Principal Regulatory Affairs Manager

Term of Employment: Full-Time, Exempt

Reports To: Director of Transparency and Regulatory Affairs

Union: Bargaining Unit Position, Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU)

Location: Remote (U.S.-based)

Who We Are:

The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system. The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) accomplishes this mission by filing high-impact lawsuits to protect animals from harm, providing free legal assistance and training to prosecutors to assure that animal abusers are held accountable for their crimes, supporting tough animal protection legislation and fighting legislation harmful to animals, gathering data about and advocating for effective regulation of animal exploitative industries and providing resources and opportunities to law students and professionals to advance the emerging field of animal law.

Role Description:

The Principal Regulatory Affairs Manager plays a key role in advancing the ALDF’s Transparency & Regulatory Affairs Program (TRAP) by overseeing TRAP’s state and federal regulatory oversight initiatives. This position provides strategic analysis of regulatory developments impacting animal protection, advises Program Leadership, uses emerging technologies to improve efficiency in data gathering and review and supports ALDF's advocacy through regulatory engagement and government transparency tools.

The Principal Regulatory Affairs Manager manages the organization's regulatory monitoring program, develops systems to track rulemaking activities across federal and state agencies, and collaborates with colleagues across programs to support litigation, criminal justice, and legislative priorities. The position also supports ALDF's regulatory advocacy by assisting with the preparation of public comments, petitions for rulemaking, and other administrative advocacy submissions.

Additionally, the Principal Regulatory Affairs Manager helps advance organizational transparency efforts by developing and implementing strategies for obtaining government records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state public records laws in support of ALDF's strategic priorities.

How You Will Make a Difference:

• Oversee ALDF's state and federal regulatory monitoring program, including daily review of the Federal Register and monitoring of agency rulemaking activities.
• Analyze proposed and final regulations to identify developments relevant to ALDF's strategic priorities.
• Advise the TRAP Director regarding regulatory actions, deadlines, and opportunities for organizational engagement.
• Monitor regulatory activity across multiple federal and state agencies impacting animals used in agriculture, aquaculture, research, entertainment, and puppy mills.
• Prepare concise regulatory analyses for internal stakeholders.
• Conduct data collection, verification, and analysis related to regulated animal-use industries, including research facilities, commercial breeders, exhibitors, dealers, and slaughter establishments.
• Review, organize, and analyze records obtained through FOIA and public records requests to identify trends, summarize findings, and support advocacy, policy, communications, and legal initiatives.
• Assist with special research projects by compiling, cleaning, and analyzing large datasets, including using emerging technologies, preparing summaries of findings, and developing materials for reports, presentations, publications, and advocacy campaigns.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive Regulatory Tracker to facilitate organization-wide monitoring of rulemaking activities, comment periods, and implementation timelines.
• Coordinate with Program colleagues to identify opportunities for regulatory advocacy.
• Assist in drafting and submitting regulatory comments, petitions for rulemaking, requests for reconsideration, and other administrative advocacy documents.
• Stay informed on emerging and relevant regulatory trends and issues in animal welfare and recommend strategies that advance ALDF’s mission and strategic goals.

Please note, this job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties and responsibilities of the position, which are subject to change in order to best advance ALDF’s strategic objectives and mission.