Director of Communications & Brand

About the Role

Podium is building the operating system for local business in the age of AI, and we need the world to know it. We're hiring our first Director of Comms & Brand to build a founder-led, non-traditional comms function and to strengthen and amplify our brand and reputation in the market.

You'll target two priority audiences, strategic customers and investors, and convince them that Podium is the number one authority in AI for the industries we serve. You'll do it through our founder's voice on organic social, at industry events, and on a short hit list of podcasts. You'll also amplify our narrative on influential third-party sites and in the conversations about Podium in the market.

We don't believe traditional PR is the best way to reach the people who matter. The founder is the voice, and we tell our story directly. This role requires extreme ownership, comfort with ambiguity, and a strong bias for action. It's for a doer who wants to build a lean operation that punches well above its weight, using AI to produce exceptional content at 10X the speed.

What You'll Own

• Founder-Led Comms & Social (top priority)
• Take our early founder-led social program and scale it fast, starting in week one. Establish Eric on X and LinkedIn as the leading voice on AI and the industries we serve.
• Set the strategy: themes, cadence, and how we show up in the right conversations to compound an audience.
• Stand up AI-native workflows that turn raw material (meetings, customer calls, product reviews) into a high volume of the right content.
• Run recurring content around launches, milestones, customer ROI, and technical deep dives.
• Tell us what it takes to get results, then go do it. Define the metrics, commit to ambitious goals, and hit them.
• Learn Eric's voice cold. Pitch angles and frame ideas the way he would.
• Book Eric on strike-zone podcasts, and grow a champion network that amplifies his content.
• Events Narrative
• Own executive communications for Eric and the leadership team: keynotes, talks, and major company announcements. You write the narrative and talk track, build the presentation, and prep the speaker.
• You'll drive our narrative strategy and prep: the story, the topics, and Podium's positioning, for stage Connect, our flagship enterprise conference.
• Podium Brand
• Maximize our impact on review and discovery sites: a steady flow of 5-star reviews, top rankings, and the right categories and positioning on every profile.
• Partner with AEO/SEO and product marketing so Podium wins in search and AI answers.
• Monitor what the market says about us (reviews, Reddit, Facebook groups), respond, and fix root causes.
• Equip the company with brand standards, templates, and AI tooling, working with our designers and content writers, so we show up as one Podium brand.

Candidate Profile

Must Haves

• Track record in comms, brand, or founder content at a high-growth tech, AI, or consumer company, including leading a team. Founder-led experience strongly preferred.
• Exceptional writer and original thinker. You capture a founder's voice and can originate a point of view that holds up on stage.
• Social native. You know what stops the scroll, and you're already immersed in the AI, SaaS, and SMB conversation on X.
• Stage experience. You've written keynotes and run content for a large event.
• Creative taste. You've directed design and content work and hold a high bar.
• Organized operator. You systematize work so it moves faster without losing quality.
• Extreme ownership and bias to action. You run autonomously, protect the CEO's time, take feedback well, and ship great today over perfect next month.
• Deep AI fluency. You use AI heavily in your own work, build content workflows, and can show us what you've built.

Not a Fit If

• You default to traditional PR: press releases, a reporter rolodex, awards for their own sake.
• You want to run a rebrand or a positioning exercise. The story comes from Eric.
• You need a big budget, team, or agency, or constant CEO face time.

Benefits

• Work in Lehi, UT, 5 days a week
• Open and transparent culture
• Life insurance, long and short-term disability coverage
• Paid maternity and paternity leave
• Fertility Benefits
• Generous vacation time, plus three 4-day summer holiday weekends
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision benefits
• 401k Plan
• Bi-annual swag drops with cool Podium gear and apparel
• A stellar HQ (Utah) gym with local professional coaches and classes offered
• Onsite HQ (Utah) child care center, subsidized for employees