A senior policy associate works with a senior policy analyst to carry out policy and advocacy projects of an organization. Your job description includes conducting research and analysis, preparing written documents, and working with policy staff to ensure the advancement of your organization's objectives and initiatives.
Your job does not just involve conducting extensive research and analysis but also includes you facilitating surveys and interviews, preparing and processing documents, and handling calls and other correspondence. As a senior colleague, you will be required to mentor junior colleagues and supervise the team in order to reach project goals.
This role requires you to possess problem-solving skills, excellent communication and writing skills, as well as attention to detail. The mean annual salary for a senior policy associate is about $72,000. The most commonly required minimum educational qualification is a master's degree in political science, law, public policy analysis, or a related discipline.
What is a Senior Policy Associate?
What Does a Senior Policy Associate Do
There are certain skills that many senior policy associates have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and problem-solving skills.
How To Become a Senior Policy Associate
If you're interested in becoming a senior policy associate, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 63.9% of senior policy associates have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 24.9% of senior policy associates have master's degrees. Even though most senior policy associates have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Senior Policy Associate Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of manager you might progress to a role such as director eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title chief of staff.
Average Salary for a Senior Policy Associate
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Senior Policy Associates
1. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
6. Georgetown University
Washington, DC • Private
7. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
10. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Policy Associate
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.9% of senior policy associates listed project management on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
Senior Policy Associate Demographics
Senior Policy Associate Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among senior policy associates, 58.7% of them are women, while 41.3% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among senior policy associates is White, which makes up 86.8% of all senior policy associates.
- The most common foreign language among senior policy associates is Spanish at 44.9%.
Online Courses For Senior Policy Associate That You May Like
In this course, learners will become familiar with principles and theories of global health problems, and major challenges and controversies in improving global population health as well as practical applications of quantitative methods to analyze and interpret issues and challenges for policy. Topics will include health and foreign policy, health governance, acute disease surveillance, non-communicable diseases, burden of disease, universal health coverage, health systems strengthening, health...
Learn about leading foreign policy challenges confronting U.S. policy makers and the American public...
This course is part of the Healthcare Administration MicroMasters program which consists of 7 courses and a capstone exam. After completing the program, you can also apply to Doane University to complete your MBA online for approximately $10,500 (learn more about the program here). To be an effective agent of change, a healthcare administrator must have a foundational understanding of healthcare advocacy, law, and regulatory issues, as well as compliance. This course will focus on a wide range...
Best States For a Senior Policy Associate
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior policy associate. The best states for people in this position are California, Alaska, New Jersey, and Texas. Senior policy associates make the most in California with an average salary of $124,058. Whereas in Alaska and New Jersey, they would average $104,888 and $102,030, respectively. While senior policy associates would only make an average of $99,203 in Texas, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$104,888
Avg. Salary
2. Rhode Island
$96,797
Avg. Salary
3. Nevada
$96,401
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Policy Associate Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Policy Associate Employers
Most Common Employers For Senior Policy Associate
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $112,295 | $53.99 | 3 | |
| 2 | Accenture | $100,893 | $48.51 | 2 |
| 3 | National American Insurance | $99,322 | $47.75 | 2 |
| 4 | Proctor Financial | $99,319 | $47.75 | 3 |
| 5 | U.S. Global Leadership Coalition | $98,897 | $47.55 | 2 |
| 6 | Acumen Solutions | $98,533 | $47.37 | 7 |
| 7 | Maryland Auto Insurance | $96,491 | $46.39 | 2 |
| 8 | Discover | $90,926 | $43.71 | 2 |
| 9 | Planned Parenthood | $89,623 | $43.09 | 2 |
| 10 | National Conference of State Legislatures | $86,170 | $41.43 | 7 |