Policy Communications Consultant

Milltown Partners; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A global advisory firm is seeking a policy communications advisor to lead strategy, manage client relations, and develop communications plans. The ideal candidate brings over 4 years of experience, especially working with technology clients, and a strong command of English. This role offers a competitive salary, hybrid working option, and opportunities for professional growth.

Benefits

26 days annual leave

Private healthcare insurance

Professional development opportunities

Discretionary bonuses

Qualifications

• At least 4 years of advisory experience in policy communications, ideally with technology clients.
• Ability to craft communications strategies for policy issues.
• Experience in communicating complex topics to non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute policy communications strategies.
• Create integrated communications plans aligning with client goals.
• Manage and coach junior team members.

Skills

Strategic communications

Advisory experience

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Team management

Written and verbal English

Creative campaign development

Job description

Overview

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 looking for a policy communications advisor who brings at least 4 years’ of experience working at the intersection of policy and communications for technology companies, 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 expand and innovate in the policy communications offer we can provide to our clients. 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.

A successful candidate in this role will have the ambition, expertise and network that enables them to provide specialist policy communications advice to our technology client base across the UK and European landscape.

Responsibilities of the Consultant Role

• Policy communications strategy: crafting and executing communications strategies that shape understanding of policy issues
• Working with client team leads to set the strategy and priorities for client work
• Creating integrated policy communications plans to guide the execution of the agreed strategy
• Translating technical and policy concepts into compelling narratives that resonate with different stakeholders (e.g. media, policymakers, regulators, general public)
• Drawing on deep knowledge of channels and audiences to identify how best to position clients and tell their story
• Designing and interrogating client asks and designing briefs that ensure all advice is underpinned by insights
• Tailoring the style and content of advice to meet the needs and expectations of individual clients
• Confidently and transparently discussing AI-enhanced work with clients and explaining value-add
• Going above and beyond the brief to suggest the most creative 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 communications moments for clients (e.g. media briefings, speeches, owned channels and events)
• 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
• Using research and AI tools (including Factiva, Meltwater, Claude and Gemini) to conduct insight generation, support complex deliverables and enable innovation
• Drawing on a deep knowledge of audiences and channels to identify how best to position clients and achieve their communications goals
• 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
• Experimenting with, and implementing AI-powered workflows that improve team efficiency and can be shared more widely
• 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 4 years of advisory experience in policy communications with a focus on technology clients - ideally in consultancy, Government or a technology company
• Demonstrable ability to take a strategic approach to assessing communications challenges and opportunities, including an understanding of how communications can support and advance policy objectives
• Experience communicating complex topics to non-technical audiences
• 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 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 and has a desire to seek out feedback in order to learn and develop
• Commitment to contributing to a supportive and inclusive culture

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience working on integrated creative campaigns designed to change perceptions or achieve specific policy outcomes
• Experience advising organisations working at the frontier of technology

What we offer in return

• Competitive and fair base salary determined through annual industry benchmarking. Salary bands are transparent internally and backed by a robust compensation philosophy.
• Discretionary twice-yearly bonuses. We want everyone at Milltown to share in our collective success and feel ownership of our growth.
• Professional development opportunities. You will partner with your Development Coach and have access to our programme of internal training, alongside external events and subscriptions to a broad range of content and media.
• iPhone and Apple MacBook
• 26 days annual leave, plus English Public Holidays and Christmas closure, which is in addition to your personal allowance
• 4% employer pension contribution
• Private healthcare insurance with Bupa for yourself and children
• Enhanced paid time off for new parents (for all parents and all routes to welcoming a child)
• 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 communications and public policy 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, equitable 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