Senior Regulatory Analyst and Writer

Location: Remote, United States. Core availability 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday.

Type: Full time, salaried.

Eligibility: U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. 

The role

This is the analytical center of the contract and the face of it to the client. When a comment period closes on a proposed Packers and Stockyards Act rule, you are the person who reads what the public sent in, works out what actually matters in it, and turns thousands of pages into something the agency's policy staff can use to write a final rule.

Between rulemakings you run the contract: the deliverable tracking, the monthly reporting, the weekly client meetings, and the readiness work that makes the next sprint survivable. You will also direct the analyst bench during comment closes, setting the coding scheme and reviewing what comes back.

The turnaround is fifteen calendar days from the close of the comment period for both the substantive analysis and the key issues matrix, and the client has signaled they may want it faster. This job suits someone who does careful work quickly and does not need to be managed through a deadline.

Analysis and writing

• Analyze public comments submitted on proposed rules, identifying themes, high-risk issues, quantitative metrics such as comment counts by topic, recommendations from the public, and the line between substantive and non-substantive submissions.
• Distinguish organized form-letter campaigns from unique substantive comments and account for both in the analysis.
• Identify every issue raised through public comment and build the key issues matrix, with comments sorted and categorized by issue for policy discussion and for drafting written responses in the final rule.
• Write summaries that hold up under legal and policy review and that support the agency's response obligations under the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Deliver written material that meets federal, and preferably USDA, style guidance and Section 508 accessibility requirements.
• Set the coding scheme for each rulemaking and review the analyst bench's output against it.

Running the contract

• Maintain a one-page deliverable tracking sheet, updated weekly and submitted electronically to the client throughout the contract.
• Lead the kick-off meeting within ten business days of award and develop the project plan that follows from it.
• Write and submit monthly progress reports to the Contracting Officer's Representative covering technical progress, schedule status, and any concerns or recommendations.
• Run weekly virtual status meetings with the client on comment volume, processing progress, schedule risk, and emerging themes, and document decisions in internal meeting notes.
• Forecast comment volume as it accumulates and tell Connexus early how much bench support each close will need.
• Escalate anything that looks like scope creep to Connexus management rather than absorbing it.

What you need

• Bachelor's degree. Advanced degree in public policy, law, economics, agricultural economics, or a related field is welcome.
• Thorough working understanding of the federal notice-and-comment rulemaking process and the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Direct experience analyzing or responding to public comments on a federal rulemaking, whether at an agency, a contractor, a law firm, or a trade association.
• Demonstrable knowledge of federal regulatory and stylistic requirements for public comment processing and rulemaking.
• Strong analytical writing. You will be asked for a writing sample.
• Familiarity with the Federal Document Management System and regulations.gov.
• Experience producing Section 508 compliant documents.
• Comfortable owning a client relationship, including writing status reports a federal reviewer will read closely.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, Teams, Zoom, and Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Nice to have

• USDA experience, particularly with AMS, or familiarity with the Packers and Stockyards Act and livestock and poultry markets.
• Experience with high-volume comment dockets and mass-comment campaigns.
• Prior work directing junior analysts on deadline.
• Working knowledge of qualitative coding or text analysis tooling.