Senior Manager, Public Relations & Communications

Imagine having the power to stress-test an entire power grid against a hurricane or thunderstorm before the clouds even gather. That is the reality we are creating at Neara.

We use advanced machine learning to create engineering-grade, physics enabled digital twins of electricity grids across four continents, this helps asset owners understand their biggest challenges and bring the most viable solutions to life across millions of kilometres of infrastructure.

By simulating extreme weather and structural stress at a network-wide scale, we empower the world’s largest utilities to pinpoint risks, optimise investments and build a more resilient global energy future.

Our team is a collection of brilliant minds who are fanatical about making a tangible difference in the real world, utilising AI and machine learning to accelerate everything from data classification to complex scenario analysis. We have built a special culture where innovation thrives because everyone owns the mission and we need smart, creative people to help us scale this impact to every corner of the globe.

The Role

This role turns Neara’s technology, customer and societal impact, and proprietary perspective into stories that make Neara matter to customers, policymakers, partners, investors, prospective talent, and everyone who depends on critical infrastructure. You will own US communications soup-to-nuts, personally brainstorming and riffing on the angle, writing the story, sharpening the thesis, pitching reporters, prepping the spokesperson, and landing the story.

Please note this is emphatically not an agency management role. We are seeking a formidable, hands-on operator who loves creating storytelling momentum from end to end. There may be select circumstances where you use agencies or freelancers to broaden your reach but you will own the ideas, output, and relationships that drive impact in this role.

About You

• You do not wait for cookie-cutter “news” or announcements to fall into your lap. You proactively and creatively build momentum to drive a consistent storytelling drumbeat, seeking and developing stories on your own and via cross-functional partnerships.

• You understand the difference between visibility and authority and what it takes to build strong spokesperson profiles vs. generic thought leadership.

• You are equally comfortable ripping apart and rewiring a weak argument, personally pitching reporters and advising senior spokespeople.

• You’re motivated by emerging technology categories and know how to establish relevance.

• You wouldn’t dream of “spraying and praying” and you have a proven approach for building trusted relationships with journalists and ensuring spokespeople are genuinely helpful resources rather than reciting thinly veiled pitches.

• You have a high degree of intellectual curiosity and are energized by building fluency in emerging technology categories and deeply technical and regulated, sensitive topics.

• You work with urgency, even amid ambiguity and have a track record of building momentum without perfect conditions.

What You Will Do

• Create a differentiated pipeline of media campaigns, drawing on a combination of internal and external data and developments, customer outcomes, and major industry inflection points.

• Develop and lead a distinctive US communications strategy that builds Neara’s authority across all relevant stakeholders, establishing Neara as a leading voice in the strategic conversations we care about by clearly identifying and executing opportunities to connect our work to relevant industry shifts, news, and debates.

• Build and maintain meaningful relationships with journalists and industry voices across the conversations we care about.

• Cultivate a strong and diverse US spokesperson bench, positioning and coaching spokespeople as compelling, credible, and genuinely useful sources, helping stress-test their POVs, prepare them for interviews, speaking opportunities, etc.

• Personally brainstorm, write, and pitch stories, contributed op-eds, reactive newsjacking commentary, and other external communications.

• Build a process to support rapid-response newsjacking that allows time-poor people to contribute useful, differentiated commentary in time-sensitive contexts.

• Build strong internal cross-functional partnerships to translate your own observations and proprietary insight into timely, externally resonant stories.

• Curate and distribute news pipeline in which people across the organization should be expected to be conversant.

• Apply rigorous editorial and reputational judgment, including rejecting content proposed internally that does not qualify as news and claims that require further substantiation.

• Create clear impact metrics tied to narrative penetration, quality of coverage and strategic influence and relevance.

Who You Are

• Experience in communications, public relations, or journalism with substantive ownership of media strategy and execution for a high-growth technology, AI, infrastructure or company with similarly complex subject matter.

• You love to be hands-on personally developing stories, pitching reporters and have been successful securing high-quality coverage in competitive media environments.

• You are an exceptional writer and editor who can make complex ideas clear and urgent without overstating them.

• You have strong news judgment and are comfortable challenging senior stakeholders.

• You have strong commercial instincts and can connect your work to elevating market positioning and pipeline relevance.

• Extra credit:

  • Existing relationships across technology and AI and critical infrastructure media are a strong advantage but most importantly you must clearly show you know how to build them.

  • Experience in AI-heavy, critical infrastructure and highly regulated / politically sensitive adjacent subject matter is a plus.