Communications Strategist

Role Title: Senior Communications Partner (AI Discoverability & External Authority)

Location: Charlotte, NC

Duration & Terms: 5 months with potential extension

Business Initiative / Purpose: Partner with the innovative AI Discoverability Pod —a cross-functional operating model uniting content, technology, design, and corporate communications—to execute high-impact strategies across priority digital workstreams.

Role Responsibilities

• External Authority Strategy: Spearhead the communication framework to strengthen our financial services client’s brand presence, credibility, and citation footprint across third-party sources powering traditional search engines and AI-driven recommendation platforms.
• Earned Media & Thought Leadership: Collaborate with subject-matter experts and executive leadership to uncover timely, differentiated storylines, commentary, proprietary insights, and executive perspectives referenced by external publishers.
• Non-Commodity Content Guidance: Guide the AEO pod in producing distinctive, highly credible assets—including first-party research, expert interviews, proprietary data, calculators, and original analysis—that stand above standard industry repetition.
• Data-Driven Narrative Translation: Translate complex first-party data and insights into media-ready reports, executive talking points, and compelling story angles in partnership with Analytics, SEO/AEO, and business stakeholders to secure valuable citations and backlinks.
• Reputation & Information Accuracy: Safeguard brand integrity by coordinating communications responses when search engines or AI platforms surface outdated, conflicting, or off-brand information, partnering closely with Digital, Product, Legal, Compliance, and Reputation Management teams.
• Sponsorship & Partnership Integration: Amplify sponsorships and corporate partnerships by working alongside SEO/AEO and business units to convert live events into authoritative digital content, high-value brand mentions, and powerful external signals.

Must-Have Skills & Experience

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Digital Media, Information Science, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• Professional Experience: 5+ years of professional experience spanning digital strategy, SEO, digital marketing, website optimization, content strategy, or user experience.
• Digital & AI Search Acumen: Robust understanding of SEO, digital marketing, web analytics, content optimization, and emerging AI-powered search environments (how content is indexed, cited, and surfaced across search engines and answer engines).
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Proven track record of leading complex digital initiatives or multidisciplinary workstreams across content, technology, design, analytics, and business stakeholders.
• Strategic Vision: Ability to spot market trends, shifting search behaviors, competitive whitespaces, and emerging technologies to shape digital discoverability strategies.
• Influence & Communication: Exceptional communication, storytelling, and influencing skills, with the ability to translate complex technical or analytical data into concise executive recommendations.
• Matrixed Collaboration: Demonstrated aptitude for leading through influence, mentoring teammates, and fostering tight-knit collaboration in a complex, matrixed environment.
• Technical Proficiency: Strong command of Excel and PowerPoint for analyzing performance metrics, building business cases, and designing executive-level presentations.

Nice-to-Have Skills & Experience

(Candidates possessing any of these qualifications will be prioritized, but they are not strictly mandatory.)

• Experience leveraging Adobe Analytics or alternative advanced digital analytics platforms.
• Specialized expertise in SEO and AI search optimization (experience utilizing Microsoft Copilot is a plus).
• Hands-on familiarity with generative AI engines, conversational search dynamics, and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) frameworks.
• Experience managing and collaborating with external agency partners or vendors.
• Background in developing data-backed content, SEO, or comprehensive digital optimization strategies.
• Prior experience within financial services or another heavily regulated industry.

EEO: Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of – Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans.