Director of External Affairs

Liberty is looking for a mission-focussed, bold and strategic leader with strong political instincts to step into the exciting role of Director of External Affairs.

Liberty has launched an ambitious new strategy in a rapidly changing external environment, where existential threats to human rights and civil liberties give our work a renewed sense of urgency. 

Leading our external relations directorate, you will work across policy and public affairs, communications and engagement, and legal, to deliver our strategy, shape national debate, influence decision-makers, and strengthen Liberty’s reputation as a trusted, principled and independent voice on human rights and civil liberties. You will build influential and impactful relationships with government, decision-makers, think tanks, NGOs and media partners, and explore new partnerships across other sectors to broaden our impact and reach. 

You will have the experience and skills to lead and inspire teams, embed effective cross-team systems and practice, and deliver high-impact work in a fast-paced and challenging external context. 

You will have exceptional delivery skills, as well as demonstrable experience delivering through and across external-facing functions in multi-disciplinary and complex mission-driven, values-based organisations, balancing both longer-term proactive work as well as reactive work. You will need to demonstrate exceptional political judgement and insight, a proven track record of influencing, and strong experience of managing organisational risk in a fast-paced, complex and sometimes hostile external context. You will have an excellent grasp of detail as well as the ability to communicate complex issues well to a wide variety of stakeholders, including as a leading spokesperson for Liberty. 

As a member of a small Senior Leadership Team, you will be delivering organisation-wide work for which you will need demonstrable experience of leading and delivering complex internal work, excellent communications skills, the confidence and experience to embed a values-based approach across organisational functions, and the ability to work collaboratively and in an agile way in a small leadership team. 

Liberty fully embraces flexible working and is committed to employee development.We aim to encourage people from all backgrounds to work with us and are particularly interested in hearing from people from minority backgrounds and all socio-economic sections of society.Liberty supports hybrid working, and there is a minimum office requirement of 2 days per week however, the Senior Leadership Team typically work from the office at least 3 days per week.  

The deadline for applications is 9am, Monday 14 September 2026

Please be aware that we do not accept CVs for this role. All applicants must complete the application form to apply.

First round interviews will be held online on Tuesday 22 September 2026

Second round interview will be held in person on Friday 2 October 2026

Please note that due to team capacity we cannot offer alternative interview dates so please do ensure you hold these dates before you apply.