Director, Brand and Communications

Kickstarter PBC; United States; Remote; USD 185,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Health plan

Paid vacation

Parental leave

401k match

Wellness stipend

Job summary

Kickstarter is seeking a Director of Brand & Communications to lead our brand and cultural narratives from ideation to execution. This role reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and collaborates across Growth, Product, Content, and Partnerships to shape campaigns, partnerships, and stories that drive awareness and growth.

The ideal candidate has senior-level experience in brand communications, culture marketing, and media relations.

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience leading brand communications, cultural marketing, public relations, or integrated roles.
• Exceptional cultural fluency and a strong point of view on ideas shaping creative culture.
• Proven track record turning ideas into campaigns, stories, or moments that earn attention.
• Deep relationships with major media outlets and industry leaders.
• Strong communications judgment; ability to clarify complex business and product stories.
• Experience leading PR agencies and internal teams with clear strategy and accountability.

Responsibilities

• Identify emerging cultural conversations and opportunities where Kickstarter can play a credible role.
• Generate bold ideas and mobilize teams to campaigns, partnerships, experiences, and stories.
• Build clear narratives about Kickstarter’s brand, products, creators, and impact.
• Lead proactive media relations and cultivate relationships with journalists and cultural leaders.
• Establish a consistent pipeline of stories across business, technology, culture, and creative outlets.
• Serve as the senior day-to-day lead for the PR agency and guide its best work.
• Advise the executive team on corporate positioning and reputation.
• Partner with Growth, Product, Outreach, Content & Editorial, Social, Partnerships to align storytelling.
• Lead development of integrated brand programs from insight to execution.
• Define goals and measures connecting awareness to growth.
• Develop a high-performing team and cultivate creativity, urgency, and collaboration.

Skills

Brand communications

Cultural marketing

Public relations

Media relations

Executive communications

Job description

Kickstarter is the leading crowdfunding platform for creative projects across film, games, music, art, design, and technology. Since our founding in 2009, our mission to help bring creative projects to life has been powered by the people behind the work.

Together, we’ve helped creators around the world launch creative projects that have generated billions of dollars in pledges. That same commitment extends inward. Rooted in shared values, Kickstarter invests in the growth and success of our team, treating employees as whole people and empowering them with the autonomy and space to participate in decisions that shape their work and our company.

Kickstarter is seeking a Director of Brand & Communications to join our Marketing team, reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer. The right person will help shape how our brand shows up in culture—and how the world understands our role in bringing creative ideas to life.

We are looking for a culturally fluent brand and communications specialist who knows what is capturing attention now, anticipates what is coming next, and translates those insights into meaningful opportunities for Kickstarter.

This leader will help define the ideas, conversations, partnerships, and cultural moments Kickstarter should lead. They will mobilize internal teams and external partners around strong ideas, building the narratives and integrated programs that keep Kickstarter relevant to creators, backers, media, and the broader cultural landscape.

The Director will serve as Kickstarter’s in-house communications lead and senior partner to our PR agency, setting a clear agenda, unlocking the agency’s best thinking, and ensuring our communications work is proactive, ambitious, and effective.

The salary range in this role in the United States is $185,000–$215,000.

In this role, you will:

• Identify emerging cultural conversations, creative movements, and timely opportunities where Kickstarter has a credible and distinctive role to play.
• Generate bold, relevant ideas and mobilize teams quickly to turn them into campaigns, partnerships, experiences, and stories.
• Build clear and compelling narratives about Kickstarter’s brand, business, products, creators, and impact.
• Lead proactive media relations and cultivate meaningful relationships with influential journalists, editors, creators, cultural leaders, and trendsetters.
• Establish a consistent pipeline of stories and moments that expand Kickstarter’s presence across major business, technology, culture, and creative-industry outlets.
• Serve as the senior day-to-day lead for Kickstarter’s PR agency, providing strategic direction, sharpening ideas, maintaining accountability, and bringing out the agency’s strongest work.
• Advise the executive team on corporate positioning, executive communications, reputation, and emerging issues.
• Partner with Growth, Product, Outreach, Content & Editorial, Social, Partnerships, and other teams to ensure Kickstarter presents a clear and cohesive story across audiences and channels.
• Lead the development of integrated brand and cultural programs from initial insight through execution and amplification.
• Establish clear goals and measures of success for brand and communications work, connecting awareness and reputation to creator, backer, and business growth.
• Lead and develop a high-performing team while building a culture of creativity, urgency, collaboration, and excellent execution that drives business impact.

About You

• Significant senior-level experience leading brand communications, cultural marketing, public relations, or an integrated combination of these disciplines.
• Exceptional cultural fluency and a strong point of view about the ideas, people, and movements shaping creative culture.
• A record of developing original ideas and turning them into campaigns, stories, partnerships, or moments that earn attention.
• Deep relationships with major media outlets, influential journalists, cultural connectors, creators, and industry leaders.
• Outstanding communications judgment and the ability to make complex business, product, and cultural stories clear and compelling.
• Experience leading PR agencies and internal collaborators through clear strategy, strong creative direction, and measurable accountability.
• The ability to move fluidly between long-term brand building and fast-moving cultural opportunities while keeping the marketing calendar cohesive.
• Strong executive presence and experience advising senior leaders on communications, positioning, and reputation.
• A highly collaborative leadership style and the ability to create momentum across teams without relying solely on formal authority.
• Clear understanding of how to measure brand equity, share of voice (SOV), and full-funnel campaign performance.
• A genuine connection to Kickstarter’s mission and deep respect for the creators, creative communities, and backers we serve.

What You’ll Enjoy

• A fully remote workforce with plenty of opportunities to get to know your colleagues
• 100% employer-paid health plan offerings
• 16 paid vacation days, 10 sick days, paid holidays, and a company-wide winter break between Christmas and New Years
• 25 volunteer hours each year to give back to your community
• 18 weeks of parental leave for the primary caregiver; 16 weeks of parental leave for the secondary caregiver, plus fertility/family planning resources
• 401k with 3% safe harbor contribution
• Annual stipends including a Remote Working & Wellness Stipend of $3,000 USD (prorated) each calendar year for expenses related to remote working, wellness, health, and fitness and a $500 Role Development Stipend
• Kickstarter currently operates with a 4-day workweek, a model that aligns with our belief in a healthy work-life balance and gives staff the space to be more than their work
• Incredibly talented and inspiring colleagues who know how to blend their creative endeavors into their work

You can read more about our benefits and working at Kickstarter at our Jobs page: https://jobs.kickstarter.com/

Our Fully Virtual Team

We’re currently able to support employees based in the following US locations: CA, CO, CT, GA, IL, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OR, SC, VA, VT, and WA. We’re also able to support employees in the United Kingdom. If you live in—or are willing to move to—any of these locations, we look forward to your application! If there is a required or preferred location for an open role, it will be listed in the job description.

Kickstarter is an equal opportunity employer. As part of our commitment to fight for equality, we work to ensure a fair and consistent interview process. We celebrate diversity, and we are committed to an inclusive work environment.

Reminder to applicants: Authentic communications from Kickstarter will always originate from official Kickstarter email domains (@kickstarter.com). Exercise caution and verify the legitimacy of anyone who claims to be representing Kickstarter on other platforms.

Please reach out to Kickstarter’s Help Center to report potentially fraudulent contact here: https://help.kickstarter.com/hc/en-us/requests/new