“It was exciting to see what sustained political and policy engagement can do,” says Beatrice Barleon, recalling her early experience interning at Friends of the Earth as the Climate Change Act was making its way through Parliament. It was, she says, a formative moment — a first-hand view of how persistence, coalition-building and timing can translate into legislative change.

From there, she moved into her first full public affairs role at the British Property Federation — “a totally different experience,” she says, one that taught her “a lot about diplomacy, managing stakeholders and strategic communications.” Together, those early roles set the tone for a career built around navigating complexity and driving change over time.

Today, at EngineeringUK, that focus is firmly on the future workforce. The organisation is a not-for-profit working to increase the number and diversity of young people entering engineering and technology careers in the UK. Through research, advocacy and partnerships, it plays a central role in shaping how government, industry and educators think about skills, pathways and opportunity in sectors critical to long-term economic growth.

For Barleon, the attraction of in-house work has always been tied to purpose. “I have always worked in-house because I am driven by being involved in policy areas that sit well with my principles,” she says, alongside the …