Vice President of Investor Relations

First Student; Cincinnati (OH); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

First Student, Inc. is seeking an accomplished Vice President of Investor Relations to lead engagement with the investment community, including institutional shareholders and sell-side analysts.

You will shape the company’s equity story, coordinate earnings communications, and partner with Treasury and senior leadership to inform strategy and market expectations. You will oversee investor-day events, monitor market sentiment, and ensure accurate, timely disclosure and ESG messaging.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, or related field.
• 12–15+ years in investor relations or related fields with leadership experience at a public company.
• Strong understanding of financial statements, valuation methods, and capital markets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, able to distill complex information.
• Executive presence and credibility with senior management, Board, and investors.
• Working knowledge of SEC rules, Regulation FD, and public company disclosure.

Responsibilities

• Shape and communicate the company's equity story aligned with strategy and capital allocation.
• Lead the quarterly earnings process and investor communications with cross-functional teams.
• Manage investor and analyst engagement, roadshows, conferences, and investor day events.
• Monitor market feedback, shareholder trends, and activist risk; report to CEO, CFO, and Board.
• Oversee governance, ESG messaging, and regulatory disclosure practices.

Skills

IR leadership

Investor relations

Strategic communication

Capital markets

Executive presence

SEC knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Finance

MBA preferred

Job description

The Vice President of Investor Relations leads the company's engagement with the investment community, including institutional shareholders, prospective investors, sell-side analysts, and, in partnership with Treasury, debt investors. This role shapes and communicates the company's equity story, ensures the market understands the company's strategy and financial performance, and brings investor perspectives back to senior management and the Board. The VP of IR is a trusted advisor to the CEO and CFO on market expectations, valuation, and shareholder sentiment.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Equity Story

• Develop and refine the company's investment thesis and equity story, aligned with corporate strategy and capital allocation priorities.
• Design and execute a proactive IR strategy, including targeting of long-term institutional investors that fit the company's profile.
• Benchmark valuation, performance, and disclosure practices against peers and advise management on how the market views the company.

Earnings and Financial Communications

• Lead the quarterly earnings process, including the press release, earnings call script, slide presentation, and Q&A preparation.
• Coordinate closely with the CFO, Controller, FP&A, Legal, and Corporate Communications to ensure accuracy, consistency, and timely release.
• Manage financial guidance practices and help shape how guidance is set, communicated, and updated.
• Contribute to the investor-facing sections of the 10-K, 10-Q, proxy statement, and annual report.

Investor and Analyst Engagement

• Serve as the primary point of contact for institutional investors and sell-side analysts.
• Plan and execute non-deal roadshows, investor conferences, site visits, and one-on-one and group meetings for the CEO, CFO, and other executives.
• Manage analyst models and consensus estimates, and monitor coverage to ensure the market's expectations are well-informed.
• Lead planning and execution of Investor Day events.

Market Intelligence and Feedback

• Monitor shareholder base, trading activity, ownership changes, short interest, and peer developments.
• Provide regular reporting to the CEO, CFO, and Board on investor sentiment, perception studies, and market feedback.
• Identify and assess activist investor risk, and maintain an activism preparedness plan in partnership with Legal, the Corporate Secretary, and outside advisors.

Governance, ESG, and Shareholder Engagement

• Partner with the Corporate Secretary and Legal on proxy season outreach, shareholder proposals, and say-on-pay engagement.
• Coordinate ESG and sustainability messaging to investors, including engagement with ESG rating agencies and stewardship teams at large asset managers.

Compliance and Disclosure Controls

• Ensure compliance with Regulation FD, SEC disclosure rules, insider trading policies, and stock exchange requirements.
• Serve on or support the company's Disclosure Committee.
• Maintain IR policies, quiet period practices, and spokesperson guidelines.

Corporate Transactions

• Support communication of major corporate events such as M&A, divestitures, spin-offs, restructurings, capital returns, and leadership changes.
• Develop investor messaging and Q&A for material announcements.

Leadership

• Build and develop a high-performing IR team.
• Manage IR budget and relationships with outside vendors (IR website, webcast providers, perception study firms, surveillance and proxy solicitation firms).

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field.
• 12-15+ years of experience in investor relations, equity research, corporate finance, investment banking, or buy-side investing, including significant IR leadership experience at a public company.
• Strong understanding of financial statements, valuation methods, and capital markets.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to distill complex information into clear, compelling messages.
• Executive presence and credibility with senior management, the Board, and the investment community.
• Working knowledge of SEC rules, Regulation FD, and public company disclosure requirements.

Preferred

• MBA and/or CFA.
• Prior sell-side or buy-side experience, which is highly valued for credibility with investors.
• Industry experience relevant to the company's sector.
• Experience with activist defense, Investor Days, M&A communications, or IPO/spin-off transactions.

Language Requirement

This role requires English proficiency. Federal, state, and local requirements, including U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, require training, safety communications, company policies, employment documents, and other job-related communications be conducted in English.

First for a reason:

At First Student, we are a family of 60,000+ employees who take pride in safely transporting more than 5 million students and passengers to and from their destinations each day! Our family of brands include Transco, Total Transportation, Maggies Paratransit, and GVC II. Our employees are at the forefront of safety and innovation; they create and implement the most advanced training and technology the transportation industry has to offer.

In the state of Washington, all technician and driving positions, including but not limited to van drivers and any other position requiring employees to drive a company-owned vehicle, are considered safety-sensitive and are therefore subject to drug and alcohol testing, including cannabis.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status. First is also committed to providing a drug-free workplace. First will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinance, and any other fair chance law. Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Record Screening Standards Ordinance Poster is at this link or upon request.