Director of Government Relations

Position: Director of Government Relations

Organization: United Contractors (UCON)

Location: Anaheim, California

United Contractors (UCON) is looking for a smart, dynamic, passionate, relationship-centered individual to serve as our next Director of Government and Agency Relations. You will work for the CEO as part of the Government Relations team and play an integral part in the organization’s continued growth and influence.

About UCON

United Contractors is a powerful, high-impact trade association representing over 800 union-signatory construction and associated firms across California. We exist to empower, advocate for, and support California’s union contractors. We are relentlessly committed to serving the needs of our members—while building the next generation of industry leaders.

UCON Values

Our values set us apart and fuel our work as individuals and as a team. We take them seriously. If you share these values, you’ll thrive here.

Drive: We act with grit, urgency, and relentless determination

Integrity: Absolute accountability and transparent decision-making

Authenticity: The courage to be unapologetically different, genuine & bold

Credibility: Unparalleled reliability, trust, and time-tested expertise

Compassion: Motivated by care, intention, and the desire to serve – we go beyond for our members

At UCON, we don’t do politics, egos, BS or bureaucracy.

If the values above feel like a description of who you are, and the mission feels motivating to you, you’ll fit right in and thrive at UCON and in this uniquely important role.

Why Work at UCON?

At UCON, your work has meaning—real, measurable, lasting impact. Our team culture is high-performing and high-trust. We invest in people who care deeply, move purposefully, and act boldly in service of others.

Here’s what you can expect:

• A smart, driven, and (mostly) humble team that respects and supports each other.
• A resultsdriven group of individuals, from top to bottom, that genuinely enjoy their work and each other. We have fun along the way!
• Leadership that’s accessible, human, and genuinely invested in your success.
• Missionaligned, memberfocused work that drives realworld change for our industry and our membership.
• Competitive salary and benefits, with a commitment to professional growth.

Position Overview

United Contractors is seeking a Director of Government and Agency Relations to serve as a key advocate and connector between our members and the public agencies they work with across California. This forward-facing leadership role is responsible for building trusted and genuine relationships with our membership, as well as local and state agencies—such as Caltrans, LAWA, City of San Francisco, City of Los Angeles, utilities, transit agencies, and more—to help drive member success, influence agency practices, and foster collaborative, solution-oriented partnerships that result in a better business environment for our contractors and the industry.

A major part of this role involves proactively organizing and facilitating contractor-agency liaison meetings across the state. These meetings are central to UCON’s value to members, providing them with direct access to decision-makers, surfacing real-world challenges, and helping drive practical outcomes. The Director will be responsible for building member and agency engagement and turnout for these meetings and ensuring they are high-value and ROI-focused.

Additionally, this leader will oversee UCON’s annual Public Works Summit, a large-scale convening of agencies, contractors, and other stakeholders designed to share agency project opportunities, provide members and industry stakeholders with key insights that help their businesses plan for the year(s) ahead, and position UCON as a thought-leader, and premiere access point for the industry to develop key relationships, and receive information, and insights to serve and support their companies and teams. You’ll help take this growing event to the next level.

This position requires approximately 30% travel throughout California.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary liaison and advocate between UCON’s members and public agencies across California.
• Act as a trusted, respected, solutionsoriented voice for UCON and its members.
• Proactively schedule, organize, and facilitate contractoragency liaison meetings across the state to elevate issues, build relationships, and create collaborative solutions.
• Contribute to organizational strategy, particularly in growing UCON’s brand impact and values, consistently living our relentless commitment to our members and the industry.
• Oversee key membership committees for UCON, which may include Safety, Regulatory, and others.
• Build and sustain trusted, longterm relationships with our members, agency leaders, elected officials, and industry stakeholders to strengthen the business environment for unionsignatory contractors.
• Proactively communicate key issues, opportunities, and insights to our members and across the industry
• Lead the vision and execution of UCON’s annual Public Works Summit, an industrydefining gathering of contractors and agency partners.
• Convene and lead strategic membership and industrywide meetings focused on policy improvement, project delivery, innovation, and partnership.
• Drive membership engagement in agencyrelated committees, events and roundtable discussions.
• Collaborate with UCON’s departments including Government Relations, Events, Education, Labor Relations, and Member Engagement teams to advance strategic goals.
• Identify agencyrelated challenges or opportunities and work to resolve them through advocacy and/or collaboration.
• Monitor public agency developments, project pipelines, and contracting changes and communicate relevant updates to members.

Ideal Candidate Profile:

The right fit for this role is some who possess the following qualities:

• A natural connector and coalition builder with a strong sense of purpose and professionalism.
• Thrive on organizing and leading highstakes, highimpact meetings between industry and government.
• Have a high degree of emotional and social intelligence, and thrive in relationshipdriven, strategic environments.
• Are a confident, solutionsoriented problem solver who can navigate complex agency, political, and industry dynamics with integrity.
• Are strong communicator—both written and verbal—and comfortable with public speaking and facilitation.
• Are highly selfdirected but collaborative, and comfortable operating in both autonomous and crossfunctional team settings.
• Are motivated by mission, service, and realworld impact—not ego, titles, or status.
• Bring knowledge of California public works, infrastructure, or construction industry agencies and stakeholders.
• Have a proven track record of influencing change, improving relationships, and driving results across diverse stakeholders.
• Someone who can build credibility and trust as a problem solver and change maker by knowing when to serve as a bridge builder and partner, and when to turn up the heat. All in service of results.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in public agency relations, government affairs, public infrastructure, construction leadership, or a related field.
• Established network within public works agencies or the construction industry is highly desirable.
• Experience organizing or facilitating externalfacing stakeholder meetings and convenings.
• Strong communications experience
• Event leadership or largescale convening experience is a strong plus.
• Experience in trade associations, nonprofits, public service, or advocacyoriented roles a bonus.

Pay Range: $110K-$150K

UCON values diversity and is looking for extraordinary employees of all backgrounds! We are proud to be an equal-opportunity employer.

Please include with your resume a brief statement of interest. In your statement, tell us why this role—and UCON—feels like the right fit for you. Include what you see as your unique superpowers that make you a great potential fit for UCON and this important role. it.

About United Contractors

United Contractors (UCON) is a dynamic not-for-profit trade association that serves union affiliated civil engineering construction companies throughout California by being an instrumental partner in Labor Relations and collective bargaining, Legislative Advocacy for the industry, and by providing Networking and Professional Development opportunities for our members. We strive to be the absolute best at what we do, in all areas of service and are driven by a desire to meet and exceed our members’ expectations. We are relentless in our pursuit of growing and improving, and demonstrate genuine care and compassion for our members and their teams. Our organization offers every member a seat at the table and a voice, no matter how small. Our team is a small but mighty group of passionate individuals driven by the desire to do impactful work to elevate the Association and its members. Much like our membership, no role in UCON is without a voice that is valued.