Director of Public Affairs - Applecart

We are a 40-person data science startup that has built a powerful platform that uses publicly available data to map over 25 billion social relationships between over 250M Americans. 

The first application of our technology was in politics, where we have worked for some of the biggest campaigns in the country from Gov. John Kasich’s presidential campaign to Congressman Conor Lamb’s 2018 special election campaign. 

With the backing of top investors like Endeavor (with Ari Emanuel joining the company’s board), Henry Kravis, Palantir Co-Founder Joe Lonsdale, and top engineers at Twitter and Yelp, we have grown beyond politics to support some of the largest companies and nonprofits in the world, from Boeing and Blackstone to the Environmental Defense Fund. 

Our data products help corporations, advocacy organizations, and political campaigns to target their advertising in high stakes situations, ranging from b2b sales to legislative and regulatory issues to major political elections. 

About the Role

As Director of Public Affairs, you will be a key client-facing leader at a high-growth technology company that services some of the country’s most prominent corporations, trade associations, nonprofits, and political organizations. In this role, you will both support the development of new business and lead engagements with existing clients. You will supervise a talented team of project managers and business development associates. This position reports to the President.

What You’ll Do

• Act as a client-facing strategist to support high-profile public affairs, corporate communications, and political campaigns, advising clients on the use of Applecart’s data-driven advertising products to achieve their objectives
• Lead and manage the development of polished proposals in both memo and slide-deck form with keen attention to detail
• Communicate and present clearly, comfortably, and expertly both verbally and in written form
• Lead an internal project team to execute on high stakes, time-sensitive client engagements
• Provide effective support and mentorship to junior team members
• Stay up to date with industry trends, emerging technology and new tools that can improve the accuracy and impact of our offerings for clients
• Inform internal product development based on industry and client feedback

Who You Are

Qualifications:

• More than 5 years of experience as a client-facing strategist and manager of large scale public affairs engagements; significant experience presenting to high-profile clients under pressure
• More than two years of experience crafting major business development proposals (e.g. six figure plus) for corporations or trade associations, from conception through presentation
• Expert at drafting aesthetically pleasing client presentations in slide deck and memo form; impeccable attention to detail 
• Significant experience managing multiple simultaneous high-stakes projects with competing priorities
• Demonstrated success managing a team of multiple direct reports (more than 1)
• Take a “player-coach” approach to management; most comfortable when both managing and getting your hands dirty

Preferred Qualifications:

• Served in a role on a political campaign or in government during your career 
• Experience drafting survey instruments and/or presenting survey research 
• Experience designing digital advertising plans
• You possess an energetic, upbeat disposition and excellent sense of humor