Who we are...

AvantStay delivers exceptional, unique stays for group travelers. The company has built a tech-enabled millennial hospitality brand to be the new standard for group experience. We are venture funded and growing rapidly in the explosive $100+ billion dollar STR industry.

A Director of Policy who will lead AvantStay’s regulatory, legislative and public policy strategies and agenda - ensuring that our path to growth and ongoing operations are compliant, insulated against regulatory risk, and maximize our ability to drive revenue. Our Director will be passionate about hospitality, short-term rentals and land use; have significant experience working with and/ or in a public policy or government relations role in industry, or in government, politics or advocacy groups and be a creative and highly effective strategist. With keen business acumen, this Director will boldly take on issues and challenges and be agile enough to thrive in a dynamic environment, applying their expertise to stay ahead of the curve of a consistently evolving landscape and always thinking creatively about solutions to best grow the company whilst insulating it against risk.

What You'll Do

• Lead the policy, compliance, and permitting function at AvantStay - inspiring the team to be engaged, high-performing and growth-focused.
• Keep abreast of regulatory developments in key markets nationally and internationally, interpreting them into actionable policies, processes, and procedures that mitigate against regulatory risk.
• Work with leadership to develop and execute the company's market expansion strategy, conducting analysis to assess the opportunities presented by differing approaches to short-term rental regulation across jurisdictions, as well as different zoning, permitting, and licensing requirements.
• Support the development and execution of AvantStay’s various growth strategies, including international market entry strategy, ground-up developments, and hotels. 
• Monitor, interpret, and influence short-term rental and transient occupancy use regulations across markets - using this information to provide advice and make clear, actionable recommendations for every arm of the business.
• Develop and own a localized stakeholder engagement strategy and partnership programs that insulate the business against regulatory risk, acting as the key liaison between government, owners, stakeholder groups and the business.
• Establish new and maintain existing relationships with an extensive network of contacts in local government, planning departments, regional tourism, commerce departments, land use attorneys, real estate developers, as well as with KOLs, allied groups, and coalitions
• Work with the business to build scalable risk management strategies that mitigate against regulatory risk in every arm of the business. These can include anything from policies, processes, systems, people management, and enforcement.
• Prepare regular compliance reports to present to the executive team - measuring the ongoing success of policy, compliance, and permitting functions.

What You'll Bring

• 5-10+ years of experience working with public policy and compliance. Knowledge of land use, zoning, planning, and/or short-term rental regulation is strongly preferred
• 2 + years in a management role, including experience hiring for and driving performance in a growing team; developing and implementing strategy, getting buy-in from internal and external stakeholders to do so
• Commercial acumen and the ability to quickly get up to speed on complex technical and regulatory issues
• Demonstrated capacity for critical thinking, research, and analysis; strong attention to detail
• Demonstrated and thoughtful business judgment, strategic thinking, and ability to work well under pressure
• Exceptional presentation, analytical, written, and oral communication skills
• Exceptional emotional intelligence, interpersonal and negotiation skills 
• Clear facility with novel and highly abstract ideas; Ability to formulate responses quickly and accurately
• Ability to work independently – but also as part of a team and move in a high paced environment
• A sense of humor and the ability to thrive in a fast-moving and sometimes stressful environment
• Degree or advanced degree level in related field

Perks & Benefits

• Salary: TBD + bonus + equity
• Benefits and Unlimited Paid Time Off
• Team bonding and off-site events
• Complimentary and discount stays at AvantStay properties

When you join AvantStay… You’ll be doing work that matters alongside an experienced and dynamic team, transforming the way people travel and vacation. Your place within the colossal travel and real estate industries will leave you with a wealth of opportunities to feel both challenged to innovate and rewarded for your efforts. Of course, we will offer you pay and benefits, but we’re about more than that. AvantStay is a place where you can craft your own path to greatness. Whether you think in code, words, pictures or numbers, find your future at AvantStay.

Equal Employment Opportunity...We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer- and celebrate our employees' differences, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, and Veteran status. Different makes us better.

AvantStay, Inc. is a proud member of PledgeLA, an organization that believes that Los Angeles will become the most diverse and civically-engaged tech hub in the nation. Our members, tech companies and VC firms or accelerators based in Los Angeles, commit to increasing their level of community engagement and improving diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organization and investments.