationships can be integrated into your position at the company.

Additional Factors

·         While our practice values a broad spectrum of perspectives, we are actively engaged with faith-based and center to right-of-center policy clients. This position offers the opportunity to build relationships where you are most comfortable and successful, while recognizing that this work occurs within a shared practice environment.

·         Preferred candidates will be within a few hours of the Washington, D.C. metro area. This role will be expected to work in our Reston-based office a few days per month. We are currently registered to support employment in DC, VA, MD, PA and NC.

Successful Employees Exhibit:

·         Ability to thrive in a boutique, entrepreneurial environment.

·         Enthusiasm and track record of prospecting and hunting new sales opportunities.

·         Passion for helping clients make strategic decisions by monitoring, analyzing, and integrating multiple sources of data (secondary, behavioral tracking, sales, primary research, social listening, etc.).

·         Keen understanding of how insights can create a more powerful strategy for a client.

·         Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Comfortable presenting insights and recommendations to C-suite level client teams.

·         Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills with the ability to prioritize multiple projects and tasks and delegate effectively.

·         Willingness and ability to aid project teams in executing research as needed.

·         Strong mentoring skills.

·         Works well within a team.

About Heart+Mind Strategies

Heart and Mind Strategies is an insights and strategy consultancy that uncovers how people make choices through values-based and means-end behavioral science. Our mission is to help organizations confidently achieve their goals by aligning brand and audience values to influence decisions and drive outcomes.

We do this through human-centered brand and communications campaigns, image and reputation management, repositioning, advertising and marketing, internal stakeholder alignment, and advisory services. Our approach to uncovering authentic human insights allows organizations to unlock the heart of the matter, helping them meet strategic plans, growth goals, and campaign objectives.

By modeling human choices, we enable businesses, organizations, and campaigns to make informed decisions, identifying opportunities that win, drive growth and success. Whether navigating uncertainty or pursuing innovation, our insights guide organizations toward achieving their outcomes.

Does it work? The impact is clear—our techniques have helped clients win 11 David Ogilvy Awards for excellence in marketing communications campaigns, directly tied to our insights and their success in achieving KPI goals.  And our win record in issue and policy campaigns has been recognized by industry associations.

At Heart and Mind Strategies, we believe that the most effective way to influence choice is to persuade by reason and motive through emotion. By aligning values-based choices between issues/brands/organizations and their audiences, we deliver insights that foster meaningful human connections and result in winning success.

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