Senior Manager, Public Relations

Senior Manager, Public Relations & Corporate Communications (IC)

Location: Remote (preference for Chicago, Vancouver, or Austin)
Department: Marketing
Reports to: Head of Marketing
Level: Senior Manager (Individual Contributor; manages contractors/agencies as needed)

Role Summary

We're hiring a Senior Manager, Public Relations & Corporate Communications to lead the communications "flywheel" that reinforces our go-to-market strategy and key differentiators—across both corporate reputation and brand communications.

This role is not about reinventing our brand from scratch; it's about aligning to and helping drive the brand direction we've already defined, ensuring consistency across communications, developing timely thought leadership, and making sure our story is relevant to what's happening in the industry and across RB. You'll also elevate topics we under-leverage today—like product and platform enhancements—so customers consistently hear how we're improving, innovating, and delivering value.

You'll partner closely with marketing leaders, sales leaders, investor relations, and executives to earn attention, strengthen trust, and increase share of voice.

What You'll Do

1) Own the comms flywheel (alignment, consistency, and relevance)

• Operationalize our defined brand direction into a clear, repeatable comms system: key messages, proof points, narrative pillars, FAQs, and "why us" storylines.

• Ensure communications consistency across earned media, executive comms, and brand storytelling—so customers hear one coherent message everywhere.

• Build an editorial cadence that aligns timing and relevance to what's happening in the market, the industry, and across RB (events, competitor moves, macro themes, seasonal cycles).

2) Bring product and innovation forward (make enhancements visible)

• Proactively surface and package product/platform improvements into customer-relevant stories (what's new, why it matters, and proof it works).

• Partner with product, marketing, and internal writers to translate enhancements into media-ready narratives and simple value statements customers will remember.

• Create "story modules" (customer outcome + product proof + differentiator) that can be reused across PR, exec talking points, sales enablement, and campaigns.

3) Build and run communications plans (strategy + execution)

• Create and align on quarterly and annual comms plans tied to GTM priorities, launches, events, and key business moments.

• Execute end-to-end: messaging, press materials, story briefs, media pitches, bylines, speaking abstracts, executive talking points, Q&A, and comms toolkits.

• Coordinate across internal partners and external contractors to ship on time and on message.

4) Earned media & relationship management (media that matters to customers)

• Develop media strategy across trade, local, and podcasts / audio—prioritizing outlets that influence customer trust and perception.

• Build relationships with reporters, editors, and hosts; pitch consistently with high-signal, customer-relevant angles.

• Drive a steady pipeline of placements and coverage moments that reinforce GTM differentiators.

5) Competitive & market intelligence + share of voice ownership

• Monitor competitors across the broader landscape (direct, adjacent, and emerging players) to inform positioning, story angles, and proactive response.

• Own share-of-voice tracking and reporting (category and competitor-level), identify opportunities to take mindshare, and help drive the plan to increase SOV over time.

• Use Meltwater and related tools to track coverage themes, message pull-through, and narrative momentum—then translate insights into action.

6) Executive thought leadership & speaker bench enablement

• Build proactive executive relationships to identify thought leadership lanes aligned to GTM priorities and industry moments.

• Convert exec perspectives into opportunities: panels, keynotes, podcasts, bylines, interviews, and quotes.

• Prepare leaders with briefing docs, talking points, Q&A, and media training support as needed.

7) Crisis communications & issues management (calm, fast, accurate)

• Lead crisis readiness and response across:

  • Safety / yard incidents

  • Catastrophes

  • Employee conduct

  • Litigation

• Create and maintain crisis playbooks, escalation paths, holding statements, and scenario plans.

• Partner with the Exec sponsor or BU lead (decision-maker) and cross-functional stakeholders to coordinate response and communications from first alert through post-mortem.

8) Measurement, monitoring, and operational excellence (Meltwater power user)

• Own media monitoring and reporting using Meltwater (alerts, dashboards, share of voice, sentiment, competitor tracking, campaign readouts).

• Track performance against agreed KPIs: consistency of narrative adoption, SOV, placements, earned media impact/value, and message pull-through.

• Run a simple operating cadence (weekly pipeline + monitoring, monthly performance readouts, quarterly strategy refresh).

9) Leverage AI tools responsibly

• Use AI to accelerate research, monitoring, drafting, repurposing, and ideation—while ensuring accuracy, judgment, and brand voice stay high.

What Success Looks Like (6–12 months)

• Our comms flywheel is running: consistent message system, clear editorial cadence, and repeatable "story modules."

• Product and platform enhancements become a regular, credible part of our external story (earned media + exec comms), tied to customer outcomes.

• Share of voice improves in priority categories; placements increase in quality and customer relevance.

• Competitive monitoring is systematized (dashboards + insights) and used to proactively win mindshare.

• Crisis readiness is strong: playbooks + templates + drills, with fast, coordinated response when needed.

• Executives have a steady cadence of thought leadership opportunities aligned to GTM priorities and industry moments.

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years in PR / corporate communications (agency and/or in-house required).

• Demonstrated experience leading crisis / issues communications with strong judgment under pressure.

• Proven ability to own both strategy and hands-on execution (you can write, pitch, brief, and deliver).

• Expertise with Meltwater (required); comfort building dashboards, alerts, and competitive tracking.

• Excellent storytelling and writing: crisp, credible, and customer-relevant.

• Strong cross-functional influence skills; comfortable partnering with executives, IR, sales leaders, and marketers.

• Experience in complex, operationally intensive, B2B environments (marketplaces, industrial, logistics, services, etc.) is a plus.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience supporting communications in litigation-adjacent environments (partnering with Legal).

• Familiarity with investor communications coordination (in partnership with IR).

• Experience amplifying thought leadership via podcasts and modern media formats.

---