Director (Policy & Public Affairs)

Founders Comms works with the most ambitious founders, startups, scaleups and venture investors to help them tell their story clearly, build trust and navigate a fast moving external environment. We combine senior level strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery, helping high growth companies communicate with conviction and engage effectively with the audiences that matter. Our aim is to give clients earlier access to senior expertise across communications, external affairs and strategy, helping them anticipate what is coming next, engage effectively and scale with confidence. In today’s landscape, strong communication and thoughtful external engagement shape reputation, influence key conversations and create real momentum for businesses looking to grow.

We bring deep experience in early stage and high growth companies, and work closely with founders to respond with clarity and confidence. We are building a team of experienced operators and advisors who enjoy both the thinking and the doing, and who want to help build a new kind of communications partner for high growth companies.

The role involves defining, building and leading the Policy & Public Affairs capability within Founders Comms. Sitting on the leadership team, this role combines senior client advisory work with commercial ownership and team development. Responsibilities include:

• Leading senior‑level public affairs and policy advice for clients, acting as a trusted advisor to founders and leadership teams.
• Developing and overseeing strategic public affairs and policy programmes that support clients’ commercial objectives and scaling ambitions.
• Ensuring high‑quality execution across all client work, with clear priorities, accountability and measurable progress.
• Advising on broader corporate communications and reputation strategy where political and regulatory insight strengthens our work.
• Representing clients credibly with government, parliamentarians, regulators, industry bodies and wider stakeholders.
• Owning and developing Founders Comms’ policy and public affairs proposition, shaping how we take it to market and how it evolves as the business grows.
• Identifying and pursuing new business opportunities, working with the leadership team to convert relationships, networks and inbound interest into long‑term client engagements.
• Contributing to pitches, proposals and commercial discussions, helping define scope, pricing and delivery models.
• Building strong relationships across the startup, scaleup and investor ecosystem, positioning Founders Comms as a go‑to partner on public affairs and policy.

Team building & leadership involves:

• Building, leading and mentoring a growing policy and public affairs team, creating clear standards for quality, delivery and professional development.
• Supporting recruitment as the practice grows, helping shape the future structure and capabilities of the team.
• Fostering a collaborative, high‑trust culture that values both strategic thinking and hands‑on delivery.
• Acting as a role model for Founders Comms’ values, ways of working and commitment to balanced, sustainable careers.

The candidate will:

• Bring significant public affairs and policy experience, ideally gained across high growth environments, government or consultancy.
• Have a strong track record of advising senior stakeholders and navigating complex political, regulatory or reputational challenges.
• Demonstrate commercial acumen, with experience of contributing to business development, client growth and proposition building.
• Show excellent political judgement and the ability to translate complex policy issues into clear, practical advice for founders.
• Write and communicate to a high standard, with clarity, authority and pace.
• Be well connected within the startup, scaleup and tech ecosystem, with a strong understanding of the pressures facing growing companies.
• Combine strategic thinking with a willingness to roll up sleeves and deliver.
• Be motivated by the opportunity to help build and shape a young, growing advisory firm.

Performance related bonus, employer pension, 25 days annual leave, private medical insurance, health cashback plan, life insurance.

If you’re passionate about startups, scaleups, strategic communications and policy, and want to be part of a dynamic, growing agency, we’d love to hear from you. To apply, please share a short cover email and your CV with us at hello@founderscomms.co.

Why work with us? We offer the best of both worlds: a young, ambitious agency that’s growing quickly, coupled with the backing of Founders Forum Group, one of the world’s most connected tech ecosystems. We love working with founders. We get genuinely excited about understanding their vision and helping them communicate it in a clear, persuasive and powerful way. We’re committed to producing high quality, commercially aligned work for some of the most interesting and high potential startups and scaleups in the UK and beyond. We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, trusted and able to balance the different parts of their lives. We’re building a culture that reflects that - grounded, flexible and human - and you’ll help shape it from the start. Our office is based within Founders Forum Group’s space at the Strand, working side by side with teams like Founders HR, Founders Keepers, Founders Law and Founders Makers. We like being together in the office around three days a week, and we value flexibility. Work life balance is something we actively role model as co‑founders.