Overview
We are working exclusively with Scottish Renewables, the representative body for Scotland's renewable energy industry.
This Public Affairs Manager role is an exciting opportunity for a confident and politically astute professional to lead Scottish Renewables' political engagement at a pivotal moment for the energy sector. It is ideal for someone with 2+ years' relevant experience looking to step up and take ownership of a high-profile portfolio.
You will drive proactive engagement across Holyrood, Westminster and local government, helping ensure the renewable energy industry maintains strong political and public support in a fast-moving landscape. Working closely with parliamentarians, advisers, civil servants, local authorities, trade associations and SR's members, you will provide clear political insight and act as a trusted voice for Scotland's renewable energy industry. This role offers high autonomy, collaboration and exposure, suited to someone who enjoys pace and responsibility.
Key Responsibilities
Support delivery of SR's public affairs programme, ensuring political and legislative conditions enable sector growth.
Build and maintain strong relationships with MSPs, MPs, advisers, civil servants, local authorities and other key stakeholders.
Represent SR at political meetings, briefings, external forums and industry events.
Produce clear, compelling communications and briefings for political audiences.
Monitor political developments, legislation and regulation, identifying risks and opportunities.
Play a key role in SR's engagement for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, including pre- and post-election work.
Work with SR's policy teams to align political engagement with industry priorities.
Engage partner trade associations and manage the Cross-Party Group on Renewable Energy in the Scottish Parliament.
About You
You will be a confident, politically aware professional with:
Experience in public affairs, parliamentary roles, consultancy or related fields.
Strong political judgement and understanding of legislative and parliamentary processes.
Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills.
Confidence operating independently, leading meetings and building relationships at all levels.
Strong organisational skills, resilience and the ability to manage a fast-paced workload.
A collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively with colleagues, members and external partners.
A genuine interest in renewable energy and Scotland's energy transition.
Energy experience is beneficial but not essential; strong political capability and the ability to handle complex issues matter most.
Additional Information & How to Apply
You will join a supportive, inclusive and collaborative team, working on a hybrid basis (max 2 days from home) from the Glasgow office. Occasional overnight stays and weekend travel/event attendance will be required.
Full right to work in the UK required as visa sponsorship isn't possible.
Application deadline is 23:59, Sunday 30th November. No cover letter required, but please ensure all relevant experience is highlighted on your CV.
Murray McIntosh is proud to be an equal opportunities employer on behalf of their clients. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, or age.
Murray McIntosh is a specialist Policy, Public Affairs, Strategic Communications and Economics recruitment consultancy, recruiting positions at all levels and across all sectors. Our team boasts over 20 years of experience in this space, with expertise spanning all manner of industry and subject areas.
Anna Kelly
Principal Consultant – Policy, Public Affairs & Strategic Communications
Murray Mcintosh have been incredibly helpful in delivering a successful candidate for a challenging role at BEAMA. As a small organisation we don’t often lean on agency support and in the past this hasn’t helped us. But we found the right recruitment agent who help recruit fantastic candidates for a specialist role in the energy sector. In a competitive employment market their help has been so valuable and we are so pleased with the result. All candidates they shortlisted we incredibly impressive and we weren’t expecting to be faced with such a hard decision. Huge thanks to the team and we look forward to working with you again.
BEAMA - Yselkla Farmer, Chief Executive Officer at BEAMA
We moved ahead with a retained engagement, offering us the most thorough search with a quicker turnaround than other engagement types we had experienced before.
We first contacted Anna in August 2022. We were looking for help to fill a vacant Policy Advisor role within our team. In a tricky market we had been struggling since the start of the year to find the right candidates through our usual channels. Anna took the time to understand the challenges we’d experienced, the support we needed, and nature of the role, before providing a solution.
We moved ahead with a retained engagement, offering us the most thorough search with a quicker turnaround than other engagement types we had experienced before. Given our needs, this approach seemed like a no-brainer! As an executive non-departmental body, we have quite specific supplier terms, which Anna was able to accommodate. This willingness to be flexible and collaborative to get the terms right enables us to work together in the longer term.
Anna worked with us speedily and met for a role brief to define expectations before establishing a strict timeframe to ensure we could close the vacancy before Christmas. We got going at the end of November with a timeframe of 6 weeks. However, following a one-stage interview process with 5 strong candidates, we made an appointment after just 5 weeks, and the successful candidate has now joined the team and is already an asset!
Ben Hardy - Policy & Government Relations Manager at CITB
We will use the retained search again as they demonstrated that their network and market mapping process uncovers a strong selection of candidates.
We have recently placed our Head of Public Affairs using Murray McIntosh, an important hire for us as we are about to enter a period of transition for the organisation so the role is key support to our Director of Policy and Public Affairs. We had engaged another agency but did not see the quality of candidate we needed.
Lauren talked us through the retained search method and explained how this ensures a thorough search, tied to a timeframe. Our PPA Director found this particularly useful, as we could work around his diary in advance.
We met to brief the role and define expectations on both sides, including a check-in point halfway through the market mapping process to ensure a relevant shortlist was coming together. Lauren was insightful, reliable and very transparent throughout and the process proved to be very efficient.
We started in January. The role was placed 6 weeks later after seeing 6 video interviews on The Lobby platform, inviting 3 candidates for first stage interview, and seeing 2 for a final stage.
We will use the retained search again in future as they demonstrated for us that their network and market mapping process uncovers a strong selection of candidates. That being said, they only introduce those who have demonstrated their interest and commitment to the role, so our time wasn’t wasted by dropouts and the offer process for our favoured candidate was very straightforward.
HR Manager - HR Manager at London chamber of Commerce and Industry
Multiple successful placements across our Public Policy team as well as our Communications and International department.
We started working with Murray McIntosh in 2016, and have since made multiple successful placements across our Public Policy team as well as our Communications and International department. From Economists to niche Tech and Innovation policy roles, to our first permanent Government Affairs hire based in Brussels, they’ve shown a real understanding of the market and our organisational needs,
The MM team always make the effort to understand requirements thoroughly and beyond that, appreciate the importance of culture fit, too.
Working on a retained basis, they develop their process to suit our timescales and always produce shortlists of talented individuals who are well qualified on skillset as well as motivation.
Of our most recent process for a Senior Policy Manager, working on trade policy, our Head of Policy commented on an extremely strong shortlist of stand-out candidates from which it was tough to make a choice!
Katie Milbourn - Director of Group HR at The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd
It was critical that we engaged an agency that could work efficiently and knew how to promote us to a competitive market.
Energy UK has recently been through a restructure and this resulted in a number of key vacancies across our policy and communications teams. This not only presented a challenge for volume candidate attraction but also put pressure on internal administration and interviewing- made even trickier with the challenges the energy industry was facing, resulting in extra time pressures on our managers.
It was critical that we engaged an agency that could work efficiently and knew how to promote us to a competitive market. Having worked with Murray McIntosh for over 7 years, we knew that they had a great network and we put a project plan in place to deliver 10 roles in 10 weeks.
Following a salary benchmarking exercise, we developed a schedule for shortlisting, interviews and even 1st stage interview questions that allowed for unbiased assessment.
Candidates were screened by MM and shortlisted using recorded video interviews which really helped to reduce the impact on managers’ time.
MM understood not just role requirements but our values, including our commitment to D&I. The process was account managed, with regular updates and feedback.
We’ve successfully hired talented and enthusiastic new employees that we are confident will help us provide the best possible service to our members.
Nicola Rowland - Head of HR at Energy UK