The posting
We Are Looking For:
The Global Head of Communications is responsible for developing and leading a comprehensive communications strategy that advances State Street's purpose of helping create better outcomes for the world's investors and the people they serve. We are looking for a proven corporate communications leader, a prolific writer and gifted storyteller: someone who can sit with a complex strategy and help turn it into language that is clear, credible, and genuinely compelling. This person will serve as a trusted advisor to our CEO and executive leadership on matters of reputation, bringing sound judgment, discretion, and the confidence to offer counsel that is heard and acted on, not just delivered.
This is a disciplined thinker who will ensure rigor in how our messaging is developed and delivered, ensuring every narrative, from an internal town hall to a global press statement, is deliberately connected to our business strategy and authentically reflective of our value proposition and brand essence. This leader earns trust and builds credibility over time, through consistency, sound judgment, and the ability to see around corners, and uses that credibility to offer counsel that leaders genuinely rely on in both routine moments and high-stakes ones.
This is also a people leader and culture carrier: someone who can lead and nurture a talented team, elevate the caliber of their work, and deliberately deepen their skills over time, building not just a function but a bench of future communications leaders. Deep financial services experience is essential, including real fluency operating inside global, complex, highly regulated organizations, where every word carries commercial, legal, and reputational weight.
Why This Role Matters:
This role oversees all aspects of enterprise communications and reputation management, including external, internal, executive, client, and crisis communications, while driving initiatives that strengthen the firm's credibility and market presence. Reporting to the Global Chief Marketing Officer, and as a senior, trusted member of the organization, this leader will partner closely with the CEO, executive leadership, and key stakeholders to deliver clear, consistent, and compelling narratives that enhance employee engagement, support business objectives, and elevate State Street's position in the marketplace.
What You Will Be Responsible For:
Enterprise Reputation, Strategy & Executive Counsel
- Develop a strategic approach to integrated communications that amplifies State Street's reputation through clear, disciplined, and impactful communications across internal and external channels.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the CEO and executive leadership on reputation management, working closely with them to develop a corporate message map that ensures consistent, clear, and strategic communication across every channel.
- Craft high-level narratives that underpin our strategy, elevate our external presence, build our credibility, and deliver successful business outcomes.
- Establish greater discipline in how messaging is developed and delivered across the function, ensuring every narrative is deliberately connected to business strategy and genuinely reflective of our value proposition and brand essence.
- Drive real commercial outcomes through an approach that is both creative and disciplined, treating every narrative as an opportunity to advance the business, not simply an exercise in words.
- Set and deliver outcome-based communications key results, and measure and track performance against clear KPIs.
Executive Communications
- Own the shaping of messaging and communications from the CEO and executive leadership, ensuring a consistent, authentic voice across every audience and moment, from employee-facing communications to external industry platforms.
- Lead the development of keynote remarks, speeches, and talking points for the CEO and executive leadership at industry events, conferences, and other high-visibility platforms, ensuring each moment reinforces our broader narrative and business priorities.
- Manage the writing of, bylines, op-eds, and other executive-voiced content, capturing each leader's authentic point of view while ensuring quality, consistency, and relevance to the audience.
- Build a disciplined executive communications process, including message development, drafting, review, and delivery, so our leaders show up prepared and credible in every setting.
Internal Communications & Employee Engagement
- Execute the internal communications strategy for State Street to ensure employees understand our purpose, strategy, and associated priorities, so they can execute in support of our clients and shareholders.
- Lead the internal communications plan and program that strengthens employees' understanding of business goals, improves cross-functional communication, and genuinely inspires and engages our people.
- Oversee communications employees access across internal channels, including email, newsletters, digital signage, the corporate intranet, internal social media, and events such as Town Halls.
- Amplify State Street's culture, benefits, and talent focus through internal storytelling that strengthens pride and connection to the firm.
External Communications & Media Relations
- Provide strategic and innovative direction for State Street's global PR and media relations strategy, developing strong, credible relationships with local, national, and global media.
- Own PR agency management globally, setting clear performance expectations, governance, and accountability across our roster of public relations agency partners in every region we operate.
- Lead crisis and issues communications, acting as a calm, disciplined voice that protects the firm's reputation under pressure while maintaining transparency and trust.
- Guide the communications strategy for our clients and internal client-facing teams, ensuring our external voice is consistent with how our businesses engage clients directly.
- Lead a dedicated client communications team, working closely with our client relationships managers in preparing talking points and readiness around key client themes and time-sensitive operational updates.
- Lead the strategic positioning of executive platforms, both internally and externally, ensuring our leaders show up with a consistent, credible, and compelling voice.
- Direct the external sponsorship strategy, messaging, positioning, and promotion in partnership with Brand and Marketing.
Enterprise Thought Leadership & Content Strategy
- Lead the global enterprise thought leadership and content strategy in close partnership with our Editorial Board, ensuring relevance, editorial standards, and content best practices that maximize engagement and drive reputation and commercial success.
- Establish narrative frameworks, editorial standards, and content best practices that reinforce State Street's brand, influence, and competitive differentiation across every enterprise content channel.
- Bring a strong understanding of content governance, audience engagement, analytics, and AI-enabled content capabilities to modernize how thought leadership is produced and distributed.
- Partner with commercial content and marketing teams to ensure enterprise thought leadership reinforces, rather than duplicates, business-specific content strategies.
Leadership & Cross-Functional Partnership
- Lead and nurture a team of diverse, skilled communicators, elevating the caliber of their work and deliberately deepening their skills, while managing resources to deliver a robust presence efficiently and on time.
- Cultivate strong relationships with internal stakeholders, including key executives, business leaders, Global Human Resources, Global Marketing, commercial content and thought leadership teams, and Investor Relations, to find new ways to influence how the market perceives State Street.
- Serve as a role model for culture and the behaviors we want to see across the organization, and act as a seasoned, steady hand in driving positive change.
- Partner across Communications, Marketing, Research, and business teams to drive aligned messaging and measurable outcomes.
Required Qualifications:
- 20+ years of institutional financial services industry expertise, with the ability to understand changing market dynamics and translate them into communications strategy.
- A prolific, versatile writer and communicator, able to engage both internal and external stakeholders and articulate complex topics with clarity and precision.
- Demonstrated experience in executive communications, including speechwriting for senior leaders at industry events and conferences, and ghostwriting bylines and thought leadership content in an authentic executive voice.
- Deep experience in reputation and earned media, including leading crisis and corporate communications across both public relations and social media.
- Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted advisor to a CEO and executive leadership, with the judgment, discretion, and presence to earn that trust and hold it.
- Experience leading enterprise content and thought leadership strategies within complex, global organizations.
- Demonstrated ability to partner across communications, marketing, research, and business teams to drive aligned messaging and measurable outcomes.
- Strong understanding of content governance, editorial strategy, audience engagement, analytics, and AI-enabled content capabilities.
- Experience working in a large, complex, global organization with multiple legal entity structures and business lines, and deep fluency in the controls that come with operating in a highly regulated industry.
- A strong, disciplined leader and builder of diverse, collaborative teams, with a genuine commitment to elevating the skills and craft of the people they lead.
- Ability to manage projects across multiple stakeholders, timelines, and key deliverables, with a track record of connecting the dots to inform a larger strategy while maintaining an execution-oriented mindset.
- A hands-on leader, equally comfortable setting strategy and rolling up their sleeves to support execution.
- Ability to bring innovative ideas on how to effectively communicate with a new generation of leaders and employees.
Salary Range:
$225,000 - $337,500 Annual
The range quoted above applies to the role in the primary location specified. If the candidate would ultimately work outside of the primary location above, the applicable range could differ.
Employees are eligible to participate in State Street’s comprehensive benefits program, which includes: our retirement savings plan (401K) with company match; insurance coverage including basic life, medical, dental, vision, long-term disability, and other optional additional coverages; paid-time off including vacation, sick leave, short term disability, and family care responsibilities; access to our Employee Assistance Program; incentive compensation including eligibility for annual performance-based awards (excluding certain sales roles subject to sales incentive plans); and, eligibility for certain tax advantaged savings plans.
For a full overview, visit https://hrportal.ehr.com/statestreet/Home.
About State Street
Across the globe, institutional investors rely on us to help them manage risk, respond to challenges, and drive performance and profitability. We keep our clients at the heart of everything we do, and smart, engaged employees are essential to our continued success.
We are committed to fostering an environment where every employee feels valued and empowered to reach their full potential. As an essential partner in our shared success, you’ll benefit from inclusive development opportunities, flexible work-life support, paid volunteer days, and vibrant employee networks that keep you connected to what matters most. Join us in shaping the future.
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we consider all qualified applicants for all positions without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, age, disability, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, citizenship, marital status, domestic partnership or civil union status, familial status, military and veteran status, and other characteristics protected by applicable law.
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