Associate Director (Head of Growth)

We are looking for an outstanding commercially focussed candidate to join College Green Group as our new Associate Director (Head of Growth). This is a senior role for an experienced public affairs professional who can help the consultancy grow by winning new business, developing client relationships and identifying new commercial opportunities across public affairs and wider strategic communications.

The ideal candidate will be:

• A senior public affairs professional with 8+ years’ experience in consultancy, politics, business or a relevant strategic communications environment
• A commercially savvy operator with a proven record of winning new business and growing client accounts
• Experienced at selling public affairs, corporate communications or strategic consultancy services
• Well connected, with an existing network of business leaders, investors, founders, corporate affairs directors, trade bodies, political stakeholders, advisers and potential referrers of work
• Confident in selling substantial value retainers, projects, C‑suite advice and political engagement programmes
• Highly credible with senior clients and able to provide strategic advice on political, regulatory and reputational issues
• Experienced at writing pitches, proposals, credentials documents and responses to RfPs
• A strong communicator who can turn political insight into compelling commercial propositions
• Entrepreneurial, energetic and comfortable working in a small firm where ideas need to be executed, not just discussed
• Strongly analytical, with financial acumen and proven ability to manage to targets and budgets
• AI‑literate with practical experience leveraging tools to streamline workflows, automate routine tasks and enhance productivity
• A team player with previous line management experience, who can work closely with directors, account teams, partners and external advisers to generate growth

Primary duties and capabilities:

• Building and managing a clear new business UK public affairs pipeline
• Identifying, approaching and converting prospective clients across sectors affected by politics, regulation, legislation, public policy and reputational risk
• Creating and delivering a robust annual growth plan, with measurable revenue targets and clear monthly activity
• Creating strong sales materials, proposals, presentations and pitch documents
• Responding to RfPs and helping the firm compete effectively for larger briefs
• Networking with a view to building the College Green Group brand, reputation and relational reach
• Supporting the delivery of integrated public affairs and communications campaigns where senior commercial or strategic input is required
• Delivering results against sales targets
• Helping recruit, train and line manage colleagues
• Any other duties as reasonably required by a member of the Senior Management Team

Core knowledge:

• Excellent understanding of UK politics, Parliament, Whitehall, government departments, regulators and the wider public affairs landscape
• Strong understanding of how political and regulatory risk affects businesses, founders, investors, charities, trade bodies and campaign organisations
• Strong commercial operator with demonstrable experience of selling consultancy services
• Strong working knowledge of public affairs strategy, parliamentary engagement and reputation management
• Understanding of how public affairs, media, digital and corporate communications can work together to deliver client objectives
• Experience of working in a consultancy environment is essential
• Strong working knowledge of Google Docs and other systems and platforms used by CGG

Primary characteristics and behaviours:

• A high level of commercial awareness and personal accountability
• A proven ability to originate revenue‑generative ideas and turn them into client work
• Strong evidence of proactivity, including self‑generated leads, direct outreach, networking and proposal creation
• A willingness to pick up the phone, follow up opportunities and take responsibility for momentum
• Excellent attention to detail and strong written judgement
• Confidence in senior client conversations and commercial negotiations
• A practical, entrepreneurial mindset suited to a small and growing consultancy
• High standards of professionalism, discretion and integrity
• A collaborative approach and a desire to help colleagues succeed
• Enthusiasm to learn, develop and build new areas of expertise
• Commitment to College Green Group’s values and to being innovative, inspirational and informative
• Willingness to go beyond contracted hours in relevant situations
• Competitive salary with the potential for performance‑related reward
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to 30 days
• Working from abroad policy
• Unpaid leave policy
• Additional personal development budget of £1,000 for ad hoc independent learning unrelated to the requirements of the role
• Cycle to work scheme
• Health insurance
• Enhanced employer pension contributions, matched up to 7%
• Employee referral bonus
• Regular team socials including team trip away
• Sponsorships for applicants not from the UK
• CIPR membership
• Central London location with cooking facilities
• Showering facilities and off‑street bike storage

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