Head of Public Affairs - London

The Head of Public Affairs is responsible for building and maintaining Diageo’s reputation and relationships with political stakeholders, amongst both UK and Scottish Government. This includes being the primary spokesperson for Diageo across Government, as well as working with members of the GB Exec and the Global Exec where necessary on key business priorities.

Responsible for developing and implementing a Government Affairs strategy that unlocks opportunities to grow the Diageo GB business while also protecting the company’s license to operate in the UK.

About the Role

• You will support the GB Corporate Relations Director on the development and delivery of our Corporate Relations strategy, to ensure we drive business performance in a responsible way. You will also work closely with the wider GB CR team, building collaboration and capability to enable the team to deliver a total CR agenda across public affairs, comms and ESG.
• You will horizon scan for current trends to anticipate opportunities and risks for Diageo GB and cross industry. You will regularly evaluate legislation, policy and regulations from UK and Scottish Government, and you will work closely senior leaders to ensure these considerations are being factored into key business decisions. This includes attending periodic Risk Management Committees and GB Exec meetings, and where relevant updating the Global Exec on UK PLC matters.
• As Head of Public Affairs, you will build Diageo’s ESG Government Affairs capability and outreach in GB, establishing effective ways or working across functions and markets to ensure a positive regulatory environment that supports our ESG agenda as well as our performance ambition. You will also support the development and impact of the Sustainability Policy Manager as they understand and implement our key asks to policy makers.
• You will own our campaign work in GB to tackle spirits discrimination from an excise tax point of view. You will be the lead contact for our category trade associations in the UK, as well as campaign alliances to tell a positive story about the spirits category and ensure a stable and fair excise duty environment in the UK.
• You will work closely with the Head of Corporate Relations in Scotland to ensure one joined up public affairs approach on priorities impacting the GB business as well as our ESG agenda. You will also work with the Diageo’s Global Government and Global Communications teams to co-ordinate engagement and communications across the CR agenda.
• Lead all aspects of an annual programme of strategic external events, which strive to raise awareness and build advocacy around Diageo and our brands in both Westminster and Holyrood.
• You will lead Diageo’s relationship with key trade bodies, such as the Scotch Whisky Association, the British Beer and Pub Association and the Confederation of British Industry, using your ability to influence to craft and drive action that supports our CR agenda.

Experience required/Skills/Capabilities/Languages

• We’d love to work with someone who has a keen interest and knowledge of political and current affairs, in addition to a strong external and reputational radar. As a minimum however we require someone to have a broad understand of the UK and the devolved Scottish political system and capability to engage proactively with a range of political collaborators.
• 3-5 years of experience in UK or Scottish political or Government Affairs, either directly, within an agency setting or in an in-house role.
• Prior experience managing or coordinating events.
• Excellent written and general communication skills, as well as attention to detail are crucial for this role.
• We want someone who can bring new insights and perspectives on how we can be better in our public affairs.

Diversity statement

Celebrating our inclusive and diverse culture is core to Diageo’s purpose of “celebrating life every day everywhere”. This purpose is, in itself, inclusive in nature, as it values everybody irrespective of background, disability, religion, gender identity, sexuality or ethnicity.

We know that for our business to thrive and for Diageo to realize its ambition, we depend on having diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which we operate and to reflect our broad consumer base. We view diversity as one of the key enablers that helps our business to grow and our values, purpose and standards set the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution each person brings.

Flexibility is key to success in our business and many of our staff work flexibly in many different ways, including part-time, compressed hours, flexible location.

Please talk to us about what flexibility means to you and don’t let anything stop you from applying.