Social impact startup Beam has hired Twilio鈥檚 Helena Horsburgh as its second chief of staff following a period of rapid growth.
In the past 12 months, Beam has doubled its headcount to 90 people and expanded to major cities including Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
Horsburgh joins Beam on April 3rd and will report to co-founder and COO, Seb Barker.
She will initially focus on scaling Beam鈥檚 government partnerships, enabling thousands more disadvantaged people across the UK to access Beam鈥檚 employment, skills and housing services.
She will also support Beam鈥檚 growth across new markets, while opening the door to other disadvantaged groups including people leaving prison.
Horsburgh joins Beam from tech unicorn Twilio, where she was chief of staff to the senior vice president of international.
While there, she was responsible for strategic projects focused on organisational design and regulatory compliance, as well as running operations and internal communications for Twilio鈥檚 EMEA, APAC and LATAM regions.
Prior to Twilio, Horsburgh held senior sales, partnerships and operations roles at tech giants Stripe and Dropbox.
Horsburgh is the latest senior female leader to join Beam, following the recent appointment of former Bumble director Claire Samson as director of people and talent. Rachel Astall, who joined from GoCardless鈥� leadership last year, remains chief of staff to the CEO.
Horsburgh said: 鈥淚鈥檝e worked for ambitious, high-growth tech companies my whole career, and Beam is no different. I鈥檓 excited to roll up my sleeves again while working on a mission that鈥檚 close to my heart.鈥�
Alex Stephany, founder and CEO of Beam, said: 鈥淗elena brings exceptional sales and operations experience from three iconic listed tech businesses, which will be invaluable as we grow Beam.
鈥淏eam is transforming how government teams all around the UK support those left behind and I鈥檓 excited for her to lead the charge on these crucial relationships.鈥�
Since launching in London in 2017, Beam has supported more than 1,400 homeless people and refugees through its partnerships with government.
In 2022, Beam launched Beam for Refugees to support newly arrived Afghan and Ukrainian refugees. Beam is also a certified B Corp and was named one of LinkedIn鈥檚 Top 15 UK Startups in 2022.
Beam works in partnership with more than 70 local and central government departments, who refer people to its service, as well as forward-thinking employers and landlords who hire and house Beam鈥檚 beneficiaries.