Government & Community Relations Manager

Government & Community Relations Manager

Denver, CO and surrounding communities. Remote role. This is a Colorado-based, individual contributor role with coverage across the Western U.S., with travel required to project sites and jurisdictions in Colorado, Montana, Utah, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest.

As part of our hiring process, Frontline Wildfire Defense conducts comprehensive background checks for all new hires. These checks typically cover the past 710 years and may include employment and education verification. For roles that require work in the field, driving record verification is also required. Employment offers are contingent upon the successful completion of these background checks.

Founded in 2017 by landscape ecologist and fire mitigation expert Harry Statter, Frontline developed the first fully integrated wildfire defense system to stop the leading cause of home loss in wildfires: ember-driven ignition. The system combines exterior sprinklers, full-coverage design, and connected software for remote monitoring and response, allowing homes to protect themselves long after families evacuate or infrastructure fails.

Proven effective during the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, 96% of homes with Frontline systems survived. That success has earned top industry recognition, including Frontline being recognized as one of TIME's Best Inventions 2025 in the Green Tech category and receiving the PCBC Gold Nugget Award for "Most Innovative Housing Concept" and the Best of IBS Award for "Best Home Technology."

As wildfires grow hotter and more frequent, our vision is to give people the tools and strategies to live safely with fire. We're building a mission-driven team creating real-world solutions in wildfire safety and climate tech.

Colorado presents some of the most complex regulatory terrain Frontline operates in - particularly around water rights, water system approvals, and local code compliance. As Government & Community Relations Manager, you will be Frontline's primary relationship owner across Colorado's building departments, fire authorities, water districts, municipalities, code officials, utilities, planning departments, state agencies, and other regulatory stakeholders, ensuring projects move forward smoothly in a state where these conversations are difficult. At its core, this is a government and public affairs role: you will help Frontline navigate permitting, policy, code adoption, and public-private partnerships across the state - and, as Frontline expands across the Western U.S..

This is a high-autonomy, individual contributor role reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer. You will bring relationships you've already built over years of working alongside Colorado jurisdictions, and you'll use them to unlock projects, resolve friction points, and establish Frontline as a trusted, known entity across the state's regulatory landscape. While your Colorado relationships are the anchor of this role, you will flex that same playbook into Montana, Utah, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest as Frontline grows. You are the person who walks into a difficult conversation with a code official or water department representative and walks out with a path forward. You will engage as a peer with the leaders of the agencies Frontline works with - fire departments, water utilities, and planning offices - bringing a credible, "this worked for us" perspective grounded in your own experience leading such a department.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as Frontline's primary point of contact with Colorado building departments, fire authorities, and water agencies as well as municipalities, utilities, planning departments, emergency management, and state agencies, with expanding coverage jurisdictions across the Western U.S.
• Leverage existing relationships with code officials and agency staff to navigate Colorado's water rights and code compliance requirements
• Proactively engage jurisdictions ahead of project activity to understand requirements, anticipate friction points, and smooth the path for future approvals
• Represent Frontline at relevant municipal, county, and water district meetings across Colorado and, as needed, in other Western states
• Connect with known local and state fire departments to educate on and advocate for Frontline's methodology and technology
• Advocate for Frontline with federal, state, and local policymakers, including efforts to advance adoption of exterior sprinkler code and support academic and research partnerships
• Monitor and engage in emerging local codes, policies, and regulatory discussions that could affect exterior wildfire prevention systems
• Educate policymakers and agency stakeholders on Frontline's technology, water use, and role within a layered wildfire defense strategy
• Help Frontline navigate permitting, policy, code adoption, and public-private partnership opportunities across Colorado and Western U.S. jurisdictions
• Step in when a project hits a regulatory or jurisdictional roadblock, and work directly with officials to resolve it
• Translate Frontline's system design and water usage approach into terms that satisfy local code and water agency requirements
• Identify patterns across jurisdictions and proactively flag systemic risks or opportunities to leadership
• Build and maintain Frontline's reputation as a credible, easy-to-work-with partner across Colorado's regulatory community
• Expand Frontline's network of contacts within building, fire, and water departments as the company's footprint in Colorado and the broader Western U.S.
• Travel to project sites and jurisdictions across Colorado and the Western U.S. as needed to maintain in-person relationships and resolve on-the-ground issues
• Identify pilot and market opportunities for community protection, such as with fire departments, water utilities, HOAs, municipalities, insurers, developers, and research organizations
• Partner with Solutions Engineering, Design, and Installation teams to ensure projects are structured to meet state and jurisdiction specific regulatory requirements from the outset
• Provide regular updates to the COO on regulatory risk, jurisdictional relationships, and project status across Colorado and other active Western markets
• Document jurisdiction-specific requirements and relationship context to build institutional knowledge as Frontline scales in the state
• Advise the Company on product enhancements, product marketing and positioning, and potential data sources to add into the product
• Surface revenue opportunities, networking opportunities, and general market awareness gathered through jurisdictional and industry relationships

Qualifications

Must-Have:

• Former head of a fire department, water utility, or planning office (e.g., a Fire Chief, water utility director, or planning director) - this role engages agency leadership as a peer, and that standing comes from having led a comparable department yourself
• 810+ years of experience navigating Colorado building, fire, or water regulatory environments - gained through construction, government affairs, utility relations, or a closely related field
• Existing, active relationships with Colorado building departments, fire authorities, or water agencies - this is foundational to the role, not something to be built from scratch
• Deep familiarity with Colorado water rights, water system approval processes, and code compliance requirements
• Demonstrated ability to navigate difficult, high-friction regulatory conversations and reach workable outcomes
• Comfortable operating as a solo function builder - this is an individual contributor role with full ownership of the relationship and regulatory strategy
• Excellent verbal communication and relationship-building skills - credibility with officials is the core asset of this role
• Willingness to travel to project sites and jurisdictions across Colorado and the Western U.S. (Montana, Utah, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest) as needed

Nice-to-Have:

• Fire service leadership background strongly preferred - one of the ideal profiles is a former Fire Chief with a long working history alongside their water utility and planning district
• Background in construction, fire protection systems, or water infrastructure
• Experience with multi-jurisdictional projects spanning multiple Colorado counties or municipalities
• Familiarity with wildfire mitigation, defensible space, or related resilience programs in Colorado
• Existing relationships beyond Colorado in Montana, Utah, Arizona, or the Pacific Northwest, where this role will flex as Frontline's footprint expands
• Existing relationships with HOAs or water utilities focused on community-level wildfire protection

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive base salary: $120,000 - $160,000 annually
• Company-provided cell phone and laptop
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Flexible time off + 14 paid holidays (yes, your birthday is one of them!)
• Work-from-home stipend to support your remote setup
• Remote-first