Senior Associate Director/director, Public Affairs

APCO’s London office is hiring a Senior Associate Director/Director to join our fast-growing public affairs team. We are looking for an ambitious, enthusiastic and talented professional to join our team based on The Strand just a few minutes’ walk from Parliament.

You will be self-directed, proactive and motivated to win for your clients every day. You will have experience leading teams and managing work streams while also serving as senior counsel on major projects. You will have a desire to learn and grow - both across industries/sectors and communication mediums, such as traditional media, social/digital media, issues advocacyand stakeholder communications. You know how to work with clients and have a positive, proactive attitude that wins the confidence of clients and inspires teams.

2025 promises to be a hugely exciting year in the political calendar. By joining our team, you will be working with colleagues across APCO’s international network of 32 offices who are open, collaborative, collegiate, supportive and diverse.

**Responsibilities**:

- Lead a wide range of public affairs and issue campaigns for our clients.
- Manage and grow client relationships including overseeing client projects, supervising project teams, allocating resources, and delegating and reviewing work effectively.
- Provide the highest level of client service on a daily basis through proactive account management, serving as the key client contact while also managing staff (both senior and junior) to successfully maintain and grow client relationships.
- Design and implement integrated public affairs campaigns to position client issues, messages and priorities with key audiences that may include politicians (national, regional and local), civil servants, media, trade associations, consumers and other key stakeholders for our clients.
- Lead strategy development and craft effective messages for both prospective clients (as a key part of the new business process) and for existing clients.
- Monitor developments in key client issue areas and flag opportunities for further client engagement.
- Identify and lead new business opportunities for APCO.

**Qualifications**:

- At least 8 years of UK public affairs and strategic communications campaign experience including leading successful teams.
- Exceptional presentation, writing and analytical skills, and the ability to write both strategically and creatively under tight deadlines.
- Solid project management experience, including overseeing a team and multiple deliverables, providing clear and concise feedback to maintain high standards.
- Demonstrated success formulating and leading strategic engagements with external stakeholders.Have strong enthusiasm for UK politics and a deep understanding of Westminster & Whitehall, how connections are built, and policy forged.

**We are recognised as one of the best agencies to work for in our industry, providing**:

- The opportunity to work on a diverse range of clients and projects with some of the industry’s best and brightest.
- A collegial and collaborative working environment, where you will work closely with colleagues from around the world.
- Significant opportunities to develop professionally, with extensive training and personal development programmes.
- A competitive compensation and benefits package, including private medical insurance and mental health support.
- An enhanced Parental leave policy for all our employees from day one
- A paid opportunity each year to contribute to your community as part of our APCO Gives Back scheme.
- Annual health, wellbeing and fitness allowance.Industry-leading global exchange program.

**About APCO in London**

APCO London has over 140 staff working across more than 100 clients and sits at the centre of the agency’s global operations. Thanks to a diverse and multilingual team, APCO London leads on many of the agency’s most dynamic global assignments. With a growing client base in the most pressing issues facing the world today such as the transition to Net Zero and access to healthcare, APCO has been a fixture of the UK communication’s market since 1996 and continues to be at the forefront of the seismic changes facing economies and societies today.

We are a truly integrated agency, with deep expertise and experience across the full range of communication offerings including corporate communications, public affairs, digital strategy and paid media, as well as capital markets thanks to our recent acquisition of Camarco.