Tapping into an ‘enjoyably relentless’ pace of life

Rob Allen was standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on January 29th in a state of high anticipation. After months of preparation, shares in the Irish-headquartered sports betting and gaming company Flutter Entertainment were about to start trading. For Allen, who is the company’s group head of corporate campaigns, this was the highlight of his career to date. Nothing he’d experienced before had prepared him for the excitement of waiting for the opening bell to sound.

“It was definitely a pinch-yourself moment,” he says. “I was flat out dealing with the international media and helping to brief four-time Super Bowl champion Rob Gronkowski, an ambassador for our FanDuel brand, who was helping us with the launch. There were a lot of Irish people in the exchange that day, people who have been with the business for a long time both internally and on the advisory side, and the atmosphere was electric.”

Allen studied accountancy at DIT before moving to London in 2012 to pursue a master’s degree in financial journalism. He has been there since and lives in Fulham, a 15-minute commute from his office.

I had friends whose families were affected by the crash and I became a bit obsessed with the financial news from 2008 onwards

He joined Flutter in 2021, having spent eight years with public relations company FGS Global where he had started as a junior associate and steadily climbed the ladder to reach director level by the time he left. Flutter was an FGS client and Allen says his Irish roots probably helped him get assigned to the account.

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“Around 2010, the Irish economy was struggling following the banking crash and the subsequent bailout by the IMF. By the time I left university, a lot of the accountancy work for graduates was in receiverships and liquidations which wasn’t exactly aspirational,” he says.

“I had friends whose families were affected by the crash, and I became a bit obsessed with the financial news from 2008 onwards. This led to my decision to change careers in favour of becoming a financial journalist. I moved to London to study and this started me on the career path I’m now on.

“I am still a news junkie and spend my spare time listening to podcasts (News Agents, Rest is Politics, Media Confidential) and going through the papers — the FT, The Irish Times and the Times. I also absolutely love sport, most notably the Irish and Leinster rugby teams which I’ve followed — blindly, at times — around the world.”

The companies you get to represent, the transactions you work on, the issues you manage and the campaigns you oversee are at a completely different level

Allen describes the pace of life in London as “enjoyably relentless” and that, despite Brexit, “London remains one of the most vibrant cities in the world — multicultural, constantly evolving, and full of new experiences. I’ve moved about the city a few times and every neighbourhood has a different vibe, be it the people, the food or the fashion. It feels like you’ve travelled to a different country even though you’ve only moved between suburbs.”

While Dublin is not without its share of well-regarded strategic communications firms, Allen says the scale of things in London makes it a very different ball game. “The companies you get to represent, the transactions you work on, the issues you manage and the campaigns you oversee are at a completely different level,” he says.

“What you do gets noticed by a global audience and has far-reaching implications that have an impact on a much wider set of stakeholders than at home. It also means you’re in the room for big decisions alongside high-calibre people you can learn from. Being part of this network proved valuable in progressing my career and ultimately led to my move to Flutter.”

At Flutter, Allen is part of the group communications team whose role is to elevate the corporate brand while supporting the company’s operations in the UK and Ireland, the US, Australia and internationally.

“Flutter started life as Paddy Power and has since grown into the largest online sports betting and gaming company in the world, owning consumer brands such as FanDuel, Betfair and PokerStars. However, the company still retains a large domestic presence, employing 1,600 at its Power Tower HQ in Dublin 4 and 1,300 in Paddy Power shops across the country. My job is always busy because there’s so much going on,” says Allen who likes to play online chess to relax.

I nip home when I can as I miss my Mum for her kindness and my Dad for his counsel and his obsession with quizzes which he has passed on to me

“The workload can go up and down, but overall I’m happy with my work-life balance. The management team is very driven, so we were even busy during the pandemic when we completed an M&A with the Canadian gaming company, the Stars Group.

“There are a lot of opportunities within Flutter and those opportunities are at a global level. For myself, however, I’m happy in London and my partner Hannah is based here. What is consistent between the Irish and English is a strong work ethic and a great sense of humour which is what you want when you go to the pub after a long day’s work.

“I like London’s proximity to Ireland, and I don’t undervalue the fact that I can get home in about three hours door-to-door,” Allen says. “I nip home when I can as I miss my Mum for her kindness and my Dad for his counsel and his obsession with quizzes which he has passed on to me. I also miss the Guinness and Irish trad sessions although London is getting better at serving a decent pint.”