Senior Lead of Brand Communications & Strategy

About Crunchbase Crunchbase is a predictive solution that provides intelligence on private companies, powered by the unique combination of live private company data, AI, and market activity from over 80 million users. We predict private market movements that matter to help investors, dealmakers, and analysts make the right decisions. We are committed to fostering a positive, diverse, and inclusive culture by hiring for potential and embracing individuals with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets. We value transparency and openness, believing that an inclusive environment strengthens our teams and enhances our products. Crunchbase has a remote-first approach, and is open to hiring in residents of these states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Maine. Our inclusive remote-first culture, competitive pay, and employee wellness benefits set us apart! About the Role: The Senior Lead of Brand Communications & Strategy is responsible for shaping and advancing Crunchbase's brand narrative, communications strategy, thought leadership, and audience engagement across owned and earned channels. As the leader of our Brand Communications function, this role will drive how Crunchbase shows up in the market, strengthening brand awareness, credibility, and authority through compelling storytelling and strategic communications. Sitting at the intersection of brand, PR, content, social, and web strategy, the Senior Lead will lead a team while partnering closely with stakeholders across Marketing, Product Marketing, Demand Generation, Lifecycle, Events, Sales, and Partnerships. This role is responsible for translating business priorities, market insights, and product innovation into impactful brand and communications programs that build audience engagement and support company growth. This is a highly visible leadership role with the opportunity to shape Crunchbase's external voice, influence brand strategy, and drive the evolution of our communications function. What You'll Do: Brand Strategy & Management: Partner with Marketing leadership to evolve Crunchbase's brand strategy, positioning, and visual identity Bring forward new ideas, insights, and recommendations that strengthen brand awareness, differentiation, and market perception Ensure brand consistency across all customer-facing channels, campaigns, and marketing initiatives Develop and maintain brand guidelines, messaging frameworks, and content standards Monitor brand performance, market trends, and competitive presence to inform future brand initiatives Help translate company priorities, product direction, and market intelligence into clear, compelling stories for target audiences. PR, Media Relations & External Communications: Lead Crunchbase's PR and earned media strategy, identifying opportunities to increase visibility, credibility, and share of voice. Build and manage relationships with relevant reporters, editors, influencers, industry voices, and external communications partners. Develop and execute communications plans for company announcements, data-driven stories, product launches, partnerships, milestones, and thought leadership moments. Partner with executives and internal stakeholders to shape media narratives, talking points, briefing materials, bylines, contributed content, and press responses. Manage PR agency, freelancer, or vendor relationships as needed, ensuring alignment with business priorities, messaging, and brand standards. Support issues management and sensitive communications by applying strong editorial judgment, reputational awareness, and cross-functional alignment. Track PR outcomes and media performance, sharing insights and recommendations that improve future communications efforts. Content Strategy & Thought Leadership: Develop and execute content strategies that support awareness, engagement, and business growth objectives Lead editorial planning across key owned channels, including blog, web, social, thought leadership, customer stories, data stories, executive content, and campaign narratives Partner with Product Marketing, News, Data and subject matter experts to develop differentiated narratives and thought leadership Identify new content opportunities, formats, and storytelling approaches that strengthen audience engagement and brand authority in private markets, financial services, tech, and related sectors. Balance long-term editorial strategy with hands-on content development, editing, quality control, and execution. Maintain high standards for clarity, accuracy, tone, audience relevance, and brand consistency across communications and content. Digital Presence & Audience Engagement: Guide social media strategy in partnership with the social media owner, ensuring Crunchbase's social presence reflects a clear brand voice, timely market perspective, and audience-first content approach. Partner with the web/AEO owner to ensure website content, brand messaging, SEO/AEO priorities, and digital storytelling support audience needs and business goals. Help define priority narratives, editorial themes, and authority-building topics across social, web, and owned content channels. Partner with Product Marketing, Demand Generation, and Lifecycle to support integrated campaigns, launches, and go-to-market initiatives with strong messaging and content strategy. Evaluate content, PR, social, and web performance to identify opportunities for optimization, audience growth, and stronger engagement. Ensure owned and earned channels work together to build brand authority, improve discoverability, and reinforce Crunchbase's market position. AI-Enabled Content Operations: Identify and implement AI-enabled workflows that improve content creation, research, campaign execution, reporting, and operational efficiency Leverage AI tools to accelerate content production while maintaining brand quality and consistency Evaluate emerging marketing technologies and content trends to improve team productivity and scalability Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership: Lead and develop the Brand Communications team as a player-coach, highlighting team impact to the business Manage agency and vendor relationships while ensuring alignment with business objectives and brand standards Establish team priorities, workflows, and success metrics that support marketing and company goals Provide strategic guidance, editorial direction, and constructive feedback to help team members grow and produce stronger work Foster a culture of creativity, accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement What We're Looking For: Strong experience in brand communications, PR, content strategy, messaging, storytelling, and audience engagement. Ability to translate business objectives, market trends, customer needs, and product priorities into compelling narratives and communications programs. Strong understanding of media relations, earned media strategy, executive communications, thought leadership, and reputational judgment. Excellent writing, editing, messaging, and editorial judgment across multiple formats and channels. Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution in a fast-paced environment. Strong understanding of brand positioning and how to build consistent narratives across PR, social, web, campaigns, and owned content. Working knowledge of SEO, AEO, website strategy, social media, and digital content performance. Ability to analyze communications, content, social, web, and PR performance data and translate insights into recommendations. Experience managing agencies, freelancers, PR partners, or external creative/communications vendors. Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration skills. Strong project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously. Understanding of AI-enabled content tools, automation platforms, research tools, media monitoring tools, and emerging marketing technologies. Ability to thrive in ambiguity, bring structure to complex initiatives, and adapt to evolving business needs. What Crunchbase Offers: At Crunchbase, we're building a culture where talented people can grow, innovate, and make an impact. We invest in our team so everyone has the support, tools, and trust to do meaningful work and thrive — personally and professionally. Here's what you can expect: Competitive compensation and equity — rewarding you for OrderAhead