Allen first joined the Oakland Raiders organization in 1995. He won the George Young Executive of the Year award with the club during their AFC Championship year in 2002.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Following the 2003 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers released long-time general manager Rich McKay, whose relationship with Super Bowl XXXVII winning coach Jon Gruden had deteriorated. The Glazer family, which owned and oversaw the Buccaneers, hired Allen to replace McKay, as Allen had previously worked with Gruden in Oakland. Allen immediately began looking for a more youthful team. This included releasing long-time Buccaneer John Lynch and allowing Warren Sapp to leave for free agency, along with drafting Auburnrunning backCadillac Williams in the 2005 NFL Draft. The Buccaneers performance during Allen's tenure was mixed. His first year there, the team went 5-11. The next year however, they were 11-5 and won the NFC South division in 2005, but went 4-12 in 2006. The team rebounded to a 9-7 record and another NFC South title in 2007, after which Allen had their contracts extended to 2011. Following a second 9-7 record in 2008 and missing the playoffs after four consecutive losses in December, however, both Allen and Gruden were released.
Washington Redskins
On December 17, 2009, the Washington Redskins announced that they had hired Allen as their general manager shortly after executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato resigned. Allen's father coached the Redskins to its first Super Bowl appearance in 1972. Shortly after Allen joined the Redskins, Jim Zorn and his staff were fired, allowing Mike Shanahan to be hired as head coach and executive vice president of football operations. While Shanahan had the final say in football decisions, he and Allen split the duties of general manager, working in an arrangement similar to how Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli operated with the New England Patriots at the time. For the 2010 uncapped season, the League had advised all teams to not explicitly use it as a method to create cap room in the future when the salary cap would return. Allen and the team failed to heed the warnings of the league and did so anyway. As a result, Washington suffered a $36 million salary cap penalty split between the 2012 and 2013 seasons. After Shanahan was fired following the 2013 season, Allen took over his role and assumed final say on football operations. The search for the next head coach included interviews with Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, Carolina Panthersdefensive coordinatorSean McDermott, and Dallas Cowboysspecial teams coordinatorRich Bisaccia, along with planned interviews with various others. On January 9, 2014, Allen's head coaching search ended when Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden was hired as the new head coach. While general manager, Allen attempted to bridge the connection between the modern Redskins and the glory years of past, include hosting golf tournaments with former players and coaches, to bringing back the gold pants that his father's team had used during the 1970s. On May 26, 2014, Allen was officially given the co-title of President. Allen abdicated his title of general manager after the Redskins hired Scot McCloughan to be their new one on January 7, 2015, later becoming the de facto general manager again upon the firing of McCloughan after the 2016 season. Allen's tenure with the team was met with heavy criticism and disapproval, with a popular "FireBruceAllen" hashtag campaign being used on social media throughout the latter half of the 2010s, before he was fired following a 3–13 season in 2019. The team had only made two postseason appearances under Allen, winning nether of them.
