Head of Public Affairs in London

Based at the CBI's Cannon Place office, the Head of Public Affairs leads the team responsible for the CBI's political and parliamentary activity in Westminster. This includes responsibility for the CBI's overarching political positioning, building and strengthening relationships amongst a range of political stakeholders and delivering the CBI's Party Conferences Programme, Government Affairs Network and fortnightly Business Insights Bulletin. In performing this role, you will ensure that the CBI is focused and impactful in its strategic communications, campaigning, and influencing activity with political stakeholders.

You will be responsible for building the CBI's network of political contacts across all the political parties and other relevant stakeholders such as External Affairs teams in key Government departments, partisan and cross-party think-tanks and other campaign groups and political influencers.

Reporting to the Chief Policy & Campaigns Director, the Head of Public Affairs will also play a key role as part of the Policy and Campaigns Senior Leadership Team, responsible for steering the Directorate's strategic direction and supporting colleagues' development and progression. You will lead a high performing team with two direct reports. Through their leadership, you will be expected to embed organisational change and generate a team culture and behaviours that reflect and supports the delivery of the CBI's strategy.

The Head of Public Affairs at the CBI is a unique position with strategic and commercial importance, with the opportunity to work closely with the CBI's Executive Committee and the CBI CEO and President. The individual will join the team at an exciting time for the CBI and the UK's business community.

This role is pay band 3, with a starting salary of £65-70k depending on experience.

• First line manager of a team with two direct reports.
• Defining project, task and resources allocation within the team.
• Leading on the planning and delivery of projects as required.
• Staff appraisals, and supporting training requirements and development needs etc.
• Inputting into regular strategy meetings on the CBI's political engagement and external communications.
• Advising senior management team on latest public policy and political issues.
• Supporting the Campaigns Director to deliver the organisations' political campaigns, to maximise the CBI's political impact.
• Supporting and advising policy on their political engagement and influencing tactics.
• Deputising for the Chief Policy & Campaign Director on policy and political matters as appropriate.
• Overseeing the delivery of the senior management team's political engagement programme and preparing high-quality briefings, supporting parliamentary engagement across the organisation, including on select committees and parliamentary bills.
• Building and maintaining your own political relationships across the political spectrum.
• Managing the CBI's political monitoring supplier (Vuelio) and partnership with the Industry and Parliament Trust.
• Planning high-profile programmes at the political party conferences.
• Managing a programme of events – including the Government Affairs Network and GAN+ – which deliver insight to members and targets.
• Successfully drawing on the CBI's member and political insight to support the organisation's commercial objectives and strengthen our political relationships.
• Play a proactive role in generating additional revenue streams from Public Affairs activities including sponsorship for the Government Affairs Network and Party Conference Events.

• A high level of understanding of the purpose of the CBI and its mission.
• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment with multiple competing priorities.
• Knowledge of the business, policy and political landscape in the UK and how it sits in an international context.
• A well developed personal political network to help support the CBI's aims and activities.
• Strong track record of influencing, negotiation and networking skills, including with senior stakeholders, especially in institutions such as government departments.
• An ability to synthesise complex information into concise, impactful messages that are appropriate for the audience in question.
• Understanding of the policy development process and broad knowledge of the CBI's policy priorities.
• Knowledge of a range of modern campaigning & lobbying tools & techniques.
• Experience of developing and executing high-level national political, communication, and campaign strategies.
• Experience of line managing a high-performing team.
• Knowledge of the UK, regional and Devolved parliamentary systems, including parliamentary bills and select committees.
• Experience managing budgets and external suppliers.
• Campaign strategy and management – including developing objectives, planning approaches to delivery, and coordinating projects and messaging.
• Project management – including planning, RACI stakeholder management, implementation (including risk management), closure and evaluation.
• Communication and influencing – including excellent personal communication skills (oral and written) and the ability to plan and coordinate the influencing work of colleagues with key stakeholders.
• Customer focus – including managing relationships with key members and other stakeholders to maintain member satisfaction and the CBI's reputation.
• High personal efficiency/productivity and flexible collaboration and team-working – including ability to work flexibly on multiple projects and tasks in parallel and manage competing (and fluid) priorities and deadlines in a fast-paced, pressured environment.
• Stakeholder management and interpersonal skills – including the ability to manage relationships with external stakeholders to maintain member satisfaction and good government relations.

Seniority level: Mid-Senior level

Employment type: Full-time

Job function: Public Relations and Strategy/Planning

Application: To apply for the role, please send your CV and a short covering letter setting out your suitability for the role to recruit@cbi.org.uk by 10am on Monday 26th January.