About this role.
Chainguard is seeking its first dedicated European government affairs and public policy leader to establish and lead policy strategy across Europe and the UK. The director will engage regulators, legislators, standards organizations, and industry coalitions on cybersecurity and AI regulation, including the Cyber Resilience Act, NIS2, and the EU AI Act. This role translates technical software supply-chain security issues into credible policy positions and converts emerging requirements into product, market, and customer implications. Success requires senior stakeholder influence, independent program building, strong policy writing, and comfort operating in an ambiguous high-growth environment.
Role DNA
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Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
5/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
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Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would begin with a structured regulatory and stakeholder map covering the legislative requirements, implementation timelines, standards activity, relevant institutions, and priority national jurisdictions. I would identify the policy issues with the greatest product and customer impact, develop evidence-based positions with internal technical leaders, and create an engagement plan combining direct outreach, consultations, and coalition participation. I would then establish a regular internal briefing cadence so policy intelligence informs roadmap, messaging, and customer-facing teams early.
I start with the policy outcome the audience is trying to achieve, such as reducing systemic software risk, and explain the technical issue through concrete, plain-language examples. I avoid unnecessary jargon while being precise about trade-offs, implementation feasibility, and unintended consequences. I validate the narrative with engineers and present clear recommendations supported by practical evidence.
I would assess whether the objective benefits from collective scale, alignment with Chainguard's position, and the coalition's access and credibility. Coalition work is valuable for broad baseline positions, while direct engagement is preferable when Chainguard has differentiated technical expertise or a specific issue that requires nuance. In either case, I would set clear goals, track outcomes, and avoid positions that dilute the company's long-term credibility.
I would conduct internal listening sessions with leadership, product, engineering, security, sales, and legal teams to identify priorities and existing customer concerns. Externally, I would map key officials, regulators, standards bodies, coalition partners, and near-term consultations across Europe and the UK. I would deliver a prioritized policy strategy, engagement calendar, core messaging framework, and a repeatable process for sharing regulatory intelligence internally.
I lead with technical accuracy, transparency about the company's perspective, and recommendations that support workable public-policy outcomes rather than narrow asks. I prepare rigorously, follow through on commitments, and acknowledge legitimate trade-offs instead of overstating certainty. Over time, consistent, useful input and respectful engagement build trust with officials and stakeholders.
Chainguard is the trusted source for open source. By delivering hardened, secure, and production-ready builds of all the open source software engineers and AI agents rely on, Chainguard helps organizations build faster, stay compliant, and eliminate risk.
Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake.
Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital.
The role in a nutshell:
Our customers include some of the most regulated organizations in the world, and we have a strong and growing UK and European customer base. Europe is one of our highest-growth priorities.
It is also where the rules for our category are actively being written — the Cyber Resilience Act, NIS2, the EU AI Act, and the standards work running underneath all of them.
We are hiring our first dedicated European government affairs and public policy leader to own that ground. You will set Chainguard’s European policy strategy, establish us as a trusted technical voice with the officials and bodies shaping cyber regulation on the continent and in the UK, and translate fast-moving policy into what it means for our positioning, our product, and our customers.
What you’ll do
- Set and own Chainguard’s European policy strategy — priorities, positions, target institutions and officials, and the narrative we take into the policy process.
- Engage governments, regulators, and standards bodies across Europe and the UK, including the European Commission (notably DG CNECT and DG GROW), the European Parliament, ENISA, and the standards bodies — CEN-CENELEC and ETSI — doing the technical work underneath the CRA and NIS2.
- Decide where Chainguard shows up through industry coalitions (e.g., DigitalEurope, CCIA Europe, BSA, techUK) versus direct advocacy, and represent Chainguard in those bodies where it adds leverage.
- Forecast what’s coming, not just what’s happened, bringing political acumen and the ability to read where a debate is heading before it becomes public on developments relevant to Chainguard.
- Develop policy positions, consultation responses, and written submissions, and speak authoritatively on Chainguard’s behalf in public and industry fora.
- Translate technical concepts into policy language — and emerging requirements back into clear implications for our messaging and roadmap.
- Support product, marketing, and revenue teams with policy credibility and positioning where it helps them, while staying firmly on the policy side of the line.
- Build the function by establishing the processes, relationships, and intelligence flow that make European government affairs repeatable rather than a series of one-offs.
- As the business grows in the region, help build the path toward leading a team.
Who you are:
- 8+ years of directly relevant experience in government affairs or public policy — within a public sector organization, a regulatory or standard-setting body, or a private company with a comparable government affairs function
- A track record of building independently: standing up or growing a government affairs program or line of effort, or developing and shepherding specific regulations, standards, or policy strategy through to an outcome
- Senior official engagement experience, with the judgment and presence to represent a company credibly at that level
- Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical subject matter for policy audiences — and to explain how you do it
- Comfort operating in ambiguity with minimal guidance, and a scrappy, resourceful approach to reach and impact
- Excellent written and verbal communication; credible with executives, engineers, and government stakeholders alike
- A degree and/or equivalent years of experience in the field
- Based in Europe and able to travel frequently across the region
Preferred Experience:
- A multi-country portfolio: policy work or government affairs relationships built across several European jurisdictions
- Fluency in one or more European languages in addition to English
- Experience across both public and private sector government affairs
- Familiarity with ENISA, CEN-CENELEC, ETSI, and the major cybersecurity drivers regulatory and standardization bodies on the continent
- Familiarity with the CRA’s conformity assessment framework (risk classes, notified bodies) and with EU/UK lobbying transparency registers
- Experience representing a company through industry coalitions or trade associations
- Fluency in software supply chain security, cybersecurity, or AI subject matter
- Experience at a high-growth company
About Us
We live and breathe our company values:
- We are customer obsessed — We focus on delivering solutions to our customers that create value and make their lives better.
- We have a bias for intentional action — We prioritize, plan, try things, and fail fast.
- We don’t take ourselves too seriously (but we do serious work) — We are solving an important problem which takes focus, but we also like to enjoy the journey.
- We trust each other and assume good intentions — We’re transparent with decisions to empower team members to make well informed decisions.
A few of the benefits we offer:
- Flexible & Remote-First Culture: Work remotely with team meetup opportunities, bi-annual destination summits, and a monthly stipend for coworking spaces, phone and internet costs.
- Our Approach to Equity: Receive stock options upon hire and promotion. Plus, you can participate in secondary offerings and have 10 years to exercise your options (yes, you read that correctly: 10 years!).
- 100% Covered Health Insurance: We cover 100% of your health, vision and dental insurance premiums for you and your dependents. Nothing comes out of your paycheck.
- ∞ Flexible Time Off: Take the time you need – to do our best work, we need to recharge and reset.
- 18 Weeks Paid Parental Leave: We offer 18 weeks for birthing parents and 12 weeks for non-birthing parents, with the option to use it all at once or throughout your child’s first year.
If your experience is close but doesn’t fulfill all requirements, please apply. We’re building the best team in technology and are focused on hiring “Chainguardians” with unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
Chainguard is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.
By submitting your application, you acknowledge that Chainguard will process your personal data in accordance with Chainguard’s Global Candidate Privacy Notice.
©2026 Chainguard. All Rights Reserved.
Annual salary information is not provided for this position. Explore salary ranges for similar roles in our Salary Directory ›
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