Associate Director, Digital Policy

Contract type: Permanent
Hours: Full Time (37.5 hours per week)
Salary: £52,973-£69,273, negotiable based on skills and experience
Location: Whitehall, Greater London (Hybrid)
Line manager: Hannah Perry, Director of Demos Digital
Application deadline: Monday 26th October, 9am

About Demos

Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think tank producing research and policies that have been adopted by successive governments for nearly 30 years. Movements, ideologies and governments have come and gone, yet in this moment of global democratic emergency, Demos’s work could not be more urgent or relevant.

Our overarching mission is to upgrade democracy in the UK and build a system powered by trusting relationships, information and technology, fit for our times. We are designing the practical foundations of a new deal between citizen, state and the institutions that shape daily lives.

Our deep expertise in digital policy and trustworthy technology is a thread that runs across all of these pillars. This role is part of the Demos Digital team that does that work and is responsible for the Resilient Information Ecosystems pillar. To get an idea of our work as a team and the Resilient Information Ecosystems pillar, we recommend reading some of the following papers we’ve published over the last year:

• Our New Deal essay : Resilient Information Ecosystems – Upgrading the information supply chain for democracy
• Fairer Feeds: Public Interest news, prominence rules, and the future of discoverability on platforms
• Our BBC: A blueprint for a more independent and future-proofed BBC

Are you a bold thinker with the political instinct, networks, and expertise to drive real change? Do you have a deep understanding of digital policy, and a track record of shaping government decision‑making? If so, this is your chance to lead a transformative programme of work on digital democracy at one of the UK’s most dynamic and influential think tanks.

As Associate Director responsible for our work on Resilient Information Ecosystems, you will develop policy ideas that challenge the status quo and build influential relationships across politics, government, business, and civil society. You will also play a role in securing funding to scale our impact and line manage up to three more junior members of Demos Digital’s dedicated team, while working within a matrix structure on wider programme development and delivery.

This is not just another policy role. It’s a chance to be at the forefront of building secure and democratically enriching information ecosystems and infrastructure, and shaping policies that affect everyone in the UK. At Demos, you’ll be part of a forward‑thinking, ambitious team that is committed to making democracy work better. You’ll have the platform and support to drive real change, and the encouragement to think big.

One important aspect of your role will be, alongside the second Associate Director, co‑leading our Epistemic Security Network – convening researchers, policymakers and practitioners to solve some of the trickiest challenges across our information ecosystem with a regular newsletter, network meetings and panel event series, leading advocacy campaigns as well as providing policy briefings and novel research.

This new role will be co‑working closely with our existing Associate Director (Information Ecosystems). Whilst your specific responsibilities relative to theirs will be subject to further discussion during the interview process and your own specific experience – your role will have an emphasis on AI policy as well as overseeing a significant programme of primary qualitative and quantitative research, novel methods including narrative analysis, chatbot testing, and experimentation aiming to evidence and tackle the existing and emerging vulnerabilities of local information ecosystems.

Over time and once the Information Ecosystems pillar growth is established, you will also have contact with, and at times oversight of other projects within Demos Digital that are crosscutting, touching on other Demos pillars – for example, looking at the role of AI in the public sector (public service reform), or grappling with increasing wealth and power concentration to major tech controllers (citizens economy). Tech touches everything.

What You’ll Be Doing

Policy

• Leading strategic development and delivery of our work around information ecosystems, shaping and prioritising new ideas that can genuinely influence policy and practice
• Leading a portfolio of high‑profile policy and research projects that produce impactful recommendations for government and other key stakeholders, and supporting other colleagues in project development, project management, and delivery
• Developing and delivering research that ensures our policy ideas are grounded in rigorous analysis and, where appropriate, participatory processes
• Providing deep policy insight and political intelligence, leveraging your networks to position Demos at the heart of critical policy conversations.

Impact & Influence

• Acting as a senior spokesperson for Demos, representing the organisation in the media, at high‑profile events, and in key policy forums
• Building, maintaining and convening a high‑level network of policymakers, political influencers, and stakeholders across government, business, and civil society. This includes coleading the Epistemic Security Network and either leading or supporting more junior members of the team to lead coalitions within the Network
• Developing and leading advocacy campaigns targeting specific legislation
• Working to influence parliamentary and regulatory inquiries shaping policy and regulatory development
• Working collaboratively across Demos to maximise the reach and impact of our policy recommendations, ensuring they resonate with decision‑makers
• Shaping public debate through thought leadership, including writing op‑eds, blogs, and policy papers that command attention.
• Crafting funding proposals to develop our policy agenda and increase our impact, including identifying potential funding sources, costing and designing the staffing of the programme’s delivery, and relationship‑building to secure funding for this work
• Maintaining relationships with funders throughout the life‑cycle of programmes to support long‑term and ongoing investment in our work, including responsibility for grant impact and financial reporting.
• Line managing three people in the Demos Digital team (TBC, but likely a lead researcher and one or more senior researcher) organising ways of working and ensuring the team is high functioning
• Providing supportive and motivating leadership to policy and research colleagues, whether in line management or matrix leadership, supporting their professional growth and the delivery of high‑quality work
• Embodying Demos’ values in all your work, acting as a role model as part of the management team: collaborative, supportive, purpose‑led, always learning and radically inclusive.

What you’ll need to be successful

The types of knowledge, skills and experience we are looking for are below. We welcome a range of applications which include at least some of these attributes.

Skills & Experience

• A track record of influencing policy at the highest levels
• Expertise in digital policy, particularly surrounding AI and information ecosystems as well as some of the wider context including the news industry, online safety, media literacy
• Strong political networks in the UK
• Outstanding communication skills, with the ability to craft compelling policy narratives and engage a broad range of audiences
• Excellent leadership skills and experience of managing teams and early career researchers
• Experience of managing multiple end‑to‑end ongoing projects, including liaison with funders, managing project teams and delivering external outputs
• Experience of leading fundraising efforts, including drafting grant applications and/or project proposals, working with funders and corporate partners and managing those relationships through project delivery
• Experience of building networks, collaborating with external partners and bridging divides between diverse stakeholder groups e.g. civil society, government and tech industry
• Experience of conducting and overseeing/ supporting others to do some of the following:
• Conducting qualitative research design (discussion guides, sampling design etc.), interviewing and focus group moderation, qualitative analysis
• Conducting quantitative research design, (survey design etc), managing fieldwork and quantitative analysis – particularly public opinion polling
• Conducting social media/ open web big data collection and analysis
• Conducting AI model testing / evaluations
• Conducting secondary research, including literature reviews, in the context of policy research

Knowledge

• A strong interest in, and demonstrable knowledge of, public policy making and social change at the community, local, national or international levels
• A deep understanding of the UK policy landscape with demonstrable ability to navigate complex political environments
• Demonstrable subject area expertise in some of the following digital and media policy areas:
• AI and the opportunities and risks it represents to our information environment
• Mis/disinformation and hate during crises and elections including via social media and AI chatbots
• The evolving visibility of trustworthy information
• The financial sustainability and trustworthiness of our public service media ecosystem and local news
• Digital public infrastructure and its role in the information environment
• Media literacy including critical AI literacy and media literacy by design
• Foreign interference and geopolitical threats
• Monopoly in the tech and media sectors, and competition
• An area you are interested in within Information Ecosystems! We would love to hear your ideas
• Interest in and familiarity with the following are also desirable
• AI and its intersection with public service reform
• AI democratisation / democratising AI governance
• AI and citizens’ economy
• A bold, ambitious thinker who thrives in fast‑paced, dynamic environments
• Highly collaborative, with a commitment to teamwork and inclusivity
• A supportive approach to leadership and a commitment to empowering individuals and teams to deliver at their best
• Driven by impact, with a focus on making a tangible difference in policy and public life.

Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Justice (DIEJ) at Demos

At Demos, we recognise, celebrate and promote the positive contributions that are made by everyone. We exist to proactively tackle social and economic exclusion, and engaging with and promoting the voices of people whose voices may not otherwise be heard is core to our work. We believe that this should be reflected in our team and we strongly encourage applications from people from minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities, or others with lived experience of disadvantage.

We expect all members of our team to commit to Demos’ cross‑party approach. This means we engage with all parties in the democratic system where it will further our charitable aims. Our mission to strengthen democracy and overcome division depends on building dialogue across political divides while upholding our values of diversity, inclusion, equity and justice.

We expect all members of our team to recognise and value differences and the unique contributions that people make to the way we conduct our work and develop our insights, and encourage people to bring their diverse perspectives and backgrounds into their work on a day‑day basis. We would be happy to discuss flexible working requirements with any candidates. Read our full DIEJ policy here .

What we offer

• Generous leave entitlement: 27 days + Bank holidays + 3 additional days off between Christmas and New Year
• Enhanced pension contribution: 6%
• Enhanced parental leave
• A forward‑thinking, supportive and collaborative team

At Demos we centre staff wellbeing as a key priority; we will make every effort to ensure staff feel happy, healthy and valued as part of our integral team.

Application and selection process

The screening questions will be evaluated and graded anonymously to minimise bias in our screening process.

• First stage interviews will be 30 minutes long and conducted virtually over Google Meet. They will take place on Thursday 5th November.
• Second stage interviews will be 50 minutes long and conducted in person at the Demos Office in Whitehall. They will take place on Thursday 12th/Friday 13th November.

Candidates shortlisted for final stage interviews will be asked to complete a task in preparation for the interview.

Questions?

Please feel free to reach out to us by emailing and we would be happy to answer any queries.

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