Ready to Change Washington?
FTP is where serious advocacy professionals come to grow, collaborate, and make a difference. From day one, you’ll join a bipartisan team that values direct counsel, shared success, and showing up for one another when the stakes are highest.
A career defined by high stakes & big thinking to achieve results.
We are always looking for curious, driven talent to join our team.
Whether your background is in government, communications, digital advocacy, research, or something else entirely, you’ll find opportunities to grow, make an impact, and help clients navigate what’s next.
This isn’t a 9-to-5. It’s a career. FTP is where advocacy gets to work.
Our Values
- 01 We Take Smart Risks
- 02 We Compete to Win
- 03 We Are Relentless Learners
- 04 We Value Unique Strengths
- 05 We Succeed Together
Current Openings
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Position Description:
The Digital Media Buyer is a hands-on execution role on the Digital team, a department within the Public Affairs division at FTP. You will plan, build, traffic, and optimize paid media campaigns across programmatic, paid social, and paid search for the firm’s advocacy and public affairs clients. The work moves fast. Requests often land with same-day turnarounds, and you will own campaigns from setup through pacing, optimization, and reporting. You will operate across both managed-service and self-serve buying platforms, partner closely with Public Affairs account teams to turn client goals into media plans, and work alongside junior analysts on reporting and data pulls during active campaigns. This is a build moment for FTP. As the firm grows its digital practice, you will help shape how paid media is run, measured, and delivered, with real room to show what you can do.
As a Digital Media Buyer, you will:
Plan, build, and traffic paid media campaigns across programmatic display, video, and connected TV, paid social, and paid search, on time and on budget.
Manage day-to-day campaign execution including pacing, bid and budget management, audience targeting, creative trafficking, and mid-flight optimization.
Operate fluently across managed-service and self-serve buying platforms, and bring a point of view on which channels and tactics fit each client’s goals.
Turn Public Affairs account team objectives into concrete media plans, flighting, and budget recommendations.
Build and manage campaign reporting, turning performance data into clear PowerPoint deliverables that account teams and clients can act on.
Hold fast turnaround times without sacrificing accuracy. Same-day launches are routine here, not the exception.
Partner with and help develop junior analysts on reporting, data pulls, and campaign support, so coverage never depends on a single person.
Collaborate with Public Affairs account teams across sectors, from healthcare to technology to defense, to align paid media with broader client strategy.
Manage media and data vendor relationships, and flag where the current stack helps or limits what FTP can deliver.
Track platform changes, ad policy shifts, and emerging formats including creator and influencer, connected TV, and retail media, and bring recommendations back to the team.
Help define how FTP runs paid media as the practice grows, including process, documentation, and operating standards.
Perform other duties as necessary to achieve departmental goals.To be successful, you will need:
Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or equivalent experience
3-5 years of hands-on paid media buying experience, ideally including advocacy, public affairs, political, or issue campaigns
Hands-on experience with programmatic DSPs, paid social ad managers (Meta, LinkedIn, X, TikTok), and paid search platforms
Strong command of audience targeting, pixel and conversion tracking, UTM discipline, and campaign measurement
Comfort building campaign reports and translating performance data into clear PowerPoint deliverables
Fluency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel for budget pacing and reconciliation
Demonstrated ability to effectively and independently manage multiple projects
Effective interpersonal skills
Genuine interest in how paid media drives public policy and advocacy outcomes, not just clicks and impressions
Independent, strategic thinking, and creative problem-solving skills
Demonstrated capacity for teamwork, including the ability to effectively engage supervisors and subordinates under quick, tight deadlines within and across teams
Proven ability to operate with integrity and ethics, and maintain the highest standards of confidentiality
High level of detail and demonstrated work output with little/no errors
Sense of urgency; willingness and ability to meet and exceed established deadlines
Organizational agilityWe prefer that you have:
Experience working with managed-service media partners alongside self-serve programmatic platforms
Experience with connected TV, online video, or creator and influencer campaignsSalary Range: ($110,503-$130,000)
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The FTP Internship Program offers students and recent graduates substantive, practical, and hands-on experience working at the nexus between the public and private sectors. Our program exposes interns to the daily workings of a highly reputable government relations and public affairs firm and affords them the opportunity to work specifically with our Insights, Public Affairs, Research and Policy Analysis, or State Government Relations Teams.
Insights
Interns contribute to the development of media analysis, survey design, and focus groups. Interns should be excited about digging deeper into the nuts and bolts of data generation and analysis. Please click here for the Insights Intern application.Public Affairs (PA)
Interns conduct research, write analyses, draft media content (including social media posts), prepare memos for meetings, and assist principals with client-facing projects. Please click here for the PA Intern application.Research and Policy Analysis (RPA)
Interns conduct legislative and policy analyses, attend and report on congressional hearings and briefings, and draft a broad array of research memoranda on issues including health care, tax, energy, natural resources, financial services, and more. Please click here for the RPA Intern application.State Government Relations
Interns conduct policy research, track client deliverables, analyze state legislation and regulations, track state political and issue dynamics, write analyses, and assist principals with client-facing projects. Interns should have an interest in state government policy and politics across all 50 states. Please click here for the State Intern application.FTP hires paid interns each spring, summer, and fall semesters. Interns are paid $18.40/hour. Interested applicants can send a resume, cover letter, and two professional writing samples to internprogram@forbes-tate.com. Writing samples should be no more than 3 pages in length. Items should be sent as an attachment labeled with your name (ex. John Smith Resume) with the subject line Internship Program – Fall 2026.
Please note that applications are only accepted during the dates listed. Session dates, application availability and deadlines are below:
2026 Internship Sessions
Fall Semester
September 8 – December 18
Applications Accepted:
June 15 – July 17, 2026