Stakeholder Engagement Specialist

Overview
DRT Strategies delivers expert management consulting and information technology (IT) solutions to large federal agencies, state and local government and commercial clients in health care, technology, and financial services industries.

The three letters of our name, DRT, stand for Driving Resolution Together, which is the core philosophy on which the company was founded. That is, we collaborate with our clients to solve their most pressing challenges - together.

We are problem solvers dedicated to your success, combining Fortune 500 experience with small business responsiveness. We have established a reputation with our clients as a forward-thinking consulting firm with demonstrated success in implementing solutions that lead to meaningful results. Our world-class consultants unite people to work collaboratively to achieve project goals and make vision a reality.

Project Description:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting and advancing the public health. Within FDA, the Office of Global Policy and Strategy (OGPS) and the Office of Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs (OPLIA) support the Agency's mission through global policy and strategy, policy development, legislative affairs, international engagement, organizational coordination, and related mission-support activities.

Section I will be performed first as a six-month OGPS Organizational Redesign and Leadership Succession Planning effort. The project will support OGPS with a current-state organizational and workload assessment; FTE and capacity analysis and federal benchmarking; roles, responsibilities, and decision-rights assessment; future-state organizational design alternatives; process and operating improvements; an implementation roadmap; leadership capability requirements; succession risk assessment; and a practical succession planning framework. The work must maintain a clear analytical thread from current-state evidence through future-state design, implementation, and leadership continuity.

Upon completion of Section I, the core project team will transition to Section II to provide OPLIA Mission Execution Support Services. Section II will support OPLIA with workload assessment and mission prioritization; cross-organizational FTE/capacity analysis and benchmarking; functional mapping and roles-and-responsibilities clarification with FDA Centers and other Office of the Commissioner components; coordination protocols; stakeholder communications and mission positioning; implementation roadmap recommendations; and workforce planning analysis. The work includes leadership retreats, cross-collaborative sessions, R&R clarity engagements, and internal stakeholder engagement. The team is expected to carry forward relevant methods, lessons learned, and delivery discipline from Section I, with the potential to add one additional staff member based on Section II needs.

The two sections are sequential rather than concurrent, but both are outcome-oriented, leadership-facing, and advisory in nature. Federal officials retain decision-making authority over organizational structure, workforce matters, personnel actions, priorities, and other inherently governmental functions. Each phase requires disciplined program management, careful stakeholder engagement, rigorous quality control, and deliberate transition planning. Because the work is performed under a firm-fixed-price model, proactive scope management, resource planning, quality assurance, and early risk escalation are critical to successful delivery.

Job Summary:
DRT is seeking a Stakeholder Engagement Specialist supporting a two-phase, sequential Mission and Organizational Support engagement. The successful candidate will plan and support interviews, workshops, leadership sessions, cross-organizational engagements, and communications activities; synthesize stakeholder input into clear themes and action items; and help the team build trust and alignment during sensitive organizational assessment and mission execution efforts. The role will transition with the core team from Section I into Section II, carrying forward stakeholder knowledge, engagement history, and lessons learned.

Responsibilities:

• Plan, coordinate, and support structured interviews, focus groups, surveys, leadership sessions, working sessions, and other stakeholder engagement activities across both project phases.
• Develop stakeholder maps and engagement plans that identify key audiences, interests, concerns, influence, dependencies, communication needs, and appropriate engagement approaches.
• Conduct or support interviews with federal leaders and staff using neutral, well-structured questions; capture perspectives accurately while maintaining discretion, confidentiality, and trust.
• Support leadership retreats, cross-collaborative sessions, and roles-and-responsibilities clarity engagements by developing agendas, discussion guides, read-ahead materials, facilitation aids, and follow-up products.
• Synthesize interview notes, survey results, meeting input, and other qualitative evidence into themes, findings, stakeholder considerations, decision points, and recommended follow-up actions.
• Support functional mapping and R&R clarification by documenting stakeholder perspectives on responsibilities, coordination needs, handoffs, decision points, escalation paths, and areas of ambiguity or overlap.
• Support development of stakeholder communications and mission-positioning products, including audience-specific messages, talking points, one-pagers, briefing decks, and engagement summaries.
• Prepare accurate session summaries, action-item trackers, decision logs, issue/risk inputs, and stakeholder follow-up materials within required timeframes.
• Monitor engagement commitments and emerging stakeholder concerns; identify areas of resistance, disagreement, or misalignment and elevate them to project leadership for resolution.
• Coordinate closely with organizational development, research/analysis, communications, and program management team members to ensure stakeholder input is reflected consistently in assessment findings and deliverables.

Required Experience:

• Minimum 5+ years of relevant experience in management analysis, stakeholder engagement, organizational change, communications, facilitation, consulting, or program/project support.
• Experience supporting U.S. Federal Government clients or similarly complex, highly regulated organizations with multiple stakeholder groups.
• Demonstrated experience planning or supporting interviews, workshops, focus groups, working sessions, stakeholder meetings, or other facilitated engagements.
• Strong qualitative analysis skills, including the ability to synthesize stakeholder input into concise themes, findings, summaries, and actionable follow-up items.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, diplomacy, and judgment when working with senior leaders, staff, and stakeholders who may have differing perspectives or concerns about organizational change.
• Strong writing and presentation skills, including preparation of meeting materials, discussion guides, summaries, briefing content, talking points, trackers, and other stakeholder-facing products.
• Ability to organize and track multiple engagements, deadlines, action items, and follow-up commitments in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated discretion in handling sensitive organizational, workforce, and stakeholder information and an understanding that contractor recommendations are advisory to federal leadership.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and collaboration tools used to support meetings, analysis, presentations, and stakeholder communications.

Preferred Experience:

• Direct experience supporting FDA, HHS, or another federal headquarters or regulatory organization.
• Experience supporting organizational assessments, organizational redesign, workforce planning, change management, or mission execution initiatives.
• Experience with stakeholder mapping, engagement planning, change communications, survey administration, or facilitation methodologies.
• Experience supporting cross-organizational R&R discussions, coordination protocols, governance forums, or working groups.
• Experience developing communications frameworks, audience-specific messaging, leadership briefing materials, or internal engagement products.
• Facilitation, change management, communications, or business analysis training/certification is a plus.

Education & Training:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Communications, Organizational Development, Management, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Equivalent relevant professional experience may be considered in lieu of a specific degree concentration.

Work Authorization, Clearance Requirement, & Additional Information:

• This position requires the ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. government Public Trust clearance. Due to contract requirements, candidates must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents (green card holders) to be eligible.
• No agencies, third parties, or Corp-to-Corp submissions.

Salary Range:

• $90,000-$115,000
• Salary commensurate with experience.

DRT Strategies, Inc. (DRT) follows the guidelines outlined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to provide all employees and qualified applicants employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, genetic information, disability, protected veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law.

Reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities will be provided. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact Human Resources by emailing [email protected], or by dialing 571-482-2517.

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