PR Lead

As PR Lead, you own external communications: the narrative, the earned media programme, executive and founder positioning, reputation and crisis communications, and the events programme.

The shape of this role is specific. A substantial monthly agency retainer already exists — your job is not to replace it but to run it: set the narrative, direct the agencies against it, hold them to outcomes, and cut what does not deliver. Three things you own personally rather than through an agency: founder and executive positioning, crisis communications, and the judgement call on what we say and when.

Responsibilities
- Own the global PR narrative: priority markets, priority media, narrative pillars, and a realistic 6-month coverage ambition.
- Run the agency portfolio as an accountable programme: briefs, KPIs, monthly review, consolidation of overlapping scopes, and the decision to renew or exit.
- Own the news pipeline: identify, shape and land stories from product launches, milestones, data, partnerships and category commentary — and make sure agencies are fed with news rather than asked to invent it.
- Own founder and executive positioning directly: speaking platforms, keynotes, podcasts, op-eds, LinkedIn, awards and rankings.
- Own reputation and crisis communications directly: risk map, holding statements, escalation protocol, spokesperson training — coordinated with Legal, Compliance and the SERM/ORM function.
- Build and maintain your own senior media relationships in priority outlets, independent of agency access.
- Own the events and side-events programme with the Event Manager: which conferences, what we do there, what we get out of it.
- Align every external message with the brand platform and product narratives; act as final gatekeeper on what leaves the building.
- Build the media narrative for a regulated and often misunderstood category, in coordination with Compliance.
- Define and report PR KPIs: quality of coverage against a defined tier list, share of voice, message pull-through, executive visibility, and cost per outcome across the agency portfolio.