Director of Public Relations

The role is responsible for building and leading the public relations strategy that keeps Jack in the Box top of mind, culturally relevant, and consistently part of the conversation. This role creates an always-on drumbeat of earned attention, developing breakthrough stories, activations, partnerships, and newsworthy moments that generate sustained visibility for the brand beyond traditional campaign windows. Responsible to lead earned storytelling across both brand and corporate communications, turning Jack in the Box’s distinctive personality, menu innovation, marketing programs, people, and business transformation into stories the media and culture want to talk about. This role requires a highly creative earned media thinker who understands how to create news, not simply communicate it, and who can move seamlessly between consumer PR, cultural activations, executive and corporate storytelling, and reputation management. KEY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES: Earned Media Strategy & Always-On Awareness Develops and leads an always-on earned media strategy designed to keep Jack in the Box consistently visible, relevant, and top of mind. Builds an annual earned communications calendar that extends beyond major marketing campaigns to create a continuous drumbeat of culturally relevant stories and moments. Identifies opportunities across the brand, menu, marketing calendar, consumer trends, cultural conversations, and company news that can generate breakthrough earned attention. Creates proactive storylines and news hooks rather than relying solely on traditional product announcements and press releases. Maintains a deep understanding of media trends, consumer behavior, cultural conversations, and emerging platforms to identify new opportunities for Jack in the Box to show up in unexpected ways. Breakthrough Activations & Cultural Moments Conceives and executes earned-first ideas, stunts, activations, partnerships, events, and cultural moments designed to break through and generate conversation. Develops PR strategies that amplify major brand and menu initiatives while creating additional earned moments between campaign launches. Challenges agency and internal partners to develop ideas that are inherently talkable, shareable, and newsworthy. Ensures activations unmistakably reflect Jack in the Box’s distinctive voice and personality while advancing broader brand and business objectives. Brand & Marketing Storytelling Leads earned-media storytelling around the company's brand strategy, menu innovation, marketing campaigns, partnerships, activations, and other consumer-facing initiatives. Translates marketing programs into compelling narratives that extend their reach and cultural impact beyond paid media. Develops differentiated stories for consumer, food, business, trade, lifestyle, and cultural media. Builds strong relationships with influential journalists, creators, cultural voices, and other storytellers who can help amplify Jack in the Box. Partners closely with Social Media to maximize the interplay between earned attention and organic conversation, creating moments capable of traveling across channels. Corporate & Turnaround Storytelling Partners with Executive Leadership and key cross-functional teams to shape and communicate the broader Jack in the Box corporate narrative. Develops a proactive storytelling roadmap that consistently demonstrates momentum in the company’s turnaround, translating meaningful progress into credible stories for external audiences. Identifies proof points across brand transformation, menu, restaurant experience, franchisee initiatives, innovation, leadership, culture, and business performance that can contribute to the broader momentum story. Creates a steady cadence of proof, progress, and momentum, rather than relying on occasional major corporate announcements to tell the transformation story. Develops executive communications opportunities, thought leadership, interviews, speaking opportunities, and proactive media engagement that strengthen confidence in the company and its leadership. Media Relations & Reputation Management Serves as a senior point of contact for media and develops trusted relationships with key national, business, consumer, food, trade, and local journalists. Proactively pitches stories, cultivates long-term media relationships, and identifies emerging conversations where Jack in the Box can credibly participate. Oversees reactive media relations and partners with executive leadership and cross-functional teams on issues and reputation management. Develops messaging, talking points, Q&A materials, media briefs, executive preparation, and other communications materials as needed. Helps protect the reputation of the brand while maintaining Jack in the Box’s bold, distinctive personality. Integrated Agency & Cross-Functional Leadership Leads PR agency partners, establishing clear strategic direction, performance expectations, ways of working, and accountability for results. Partners closely with Brand Marketing, Product Marketing, Growth Marketing, Social Media, Strategic Insights, Franchise Communications, Legal, Operations, and Executive Leadership to identify and activate storytelling opportunities. Ensures public relations is integrated early in the development of marketing programs so earned potential influences the idea rather than simply amplifying it after the fact. Provides communications guidance and support to the franchise community as appropriate. Builds strong cross-functional relationships and fosters a culture of creativity, urgency, collaboration, and accountability. Measurement, Budget & Continuous Improvement Establishes clear objectives and KPIs for earned-media programs and evaluates performance, impact, and opportunities for optimization. Looks beyond traditional PR outputs to understand whether programs are generating attention, conversation, cultural relevance, and meaningful brand impact. Oversees PR agency and activation budgets, ensuring resources are allocated against the highest-impact opportunities. Builds a culture of experimentation, encouraging the organization and its agency partners to continually find new ways to earn attention. QUALIFICATIONS: Education Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Relations, Journalism, Marketing, Business Administration, or related field required. Experience 8+ years of progressively responsible public relations, communications, earned media, or integrated marketing experience. Significant experience developing earned-first ideas and breakthrough consumer PR programs, ideally within restaurant, food and beverage, retail, entertainment, consumer products, or other highly culturally relevant brands. Demonstrated experience generating meaningful earned media through proactive storytelling, activations, partnerships, and cultural moments. Experience with both consumer brand PR and corporate communications strongly preferred. Experience supporting executive communications and corporate reputation programs preferred. Agency management experience required. Experience working within a multi-unit and/or franchise organization highly desired. Jack in the Box Inc. offers a competitive salary and Total Rewards package that includes: medical, dental, vision, Health Spending Account (HSA), Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Life and Disability Plans, 401(k) plan with company match, Legal Plan, Pet Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, and Employee Assistance Program. Our culture is fun and innovative – ‘Work Happy’ with us! The range for this position is $140,000 - $200,000 and is based on an employee located at our corporate headquarters in San Diego. If the candidate is hired in a different city to work remote, we may apply a geographic pay differential based on the cost of labor in the market in which the employee resides. #J-18808-Ljbffr