Executive Director, Security & Resiliency Initiative (SRI) Communications

The Security & Resiliency Initiative (SRI) is a firmwide priority and a $1.5 trillion, 10-year effort to facilitate, finance, and invest in industries critical to national economic security and resiliency, including advanced manufacturing and supply chains, defense and aerospace, energy independence and resilience, frontier and strategic technologies (such as AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing), and pharma and healthtech. SRI sits at the heart of a firmwide strategy that advances security, resiliency, energy, and sustainability together—work advanced in partnership with the firmwide Center for Energy and the Environment (CE&E).

• Lead development and execution of the external communications strategy for SRI, grounded in SRI’s focus areas (supply chain and advanced manufacturing; defense and aerospace; energy independence and resilience; frontier and strategic technologies; pharma and healthtech) and aligned to firmwide priorities.

• Serve as a trusted communications advisor to senior leaders, providing counsel on messaging, positioning, reputation management, and high-value engagement opportunities.

• Manage media relations, including proactive outreach and reactive issues management, and cultivate relationships with top-tier national, financial, trade, and defense/national-security media to strengthen the firm’s external profile.

• Develop and execute proactive communications campaigns around key milestones (investments, transactions, expansions, research, and thought leadership), ensuring credibility, precision, and message pull-through.

• Draft, edit, and oversee high-quality content across formats—press materials, thought leadership, executive remarks/speeches, briefings, op-eds, fact sheets, and talking points—translating complex capital-, investment-, and policy-related work into clear external narratives.

• Partner seamlessly with policy-focused colleagues in Corporate Responsibility Communications who lead SRI’s policy advocacy work, ensuring coordinated external communications across SRI’s core policy priorities and public-private partnership engagement.

• Collaborate with internal partners across lines of business, Government Relations, Legal, Compliance, and Risk to ensure accurate, timely, and disciplined communications.

• Monitor geopolitical, industry, and regulatory developments to inform messaging, anticipate issues, and identify strategic opportunities.

• Track and measure communications outcomes and the effectiveness of tactics; provide insights and recommendations for continuous improvement.

• Support spokesperson preparation for media interviews, conferences, and speaking engagements; elevate executives and subject matter experts through an intentional visibility strategy.

• Build strong relationships with communicators across the firm to enable seamless coordination and consistent messaging.

   

• Bachelor’s degree and 10+ years of progressive experience in external/strategic communications, including media relations and reputation management for complex, high-profile initiatives.

• Demonstrated experience at the intersection of defense/national security, aerospace, advanced manufacturing and supply chains, energy independence and resilience (including grid resilience), frontier and strategic technologies (e.g., AI, cybersecurity, quantum), and/or pharma and healthtech—gained in financial services, government/public sector, an agency environment, or industry aligned to SRI’s focus areas.

• Proven ability to set and execute communications strategy that translates complex work—capital deployment (financing and/or investing), thought leadership, and policy engagement/public-private partnership activity—into clear, credible external narratives.

• Strong media capability: established experience managing senior media relationships, securing high-impact coverage, and navigating sensitive topics with sound judgment (including reactive/issues and crisis communications).

• Exceptional writing and editorial judgment; ability to distill complex geopolitical, industrial, energy, technology, and investment topics into clear, compelling content.

• Strong stakeholder management in a highly matrixed environment; able to partner effectively with senior leaders and cross-functional teams (including Legal, Compliance, Risk, and Government Relations).

• Excellent project management, prioritization, and operational discipline; thrives in a fast-paced, high-urgency environment.

• Analytical, strategic problem solver with high attention to detail and a strong risk mindset.

• Deep subject-matter fluency in one or more SRI focus areas (e.g., defense and aerospace, advanced manufacturing and supply chains, energy independence and resilience, frontier and strategic technologies, pharma and healthtech), with the ability to translate technical and geopolitical complexity into credible external narratives.

• Demonstrated success operating in a highly matrixed, regulated organization, building alignment and influencing outcomes across senior stakeholders, communications partners, and control functions (e.g., Legal, Compliance, Risk, Government Relations).

• Strong command of modern communications tooling and measurement, including advanced PowerPoint storytelling and strategic use of AI/LLM-enabled workflows to accelerate research, drafting, and content production while maintaining appropriate controls.

• Highly self-directed, collaborative, and proactive leader with strong judgment and a growth mindset; known for building trust, raising the bar on storytelling and innovation, and delivering under ambiguity and time pressure.