Government Relations Executive

Join Cartwheel to help tackle the student mental health crisis. 

Kids spend most of their days in the classroom. And teachers and staff, who play a vital role in their development, are often the first to notice when something is off. But with 1 in 5 young people struggling with mental health, schools are getting crushed by a downward spiral in student crises and staff burnout.

With large increases in state and federal funding for healthcare innovation, schools are reimagining what mental health support can look like for their students, staff, and families. 

Cartwheel is an early-stage startup building technology-enabled mental health services that put schools at the center. We see our role as supporting both families and the on-campus school staff who see kids every day. This means:

• Earlier intervention
• Higher student and family engagement in care
• Better coordination among the trusted adults in a student’s life 

Kids shouldn't just aspire to get out of bed and drag themselves to class. They should be able to experience joy. They deserve to envision and build a life they’re excited to live. If you join Cartwheel, you’ll help make this vision a reality for millions of students across the country. We’re backed by top investors including Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, Reach Capital, and A Street Ventures, and we're looking for mission-driven teammates to join our team.

LOCATION: Remote with ability to travel 2x a month including weekly during peak seasons (e.g., legislative session). Preference for South, Great Plains, or Mountain West homebase.

START DATE: January 2026

ABOUT THE ROLE

In 3 years, Cartwheel has grown to serve more than 325 school districts in 16 states, making us the nation’s largest mental health provider that collaborates with schools. As state and federal leaders invest billions of dollars in youth mental health, we are supplementing our district-level sales motion with statewide partnerships with Governor’s offices, education departments, and health agencies. As a Government Relations Executive, you’ll own a portfolio of 5-10 states and manage new sales, expansions, and renewals of government business in those states, helping Cartwheel serve hundreds of thousands more students and families.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

Own the strategy and execution for 5-10 states

• Develop and execute winning strategies for each state in your portfolio, including annual goals, stakeholder maps, state-specific messaging, milestones, and critical path
• Execute on two primary strategies: (1) Securing state funding that schools can use to procure Cartwheel, and (2) Securing direct statewide contracts that make Cartwheel the sole vendor available to districts at no cost
• Example of #1 is Georgia HB68 school mental health grant funding that gives $20,000 to each middle and high school to contract for mental health services
• Example of #2 is our partnership in Arizona with the AZ Department of Education to serve all rural school districts and charter schools
• Track funding and legislative opportunities, RFPs, and policy discussions to ensure Cartwheel is a step ahead of important developments in your territory

Build and steward relationships with state leaders

• Cultivate trust-based relationships with governors' offices, legislators, education and health agencies, and key statewide organizations (e.g., superintendents associations)
• Tailor messaging to each state's context and priorities, continuously refining based on feedback from the field
• Manage external lobbyists in your states, ensuring clear objectives, messaging, action plans, and accountability
• Proactively communicate with state stakeholders on Cartwheel’s impact and learnings from peer states to highlight our value propositions and ability to advance their top goals

Drive operational rigor and collaboration

• Ensure Cartwheel is the most organized, thoughtful, and strategic partner your state contacts have ever worked with
• Maintain detailed pipeline tracking, stakeholder mapping, and opportunity management
• Report regularly to the Head of Government Relations on state pipeline, contract status, and forecasted revenue
• Share learnings with teammates to continuously improve our shared GR approach
• Collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Success teams to ensure Cartwheel delivers the impact required to renew and expand contracts year-over-year

WHO YOU ARE

• 7+ years in government relations, government sales, or policy roles in healthcare or education, with a track record securing state-level contracts worth $1-3M+ annually
• Exceptional relationship-building skills with diverse stakeholders including elected officials, agency administrators, and advocacy organizations
• Clear, concise written and verbal communicator
• Ability to manage a complex, multi-state portfolio with long sales cycles (12-24+ months)
• Track record managing external lobbyists, including directing strategy, ensuring rigorous execution, and measuring performance
• Proficiency with pipeline management tools (Salesforce) and Excel/PowerPoint
• Enthusiasm for helping build a new function from the ground up in a startup environment
• Passionate about our mission to support student mental health

WHY YOU’LL LOVE CARTWHEEL

Our hope is that Cartwheel will be your best career decision! In addition to tackling one of the biggest challenges of our time, at a company well-positioned to do so, you’ll have: 

• Mission-oriented and inclusive colleagues who will go to bat for you
• Competitive compensation and benefits
• Meaningful equity ownership stake in Cartwheel
• Generous PPO medical, vision, and dental coverage
• Unlimited/flexible PTO plus federal holidays
• Paid parental leave
• 401K with employer match