Protect our Homeland, Ascend with Us!

Ascension LLC is seeking a highly experienced Project Manager & Senior Policy Lead to serve as the primary lead and trusted advisor supporting the City of Gaithersburg Mayor and City Council under the Council Legislative Services contract. This individual will be responsible for directing, managing, and delivering high-quality legislative research, policy analysis, and fiscal impact support that enables informed decision-making by elected officials.

This role is mission-critical to the success of the engagement. The Project Manager & Senior Policy Lead acts as the single point of accountability for task execution, quality assurance, and client communication. The ideal candidate is a seasoned policy and program leader with deep experience operating in complex government environments, translating ambiguous policy questions into structured analyses, and briefing senior leaders clearly and objectively.

Candidates should possess strong business-domain expertise in public policy, legislative research, municipal or state government operations, fiscal analysis, and stakeholder coordination. Success in this role requires demonstrated leadership, analytical rigor, excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to operate independently with minimal supervision while managing multiple concurrent priorities.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Project Manager & Senior Policy Lead provides overall leadership for all Council Legislative Services tasking. This role is responsible for interpreting City requests, shaping analytical approaches, coordinating internal and external contributors, and ensuring that all deliverables meet the City’s standards for objectivity, clarity, timeliness, and public accountability.

The ideal candidate is a detail-oriented, highly organized planner who thrives in environments where requirements may evolve and timelines can be compressed. The individual must be self-directed, proactive, and comfortable working in an advisory capacity with senior elected officials and executive staff. They must anticipate issues, frame policy tradeoffs, manage scope effectively, and ensure analyses are defensible, data-driven, and clearly documented.

The Project Manager & Senior Policy Lead is expected to solve complex policy and fiscal questions, reconcile qualitative and quantitative inputs, and deliver decision-ready products such as memoranda, briefing decks, fiscal impact summaries, and comparative policy analyses. The role relies heavily on structured research methodologies, financial modeling, quality assurance processes, and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Teams.

Position Day-to-Day Activities

• Lead and manage all task orders issued under the Council Legislative Services contract
• Serve as the primary point of contact between Ascension and City leadership
• Interpret legislative and policy questions and translate them into structured research and analysis plans
• Oversee policy research, legislative review, and comparative analysis activities
• Direct and review fiscal impact analyses, cost-benefit models, and scenario evaluations
• Integrate qualitative stakeholder input with quantitative data findings
• Develop and review written deliverables including reports, memoranda, issue briefs, and presentations
• Prepare and deliver briefings for the Mayor, City Council, and senior staff
• Coordinate meetings, work sessions, and consultations with internal and external stakeholders
• Ensure all deliverables undergo quality assurance for accuracy, clarity, neutrality, and completeness
• Manage schedules, priorities, and workload across multiple concurrent assignments
• Identify risks, data gaps, and scope changes and recommend mitigation strategies
• Maintain organized records of task requests, assumptions, sources, and final outputs