This is not a manager‑of‑existing‑infrastructure role. It is a builder role for someone energized by architecting a communications strategy for a company targeting B2B enterprise buyers, consumer audiences, financial and investor media, and a C‑suite that requires a credible thought‑leadership voice. The role also supports high‑profile partnership activations—including sports and live events—that create unique earned‑media opportunities and cultural relevance.
What You’ll Own
- Help develop and own the company’s communications architecture: the story, the audiences, and the delivery.
- Translate complex technology into compelling, audience‑specific language for press, investors, and consumers.
- Partner with the CEO and Leadership team to build and execute a thought‑leadership platform across speaking, bylines, and media.
Media Relations
- Build and manage relationships with journalists and editors across B2B tech, consumer, financial, and lifestyle verticals.
- Drive earned‑media strategy from launch through scale—pitching, placing, and managing coverage.
- Develop and maintain a robust crisis‑communications framework before it’s needed.
Investor & Financial Communications
- Support investor‑facing communications in partnership with the CEO and Leadership team.
- Develop materials and messaging for fundraising narratives, announcements, and financial milestones.
- Lead reputation‑management strategy, including preparation for sensitive issues, negative press, misinformation, customer concerns, competitive narratives, and public criticism.
- Develop and maintain crisis‑communications plans, holding statements, escalation processes, and response playbooks.
- Monitor media coverage, social sentiment, industry chatter, and emerging reputational risks.
- Respond quickly and thoughtfully to challenging media inquiries or adverse coverage.
- Advise leadership on when to engage, when not to engage, and how to protect the company’s credibility and long‑term reputation.
Partnership & Event Activations
- Help develop communications strategy for high‑profile brand partnerships and sponsorship activations (sports, live events, experiential).
- Maximize earned‑media value from partnership assets, including activation briefs, press coordination, and coverage strategy.
- Evaluate, select, and manage external PR agencies, freelancers, and specialty vendors as the function scales.
- Build internal communications infrastructure: press materials, media lists, reporting cadence, and measurement frameworks.
Who You Are
- 10+ years of PR and communications experience, with meaningful time in both agency and in‑house environments.
- Experience building a communications function or operating close enough to understand what it requires.
- Equally comfortable writing CEO briefing documents and pitching stories to editors.
- Strong relationships across tech, business, and consumer media, with the ability to build new ones.
- Ability to navigate both B2B and consumer communications with distinct approaches.
- Experience with or exposure to investor communications and how narrative intersects with capital strategy.
- Background in tech, sports, live events, or entertainment PR is a meaningful plus.
- Builder mentality—energized by creating structure rather than inheriting it.
- Able to operate strategically and tactically in a fast‑moving, lean startup environment; comfortable with ambiguity and change.