---
title: 'Director, Business Development (Public Affairs & Advocacy) at Tunnl'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-business-development-public-affairs-advocacy-tunnl-washington-ap4s20mz7at8'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# Director, Business Development (Public Affairs & Advocacy) at Tunnl

- **Company:** Tunnl
- **Location:** Washington, DC
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-02-24
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tunnl/d6db6633-2e61-4860-bdba-56e1a990bac1/application

**Skills:** Direct Selling, Public Affairs Sales, Advocacy Sales, Lead Generation, Closing Sales, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, SaaS Sales, Tech-based SaaS Product Sales, HubSpot

> The Director of Business Development drives growth in the public affairs and advocacy markets by building partnerships, managing a sales pipeline, and exceeding annual revenue targets. This quota-based role involves proactive prospecting, relationship management with key stakeholders, and collaborating with internal...

## Job description

## About Tunnl

Tunnl is building a future where artificial intelligence enables organizations to connect meaningfully with the people who matter most. We help organizations conduct research at scale, define the right audiences, surface real-time insights, identify optimal communication channels, and measure changing attitudes over time. Tunnl serves brands, agencies, and advocacy groups alike - organizations navigating complex communications, reputational, and regulatory landscapes. These teams need smarter, faster ways to make audience-informed decisions that stand up to scrutiny and resonate across stakeholder groups. Whether you're building a brand, shaping public opinion, managing risk, or launching a new initiative, Tunnl empowers you to move from insight to impact with clarity & confidence.

## The Role

As a fast-growing tech company at the forefront of audience intelligence innovation, Tunnl is exceptionally placed to build and grow relationships within the public affairs and advocacy market. The Director will drive this advancement through building and developing new partnerships in the space and leveraging Tunnl’s unique technology & approach to position clients for ideal outcomes. The ideal candidate will excel at proactive prospecting, enjoy the challenge and excitement of building and closing new business, and bring a self-starting, goal-oriented attitude to the team. This is a quota based position and the selected candidate will be measured against hitting an estimated $500k-$750k annual target. The Director will report to the Chief Revenue Officer and will be located in our Washington, DC office.

## Responsibilities

- Source, close and manage a book of new logos in the public affairs and advocacy space to be measured against an annual quota (estimated between $500k-$750k)
- Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with clients, industry partners, and key stakeholders to identify new business opportunities
- Build and manage trust and value-led relationships with existing and prospective clients to maximize solutions and satisfaction
- Maintain clear understanding of Tunnl’s primary clients’ industry trends, economic sectors, and market dynamics
- Collaborate with internal teams including engineering, product, and account management to ensure seamless implementation of the product for clients
- Develop strategies and plans for developing and deepening client accounts
- Provide regular reports and updates to the CRO on business development activities, progress, and results
- Represent the organization at industry events, conferences, and networking opportunities to promote brand awareness and generate leads

## Qualifications

- 5+ years of successful experience in direct selling within the public affairs & advocacy market, ideally with a background in data and/or market research sales
- Experience managing the sales process from lead generation to closure
- Able to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment
- Bring a strong drive to meet and exceed sales targets
- Demonstrated ability to set and achieve measurable outcomesHave a proactive approach to identifying and pursuing new business opportunities
- Skilled in building and cultivating relationships
- Passionate about being a key contributor in business growth and committed to helping businesses thrive
- Proficient in the Microsoft suite of products including Microsoft PowerPoint, Word, and Excel
- Previous experience in tech-based SaaS product sales is highly preferred
- Experience working with HubSpot is a plus

Why You Should Apply:

- Join a team driven by curiosity, teamwork, integrity, and a shared passion for solving big challenges.
- A friendly, welcoming, and supportive culture with regular social and team events.
- Comprehensive benefits with excellent medical, vision, and dental coverage.
- Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) options.
- Employer-paid life insurance & short-term & long-term disability, with other voluntary additional coverage available (accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity).
- Flexible hybrid work policy.
- Flexible paid vacation plus 80 hours of paid sick leave.
- 10 paid company holidays per year.
- 401(k) plan with 100% match up to 3%, plus 50% match up to 5% (subject to IRS limits).
- Cell phone reimbursement stipend.
- Monthly parking or commuter stipend for VA-based employees.

## About Tunnl

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Tunnl is an AI-powered audience intelligence platform that connects research, audience building, targeting, and measurement into a single closed-loop system for advertisers and agencies.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Venture-funded; $2.6M total funding)
- **Headquarters**: Arlington, Virginia, United States
- **Founded**: 2021
- **Founders**: Sara Fagen, Brent Seaborn, Alex Lundry

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Audience intelligence, advertising technology, market research, public affairs
- **Target customers**: B2B – advertisers, agencies, public affairs and advocacy organizations, brand marketers
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Empower advertisers and agencies with the audience intelligence they need to reach the right people with their public affairs, issue advocacy, and brand marketing campaigns.” [tunnldata.com/about-us](https://www.tunnldata.com/about-us)

## Products & Services
- **Tunnl Audience Intelligence Platform (SaaS)**: An end-to-end platform that integrates survey research, audience creation, media targeting (including linear TV, CTV, digital), and campaign measurement in a single closed loop. The platform leverages over 6.9 trillion proprietary data points, 23,000+ predictive models, and AI to generate 700 billion predictions per year. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)
- **Premier Audience Suite**: Off-the-shelf audience segments covering U.S. policy opinion makers and other high-value targets. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)
- **Reach & Frequency / Linear TV Measurement**: A self-serve TV rating feature for linear TV advertisers to plan and measure reach and frequency. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)
- **Model Library**: Over 23,000 predictive tools for audience targeting and opinion scoring. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary data moat**: Over 20 years of opinion data scored on every U.S. adult (dating back to 2003), creating a dataset competitors cannot replicate quickly. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)
- **Closed-loop platform**: Unlike fragmented approaches (separate vendors for research, audience, media buying, measurement), Tunnl connects everything in one AI-driven system, turning insights directly into actions.
- **AI infrastructure**: 700 billion AI-driven predictions per year, 23,000+ models, and 6.9 trillion data points provide scale and accuracy.
- **Political campaign heritage**: Founders originated from high-stakes political campaigns, giving deep expertise in persuasion and audience movement.

## Strategic Focus
- **Expand CTV and linear TV targeting**: The FreeWheel integration aims to accelerate political and public affairs targeting across connected TV for upcoming election cycles.
- **Self-serve capabilities**: Enabling advertisers to plan and measure TV reach without manual intervention.
- **Closed-loop intelligence**: Continue to shorten the cycle from research to measurement, allowing clients to see individual-level opinion shifts and message effectiveness in weeks, not months.
- **Industry diversification**: While rooted in political/public affairs, Tunnl is expanding into brand marketing and other outcome-driven industries.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “smart, curious, and driven” with a collaborative, cross-functional environment. The team values innovation and strategic problem-solving.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Flexible remote work policy is explicitly offered. [tunnldata.com/careers](https://www.tunnldata.com/careers)
- **Perks**:
  - Unlimited vacation days plus a company holiday between Christmas and New Year’s
  - Employer 401k match
  - Paid sick leave
  - Team events (trivia, sports brackets, driving ranges)
- **Growth Opportunities**: 25% headcount growth in the last year, with open roles across business development, research, media strategy, and account management. The company encourages personal and professional development.
- **Engineering & Product**: Technical staff makes up 17% of the team (12 people). The product and engineering teams work on cutting-edge AI and data infrastructure.
- **Employee Rating**: 4.2/5.0 on LinkedIn (based on 4 reviews), with high marks for work-life balance (4.4) and culture (4.3).

## Sources
1. [tunnldata.com](https://www.tunnldata.com/)
2. [tunnldata.com/about-us](https://www.tunnldata.com/about-us)
3. [tunnldata.com/careers](https://www.tunnldata.com/careers)
4. [tunnldata.com/our-team](https://www.tunnldata.com/our-team)
5. [linkedin.com/company/tunnldata](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tunnldata)

## Other roles at Tunnl

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- [Vice President, Head of Agencies](https://feeny.ai/job/vice-president-head-of-agencies-tunnl-zn37r5z2rs0c)
- [Product Manager, Audience Products](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-audience-products-tunnl-washington-rbxezea1cg7s) — Washington, DC
- [Manager, Data Partnerships](https://feeny.ai/job/manager-data-partnerships-tunnl-remote-0h122qeq1w60)
- [Business Development Representative (BDR)](https://feeny.ai/job/business-development-representative-bdr-tunnl-washington-ehmc9y7htx7y) — Washington, DC
- [Executive Business Development Representative (BDR)](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-business-development-representative-bdr-tunnl-washington-kwgresavn6da) — Washington, DC
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