About Hipcamp

Over the past decade, Hipcamp has unlocked access to 5 million acres of private camping around the world. In addition to hosting over 120k campsites you won’t find anywhere else, Hipcamp also has the best collection of bookable tent, RV and cabin sites for all camping styles. Each year, Hipcamp helps millions of people happily sleep under the stars, boosting local economies and biodiversity along the way. Everything we do is guided by our belief that getting outside is good for the health of people and the environment. Our culture is built on a deep and genuine commitment to helping people connect with the outdoors. Hipcamp is also backed by top tier investors including Andreesen Horowitz, Benchmark, Bond Capital and Index Ventures.

About the role

As the Hipcamp Government and Community Relations team, it’s our mission to support our landowner partners in being able to offer responsible and safe camping on private land. In this role you will develop and execute Hipcamp's legislative and political strategy across Australia with the aim of driving the adoption of new regulatory frameworks for low-impact camping, caravan parks, and nature-based tourism with the goal of protecting Hipcamp’s current and future Australian marketplace. The other members of the Government and Community Relations team are based in the U.S. but you will also be part of a distributed Australia-based team of staff working across the company.

This role requires expertise and a track record of success in: influencing decision-makers, media and press relations, community-based advocacy, and managing policy campaigns from drafting legislation through bill signing and implementation. You must have proven successful at shaping policy decisions at the council-level in Australia, and deeply understand the ins and outs of land use, tourism, and recreation-based planning processes.

You are passionate about working with communities and government leaders to change policy. You have relationships in the fields of tourism, destination management, natural resource protections, outdoor recreation, and/or agriculture. You believe that together we can create a better world where more people can experience the benefits of getting outside. You are a mission-driven operator who can deftly sort through the uncertainty of state and local politics to find and create solutions.

You thrive as an individual contributor and are eager to be a foundational member of a small team. You are a people-person who inspires others through your empathy and authenticity.

What you'll do

• Identify opportunities for and enact strategic campaigns at the state and local level across Australia to support our landowner partners in offering safe, responsible low-impact camping on private land.
• Build strategic relationships with local, regional, and state decision-makers including councilors, planning staff, state officials, and more to increase regulatory certainty for our marketplace.
• Develop and own partnerships with outside organisations to positively impact Hipcamp’s marketplace and government relations strategies. This includes agritourism and farming associations, tourism marketing, public lands managers, caravan park associations, and more.
• Act as a lead spokesperson for Hipcamp in regional and statewide media; build relationships with outlets and reporters, identify and pitch potential stories, and enact a long-term press strategy.
• Develop meaningful relationships with Hipcamp’s landowner partners, transform them into advocates, and mobilise them into action around advocacy campaigns.
• Leverage data and research to help develop the company’s policy positions in Australia and internationally.
  

Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant government relations, campaign, or public policy experience with a focus and track record in council and state-level campaigns.
• A proven history of creating policy change; knows how to leverage politics, elections, policy, press, and partnerships to influence decision makers and achieve positive outcomes.
• Deep experience in grassroots community organising within political and policy campaigns with a love and passion for working with people.
• Incredibly self-motivated and driven to create and find solutions.
• Strategic and focused; knows how to prioritise in a sea of possibilities and identify the most impactful short and long term work.
• Tried and true ability to build relationships across lines of difference with people of all types, and has existing relationships in related industries, including government, outdoor recreation and retail industries, conservation, agriculture, and land use.
• Highly skilled at crafting arguments, understanding incentives, and reading motivations.
• Top-of-the-class written and verbal communication.
• Loves using data to answer complex problems and has the ability to manipulate data sets, interpret insights, and translate meaning across a range of stakeholders.
• Thrives in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment with the ability to meet tight deadlines, shift priorities, and exercise impeccable judgement.
• Ability to maintain the highest personal levels of ethical conduct, confidentiality, and integrity.
• Passion for creating equitable access to the outdoors, driving economic development for rural communities, and developing innovative solutions to steward the land
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally (up to 25%)
  

About our Work Environment

Compensation will be a mix of salary and stock options. It will be highly competitive compared to similar-stage companies and based on location.

Health is essential to happiness. In addition to full health insurance, all team members receive $1K in Hipcash because we believe getting outside is excellent preventative medicine in addition to increasing your creativity, lowering your stress, and making you an overall more awesome human.

We focus on results, not hours. We believe that clearly defined goals combined with great people, empowerment, and autonomy create the best results. We feel confident that inclusive and diverse teams working on an important cause can accomplish extraordinary things.

Hipcamp is an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. In fact we are confident that the most inclusive and diverse teams accomplish the most extraordinary results.