PR Director, APAC

Cohere; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Lunch stipend

Health benefits

RRSP matching

Parental leave

Vacation days

Offsite travel budget

Home office stipend

Job summary

Cohere is seeking a strategic, senior Communications leader to stand up and scale our APAC PR & Corporate Communications function. This role partners with global teams to tailor regional messaging for governments and enterprise clients in highly regulated industries and leads cross-functional storytelling initiatives across APAC.

You will shape rapid-response protocols, manage regional agencies, and advance Cohere’s mission with data-driven communications across multiple channels, including

Qualifications

• 12-15 years of experience in-house corporate communications, ideally within a fast-paced, high-growth tech or AI environment.
• 5+ years of experience in people management.
• Are scrappy. You thrive in thinking outside the box and find joy in marrying a problem to its solution.
• Are experienced at hiring, onboarding, and managing PR agencies.
• Are adept in pre-IPO communications.
• Have experience and/or heavy interest in policy and regulatory communications.
• Are an exceptional writer with a talent for distilling complex, cross-functional topics into simple, compelling narratives.
• Have experience serving as a communications business partner or trusted advisor to senior leaders, executives, and people/human resources teams.

Responsibilities

• Build a PR and Communications function from the ground up, including hiring PR Managers and agencies in key territories including Korea, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia.
• Implement PR & Corporate Communications strategies that align with organizational goals, values, and brand positioning across internal and external audiences at the local and regional level
• Partner with PR, marketing, sales, and external stakeholders to craft clear, compelling messaging and materials that support business priorities, organisational changes, and market positioning
• Develop and execute rapid response muscle in each region
• Oversee high-impact communications forums including executive speaking engagements, industry conferences, customer events, and internal leadership gatherings
• Adopt AI integration for the communications team to enhance content ideation, creation, and scaling
• Oversee and optimize the APAC communications channel ecosystem—including earned media, owned channels, executive communications, and employee engagement tools—while innovating with emerging formats and technologies
• Lead cross-functional APAC storytelling initiatives that connect daily work to Cohere’s mission, amplify customer success stories, and elevate executive thought leadership in the marketplace
• Leverage data-driven insights and audience research to inform communications strategies that resonate with employees, customers, partners, investors, and industry influencers
• Partner with Corporate Communications on crisis and issues communications preparedness and response across all stakeholder groups, coordinating with legal, executive leadership, and functional teams to protect corporate reputation and stakeholder trust
• Serve as the central communications hub, ensuring seamless integration and consistency between internal communications, external PR, marketing narratives, and executive messaging across all touchpoints

Skills

Strategic communications

Crisis comms

Partner management

People management

Storytelling

Regulatory communications

Job description

Who are we?

Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company. We build cutting-edge foundation AI models and end-to-end products that are designed to solve real-world business problems.

We’re training and deploying frontier models for enterprises who are building AI systems. We believe that our work is instrumental to the widespread adoption of AI and we are looking for folks that want to be part of that.

We obsess over what we build. Each one of us is responsible for contributing to increasing the capabilities of our models and the value they drive for our customers. Cohere is a team of researchers, engineers, designers, and more, who are all passionate about their craft.

We are a global technology company co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, with key offices in London, New York City, Montreal, Seoul, Germany and Paris. Join us!

Role Overview

Cohere has a strong AI narrative, the most deployable product, and a CEO who co-authored the foundational paper of modern AI. The company is positioned to become the transatlantic leader in sovereign AI for enterprise and government, and needs a storytelling engine to deliver that story at scale. This role sits within the team that is building that engine.

In this cross functional role, you will stand up our PR and Communications function in the APAC region. You’ll partner with the global Corporate Communications team to create regional communications plans that fuel our growth among governments and enterprises in the most highly-regulated industries. You’ll nurture how we talk to customers, partners, and employees, ensuring that the corporate message resonates culturally for each region and audience.

This is a rare opportunity to build a comprehensive APAC communications function at a fast-growing company in the most dynamic space in technology. This is a role for someone who likes to take big swings – and have fun doing it – where no job is too big or too small.

Key Responsibilities

• Build a PR and Communications function from the ground up, including hiring PR Managers and agencies in key territories including Korea, Singapore, Japan, India, Australia.

• Implement PR & Corporate Communications strategies that align with organizational goals, values, and brand positioning across internal and external audiences at the local and regional level

• Partner with PR, marketing, sales, and external stakeholders to craft clear, compelling messaging and materials that support business priorities, organisational changes, and market positioning

• Develop and execute rapid response muscle in each region

• Oversee high-impact communications forums including executive speaking engagements, industry conferences, customer events, and internal leadership gatherings

• Adopt AI integration for the communications team to enhance content ideation, creation, and scaling

• Oversee and optimize the APAC communications channel ecosystem—including earned media, owned channels, executive communications, and employee engagement tools—while innovating with emerging formats and technologies

• Lead cross-functional APAC storytelling initiatives that connect daily work to Cohere’s mission, amplify customer success stories, and elevate executive thought leadership in the marketplace

• Leverage data-driven insights and audience research to inform communications strategies that resonate with employees, customers, partners, investors, and industry influencers

• Partner with Corporate Communications on crisis and issues communications preparedness and response across all stakeholder groups, coordinating with legal, executive leadership, and functional teams to protect corporate reputation and stakeholder trust

• Serve as the central communications hub, ensuring seamless integration and consistency between internal communications, external PR, marketing narratives, and executive messaging across all touchpoints

Qualifications

• Have 12-15 years of experience in-house corporate communications, ideally within a fast-paced, high-growth tech or AI environment

• 5+ years of experience in people management

• Are scrappy. You thrive in thinking “outside the box” and find joy in marrying a problem to its solution

• Are experienced at hiring, onboarding, and managing PR agencies

• Are adept in pre-IPO communications

• Have experience and/or heavy interest in policy and regulatory communications

• Are an exceptional writer with a talent for distilling complex, cross-functional topics into simple, compelling narratives

• Have experience serving as a communications business partner or trusted advisor to senior leaders, executives, and people/human resources teams

• Are highly organised and process-driven, with strong project management skills and a bias for action

• Bring high levels of creativity to communications – in format, channel, and storytelling

• Are comfortable navigating organisational dynamics and building strong relationships across all levels

• Thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and know how to prioritise ruthlessly

Full-Time Employees at Cohere enjoy these Perks:

• A weekly lunch stipend of $75/£75 or equivalent in your local currency for lunch.

• Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget for mental health.

• RRSP matching, 401K, Pension Scheme.

• 100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months, for either parent.

• Annual enrichment benefits:

• 6 weeks of paid vacation (30 working days!)

• Budget for traveling to other offices if you are remote, plus an annual company offsite.

How and Where We Work:

• Cohere is remote-friendly. We have offices in Toronto, San Francisco, New York City, London, Paris, Montreal, and more coming soon.

• For those in the office: a daily lunch program, plenty of snacks, and regular community and social events.

• For those not near an office: a co-working benefit so you can work alongside others in your city.

• Everyone receives a $500 home office stipend to set up your workspace properly.

We strive to create an inclusive work environment for all; we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to providing equal opportunities. Should you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please submit an Accommodations Request Form, and we will work together to meet your needs.

We may use AI-enabled tools to screen and assess applicants against the criteria for this position. This helps our recruiters identify potentially qualified candidates, but it doesn’t limit the applications our recruiters may review or consider.