Senior Manager, Policy & Communications Campaigns

Affirm, Inc.; Nashville (TN); Remote; USD 164,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage for employees and deps

Monthly tech & health stipends

Generous time off

Employee stock purchase plan

Job summary

Affirm is seeking a seasoned communications professional to shape public understanding of credit and pay-over-time products. Based in New York City or Washington, DC, or fully remote in the U.S., you will lead strategy, craft compelling narratives, and build relationships with reporters, policymakers, and advocates.

You will collaborate with policy, research, and brand teams to turn complex topics into clear language, drive coverage, and support executive communications.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in communications or public affairs with policy exposure.
• Proven track record building trusted relationships with media and policymakers.
• Ability to craft clear, persuasive narratives on complex topics.

Responsibilities

• Develop overall communications strategy and campaigns to shape public understanding.
• Shape news angles and pitch stories to outlets; integrate policy perspectives.
• Translate research and data into accessible, credible arguments.
• Build a durable media bench across reporters, editors, and influencers.
• Partner with public affairs to engage academics, advocates, and regulators.
• Prepare executives and spokespeople for key moments and interviews.
• Track coverage and sentiment; report on messaging effectiveness.

Skills

Media relations

Strategic thinking

Policy communications

Writing & storytelling

Stakeholder management

Job description

At affirm, we exist for the moments that matter—giving people a clear, predictable way to pay over time, with no hidden fees, no surprises, and no tradeoffs on what matters most.

About The Brand And Communications Team

Brand & Communications shapes how the world understands affirm and how affirm shows up in it. We meet people where perception forms: in culture, in the press, across our owned and paid channels, and inside the company. We aim to make our work compound over time, moving at the speed of culture while holding a high bar for craft and clarity. Our job across comms, brand, creative, and social is to make affirm a brand people trust and are proud to choose.

About The Role

Affirm's model only works when consumers succeed. No late fees. The full cost, known before you commit. A balance that ends.

Many people don't know that. Pay-over-time products are treated as interchangeable, and the revolving credit card is treated as the responsible default. We want to change this dynamic and evolve thinking and beliefs around what consumer-friendly credit can and should be as it modernizes.

The timing is the opportunity. Credit is being rewritten right now, in regulation, in coverage, and in how people talk about debt. The beliefs that settle over the next few years will shape the decades that follow.

This role focuses on the people who shape what the public understands about credit, the ones creating the coverage and content that drives the conversation.

You know who covers what, who matters beyond their outlet’s size, which newsletter a Hill staffer reads before the front page. And you know how to proactively build an argument that travels. The policymakers, regulators, and advocates who set the terms will use it, and the most skeptical reporter will want to write it.

You won’t be doing it alone. You’ll collaborate with colleagues who own the narrative you’re carrying, the research behind it, and the versions of this story told to consumers, merchants, and investors. You’ll also partner closely with a policy team that owns our government relationships and the positions we take. And because this story has to build across audiences and surfaces, you’ll help shape the broader brand and comms strategy rather than only drawing from it.

This story lives at the nexus of New York City and Washington, DC, so you can be based in either with regular time in the other.

What You’ll Do

• Develop the strategy and run the campaign. Decide what we’re trying to change, with whom, and in what order. Set the sequence, pick the moments, and know what each one is supposed to do. Shift the dynamic from an idea we’re explaining to language other people naturally use.
• Shape what becomes news. Be in the conversations where people are deciding what to cover and what counts as news, weaving affirm into them rather than reacting to them.
• Build the proof. Help shape original consumer research and third-party data into evidence that lets people outside affirm make the argument correctly and persuasively without us in the room.
• Build the media bench. Earn the trust of a focused group of reporters, columnists, editors, producers, podcasters, and independent writers who shape consumer finance and policy conversations, and become the source they come back to, including on stories that aren’t about us.
• Partner on outside voices. Work with our public affairs and government relations team to build lasting relationships with consumer advocates, academics, and credit experts, starting with listening rather than endorsement requests. Design the dinners, briefings, and roundtables where the right people meet each other and the argument gets pressure-tested in person.
• Put our perspective where decisions get made. Prepare executives and credible outside spokespeople for the moments that matter, from op-eds to panels and interviews, and work with public affairs so the arguments and themes we care about reach policymakers, regulators, and the people who advise them.
• Know whether it is working. Track whether the argument is actually showing up: in how reporters frame the category, in the language advocates and policymakers use, in earned sentiment. Bring the honest read, including when a tactic is visible but not moving anything.

What We Look For

• Campaign mindset: You think in arcs rather than announcements, built around the forces that actually shape the public conversation, and you know it’s landing when others start making the argument without you.
• Media relationships and craft: 12+ years in communications, with real relationships across policy, business, and tech media, and a track record running complicated press strategies end to end, including complex or sticky situations.
• Policy communications experience: You’ve run communications on policy issues, whether in advocacy, regulatory affairs, a political campaign, or a public affairs practice. You understand how an issue actually gets decided, who moves it, and how long it takes.
• A connector: You keep relationships across the worlds you work in and put people together because it’s useful to them, not only when it serves you.
• Proactive instinct: A bias for creating the story rather than chasing it, an eye for using moments others create, and the tenacity to stay with a good idea past the first no.
• Appetite for a complicated subject: You don’t need a credit background. You need to get deep on underwriting, disclosure, and the credit system, and then explain it in plain language.
• Sharp, persuasive writing: The ability to build an argument that carries, clear, accurate, and convincing to someone who starts out skeptical.
• Sound judgment: Steadiness in high‑stakes, high‑visibility moments, and the discipline to act quickly without putting trust at risk.
• Collaborative partnership: Strong working relationships across Comms, Brand, Public Affairs, Legal, and Marketing, and the desire to make other people’s work better and not only your own.
• Belief that transparency is an advantage: You think clarity and accountability are brand advantages, not compliance requirements.

While affirm is a remote-first company, the nature of this position requires candidates to be based in New York City or Washington, DC (or the surrounding area), or be willing to relocate to either location before their start date.

Pay Grade - M

Equity Grade - 10

Employees new to affirm typically come in at the start of the pay range. affirm focuses on providing a simple and transparent pay structure which is based on a variety of factors, including location, experience and job-related skills. Base pay is part of a total compensation package that may include equity rewards, monthly stipends for health, wellness and tech spending, and benefits (including 100% subsidized medical coverage, dental and vision for you and your dependents.)

USA base pay range (NY, NJ, CT) per year: $185,000 - $245,000

USA base pay range (all other U.S. states) per year: $164,000 - $224,000

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Remote-first with flexibility built in

Affirm is proud to be a remote-first company. Most roles can be done from almost anywhere within the country of employment. Some positions may occasionally require in-person work at an affirm office, and a few are office-based due to the nature of the work. All new hires will be invited to attend an in-person onboarding experience.

Benefits Designed For You

Our benefits reflect our commitment to care, transparency, and flexibility. Here are a few highlights:

• Health coverage at no cost: We cover 100% of premiums for employees and their dependents.
• Spending stipends: Monthly stipends support your tech setup, and the ability to choose health and wellness options that are right for you.
• Time off to recharge: Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars help you rest when you need to.
• Own a piece of what you build: Our employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) lets you buy affirm stock at a discount.

We’re committed to providing an inclusive interview process, including accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you need support, we’re happy to help.

For positions based in San Francisco or Los Angeles: affirm considers qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, as required by law.