Director Public Relations

• Define Morningstar's enterprise external positioning across business financial and industry media.
• Lead proactive and reactive media engagement and maintain direct relationships with priority journalists.
• Serve as a spokesperson and senior media advisor to executives.
• Support Investor Relations with CEO-driven financial communications

• Design and lead an external communications strategy built for a fractured media landscape-balancing priority outlets with the long tail of digital publishers creators newsletters and audio/video platforms.
• Sustain an "employees out in front" approach in partnership with Research Marketing that spotlights Morningstar's analysts and subject-matter experts through consistent media readiness smart packaging of insights and high-quality storytelling.
• Develop repeatable formats that translate research into platform-native outputs (e.g. short video explainers chart-driven narratives rapid-response takes Q&As) without oversimplifying the underlying analysis.
• Define success metrics across earned and owned channels (share of voice message pull-through expert visibility engagement and trust signals) and use performance insights to adapt strategy quarter to quarter.

• Own crisis and issues preparedness and live response.
• Advise senior leadership and internal partners on positioning escalation and timing.
• Make and recommend clear decisions under pressure to protect Morningstar's reputation.

• Shape the CEO and senior leaders' external voice through traditional and new media interviews bylines social media and speaking engagements.
• Ensure all thought leadership is grounded in Morningstar research and evidence.

• Own corporate LinkedIn strategy as an earned-credibility employee-advocacy and insights-amplification channel-with an increasing emphasis on video-forward platform-native storytelling.
• Create scalable advocacy enablement for analysts and leaders (editorial calendars posting guidance pre-approved language rapid-response workflows and media/social training) to help experts participate confidently and compliantly.
• • Build and manage key third-party relationships-including select creators newsletter writers podcast hosts and industry influencers-that reinforce Morningstar's authority and extend reach to new audiences.

• Set enterprise narrative standards and playbooks for external communications.
• Partner closely with regional communications teams to ensure consistency without line management.

• Lead three direct reports covering media relations executive communications social media and issues preparedness.
• Manage agencies as strategic partners and support for scale with clear briefs strong point-of-view ownership and high standards for quality and judgment.

• Deep media relations and crisis communications experience in regulated complex or data-driven environments.
• Ability to translate research financial and analytical complexity into clear defensible narratives.
• Executive presence and comfort advising the CEO and senior leaders directly.
• Fluency in modern communications channels and formats (newsletters podcasts/audio short-form video and platform-native social content) and the ability to build systems that help experts show up consistently in them.
• Strong editorial judgment and content development skills: shaping research into clear storylines coaching spokespeople and maintaining rigor accuracy and appropriate risk controls.
• Data-driven approach to communications: defining KPIs interpreting performance across earned/owned channels and iterating strategy based on insights-without optimizing for volume at the expense of trust.
• Strong writing editing and message discipline under tight timelines.

• Financial Health
  
  • 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary
  • Stock Ownership Potential
  • Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission
• Physical Health
  
  • Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2000 annually) for specific plans and coverages
  • Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
  • Company-provided long- and short-term disability insurance
• Emotional Health
  
  • Trust-Based Time Off
  • 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program
  • 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave
  • Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Leadership Coaching & Formal Mentorship Opportunities
  • Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses
  • Tuition Reimbursement
• Social Health
  
  • Charitable Matching Gifts program
  • Dollars for Doers volunteer program
  • Paid volunteering days
  • 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups

What We Do

At Morningstar we believe in building great products in-house in a highly collaborative agile environment where we focus on technical excellence the user experience and continuous improvement. Our technologists represent a range of skills and experience levels but they all view their work as a craft and push technology’s boundaries.

Why Work With Us

Imagining big things is in our blood -- it's transformed us from a company with just a few employees in 1984 to a leading independent investment research company with a worldwide presence today. As of April 2020 we acquired Sustainalytics to drive long-term meaningful outcomes for investors in the ESG space. Join us on this exciting journey!

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