PR Lead

• Crypto or digital assets media experience.
• Additional languages relevant to priority markets.

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.

• 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.

• 6+ years in PR or communications, including direct experience running external agencies as the client and holding them to results.
• Demonstrable tier-1 business, financial, fintech or crypto coverage you personally shaped or secured.
• Real crisis communications experience in a scrutinised or regulated category - you have handled something serious, not read about it.
• Track record of founder or executive comms: building a credible public voice from a low base.
• Excellent news judgement and a very high standard of written English.
• Experience with major event and conference programmes, sponsorship and partnership communications.
• Comfortable working with Legal and Compliance on sensitive external communications.
• Commercially literate about agency spend: you can read a retainer, judge whether it is earning its cost, and say so.
• Fluent English.