Tech Policy Consultant

Milltown Partners is a global advisory firm working with influential organisations and individuals on the public policy and communications challenges that define their reputations. We work with some of the most exciting technology businesses in the world, and pride ourselves on giving valuable commercial advice to our clients.

We are looking for someone who has at least 3 years of advisory experience, a passion and knowledge of tech policy and the politics behind it, and is looking for their next exciting opportunity.

The Consultant Role

Consultants are the driving force behind our work. They are trusted advisors who are able to shift the reputation of our clients, in line with agreed strategy and priorities. They apply their knowledge and insights to commercial challenges, and will help Milltown Partners continue to innovate in the space of tech policy and digital regulation. They drive work across the whole team in a way that makes the most of everyone’s skills and experience, supporting more junior colleagues to develop and deputising for Directors and Partners when required.

What the role involves

• Public affairs strategy: drawing on deep knowledge of channels and audiences to identify how best to position clients and tell their story to policymakers.
• Working with client team leads to set the strategy and priorities for client work.
• Creating integrated public affairs plans to guide the execution of the agreed strategy.
• Applying an understanding of how to deliver client objectives using strategies and tactics to reach policymakers and stakeholders.
• Designing and interrogating client asks and designing research briefs to ensure that all advice is underpinned by insights.
• Tailoring the style and content of advice to meet the needs and expectations of individual clients.
• Going above and beyond the brief to suggest the most effective solutions.
• Advising: earning the trust of a variety of clients and providing recommendations that are understood and accepted.
• Advising in a variety of formats (written or verbal) and choosing the most effective format for the client, at the right time.
• Producing compelling written content and driving the execution of significant public affairs moments for clients (e.g. major announcements, executive visits, select committee hearings, ministerial visits and more).
• Reading a wide breadth of materials, from government consultations to research papers and broader news to understand the issues clients are facing in order to inform our advice.
• Contributing to development of advocacy; advising clients on the policy and politics behind key issues for our tech clients including artificial intelligence, competition, data protection, online safety, and more.
• People Management: supporting the wellbeing of the team and encouraging everyone to perform, learn and develop.
• Developing project plans for client teams and ensuring work is delivered in a timely and high quality manner.
• Managing the work of junior colleagues, and supporting their professional development through coaching and mentoring.
• Encouraging continuous learning and development, including the delegation of tasks and the provision of constructive feedback.
• Contributing to the business: applying knowledge of how the firm and clients generate revenue to improve the quality of our advice and analysis.
• Applying knowledge of the commercial context in which clients operate to ensure our advice furthers their business objectives.
• Understanding how Milltown operates as a business (e.g. team profitability) and beginning to contribute to internal projects.
• Demonstrating restlessness about spotting growth and development opportunities for the business (e.g. finding new ways to help clients, ways to run teams efficiently or share knowledge internally).
• Using personal interests and/or former experience to contribute to the continued growth of the business, both potential new business opportunities and development opportunities for the team.
• Contributing to a collaborative and inclusive work environment.
• Giving and receiving regular feedback to individuals at all levels in the firm.
• Actively seeking input or assistance from others and reflecting their contributions in the work.
• Demonstrating allyship to all colleagues.
• Supporting the wellbeing of everyone on the team.

Must-have skills and experience

• Excellent command of written and verbal English language.
• At least 3 years of advisory experience with a focus on public affairs - ideally in consultancy, Parliament, Government, a regulator, a think tank or a policy team at a technology company.
• Demonstrable ability to take a strategic approach to assessing public affairs and / or corporate reputation challenges and opportunities.
• Understanding of different audiences and channels that make up the political and policy landscape.
• Experience building advisory relationships with different stakeholders in order to deliver strategic counsel and insight.
• Experience developing public affairs strategies and interacting with stakeholders, from officials to parliamentary researchers, and MPs to regulators.
• Experience of project management, including planning and delivering work against agreed goals, timetable and budget.
• Experience managing a team and pushing work to the appropriate level.
• Intellectual curiosity to develop subject matter expertise in new topics, and share that with colleagues.
• A highly motivated team member who values collaboration.
• A desire to seek out feedback in order to learn and develop.
• Commitment to contributing to a supportive and inclusive culture.

Desirable skills and experiences

• Experience in relevant fields including technology, UK institutions, think tanks and politics.
• Experience advising technology companies, or creating the rules that affect them.

What we offer in return

• Competitive and fair base salary determined through annual industry benchmarking.
• Discretionary twice-yearly bonuses.
• Professional development opportunities, with access to both expert professional coach and internal training.
• iPhone 13 and Apple MacBook Air M2 chip.
• 26 days annual leave, plus English Bank Holidays.
• 4% employer pension contribution.
• Private healthcare insurance with Aviva for yourself and children.
• An Employee Assistance Programme with 24/7 access to online, phone or face-to-face counselling.
• Annual eye test and annual flu jab.
• ClassPass membership.
• Income Protection insurance.
• Death in Service insurance.
• 3-day week in the office hybrid policy (Monday, Tuesday & Thursdays mandatory).
• Variety of team events, such as charity socials, external speakers and firm celebrations.

ABOUT US

Milltown Partners is a global advisory firm working with influential organisations and individuals on the public policy and communications challenges that define their reputations. We are an Employee Ownership Trust which means that we’re fully independent and will remain so; the people who work here own the company and share in its success. We will continue to do what we’ve always done: take the long view, build a business aligned to our values, invest in our people and their development, and innovate to improve the quality of our advice by combining our deep sector-specific knowledge and research-driven approach.

Our clients are leaders in their field: groundbreaking technology companies and their founders; global businesses and their CEOs; prominent individuals and renowned institutions. We work with them to understand and manage their political, regulatory and policy challenges and opportunities. Technology and innovation are at the heart of our business and problem-solving approach, and we root our strategies in data insights and research on the audiences that matter, messages that work, and communications channels that deliver.

DIVERSITY, EQUALITY & INCLUSION AT MILLTOWN

Creating a diverse, equitably and inclusive environment is core to our values, culture and success as an employee owned business. We want to empower everyone in the team to share their best thinking and ideas, feel valued and know they are having an impact and belong in the business, regardless of their background, age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability. We have an ambitious DEI programme managed by a global leadership team of volunteers with three global company commitments to: improve representation of minority groups, enhance everyone's sense of inclusion and support underrepresented communities through pro bono work. Underpinning these commitments is a focus on what it means to have a DEI culture and how to measure that in our approach to growth, attracting talent and the impact of our work for clients.