Director of Government & Public Sector Sales

Overview:

• Reporting to: Chief Commercial Officer
• Visa sponsorship: UK national or visa holder preferred, but not a dealbreaker.
• Background checks: Due to the nature of the work we do with global governments and partners, all employees need to pass background checks, verifying your identity, education (if relevant), work history, sanctions, criminal record, adverse financial history and right to work.
• You can expect to hear from us, no matter the outcome, by: 23rd January 2026
• Salary: £110,000 to £130,000 base + bonus
• Salary expectations: We aim for transparency on salary bands. If our range is misaligned with your expectations, we'd welcome an open conversation as early as possible.

About Apolitical

Apolitical's mission is to make governments smarter for people and the planet and we reach over 40 million public servants through our partnerships with governments globally. We are the largest global network for governments, used by 270,000+ public servants in 160 countries to find and share best practices and gain skills on critical topics from AI to climate change to emerging technologies.

Governments use Apolitical to solve public sector transformation challenges - from AI augmentation to reskilling. We offer governments five interoperable components - research and analysis, workforce productivity tools, customisable training, vibrant learning communities and high impact convenings. Everything we do is powered by our unique global network and real-time data.

Apolitical is trusted by 60+ governments and leading organisations that work with governments. Governments include schools of government, departments, ministries and government adjacent bodies in the UK, Canada, India, EU, UAE, Brazil, Ethiopia, Singapore and more. Global foundation partners include the Bezos Earth Fund, Gates Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, who view governments as key stakeholders in achieving systemic change.

Apolitical's corporate partners include organisations such as Google, AWS and Microsoft who work with us at scale with governments and public sector bodies worldwide.

Our Government AI Campus and our Government Energy and Climate Campus are examples of our success in bringing together corporate and philanthropic intent with great technology to deliver impactful government learning and capability building on a global scale.

About the role

Drive global revenue growth within public sector marketplaces and multilateral institutions (e.g. World Bank, UN), developing and managing strategic international relationships on behalf of Apolitical.

The Commercial Team drives revenue growth and strategic market expansion at Apolitical. Under the guidance of the Chief Commercial Officer, this team proactively identifies business development and sales opportunities worldwide, cultivates high-value partnerships globally, and ensures robust revenue performance in critical markets with partners ranging from national governments, to foundations and philanthropic organisations and corporate partners.

Through structured account management, business development, and compelling sales proposals, via a carefully managed pipeline architecture, the Global Public Sector Lead turns market potential into tangible, recurring revenue, enabling Apolitical's ambition of significant and sustained growth.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the growth strategy (identification, qualification, conversion), relationship management, and business expansion across the global public sector.
• Manage and expand strategic public sector partnerships, ensuring high customer retention, margin protection and revenue optimisation, across multiple existing accounts
• Collaborate closely with the Delivery function to align account strategy with seamless service delivery.

About you

To be successful in this role, we expect that you will likely have experience (5+ years) in a similar or equivalent role.

This is a great fit if you

• Have a strong track record securing government & public sector contracts
• Have experience managing tender pipelines, including market engagement, qualification and live opportunities
• Can demonstrate commercial acumen, effective judgement and compliance awareness, to enable strategic business goals
• Understand government process and security requirements
• Are a good professional communicator and project manager
• Enjoy coordination and collaboration with a wide range of people
• Are proactive, agile and adaptable, balancing quality with pace
• Are passionate about government capability

This won't be the right role if you

• Work best with a limited number of work streams or projects
• Are looking for a position with direct reports. This is not currently a people-management position - though there will be lots of cross-functional working and support
• Are not performance-driven or don't enjoy a target-oriented work culture

Don't meet every single expectation? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Apolitical is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.