PR Manager
Self Financial, Inc. helps consumers establish and build credit history. We are a venture-backed, financial services startup based in Austin, TX, that has raised $37 million to execute our mission. At Self, our mission is to help millions of people build credit and save money on their journey toward financial security.
There are about 100 million people in the US who have low credit scores or who have no access to credit at all. Sadly, there aren’t many options for these people. Most banks aren’t doing anything material to change the situation because it’s not profitable for them to do so. Bad credit or no credit history can be barriers to renting an apartment or getting certain jobs, let alone buying a car or house. And if you can get a loan with a low credit score, you’re very likely to pay a lot more in interest over the life of that loan.
Our team is passionate about challenging the status quo of the financial industry by giving people accessible and affordable tools to take control of their credit. Executing on our mission requires deep collaboration across our teams to ensure our products reach the people who can most benefit from them.
We're looking for people who share a passion for our mission. At Self, we want to work with people who are driven to tackle challenges, bring unique perspectives, find solutions and help make the financial space a better place for our consumers. We recognize that it takes different people and personalities to make our products – and our company – truly great. We only seek the best.
About the Role:
As part of the marketing team, you will be the first in-house PR leader at Self Financial. That means you have an opportunity to shape the way we tell the story of Self and how we help our customers on their journey toward financial resilience, driving awareness among people who can most benefit from our products.
The ideal candidate will have experience managing communications with consumer audiences. This candidate will have a passionate, entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, excellent communications skills and the ability to work well with others.
Requirements
- Work with the CMO and VP of Marketing to help set PR strategy and develop an exciting consumer-focused PR plan - including media relations, influencer strategy, thought leadership programming and event strategy - to help meet business goals
- Develop and manage budget to support PR strategy
- Create talking points, press releases, fact sheets, and other background materials
- Manage complex, fast-moving and unexpected communications challenges, both proactively and reactively
- Manage key reporter and editor relationships across consumer and business media
- Identify trends and news opportunities for pitches; create ideas for events for press coverage
- Communicate our commitment to economic equality, financial resilience and access to credit through media placements and other earned/placed content
- Collaborate across the Self marketing organization to maximize impact of content and outreach
- Monitor, analyze and report on the results of the PR strategy on a regular basis
- Identify thought leadership opportunities and collaborate with appropriate internal stakeholders to execute on those opportunities
- When applicable, help manage external agencies to help meet contracted goals
Qualifications
Must Have
- 5+ years of consumer-related experience in an agency or in-house PR, journalism, or a related field
- You're a "doer" - you like to power through your checklist for the day, and are relentless about staying organized
- Strong networking and relationship building skills
- Strong personal initiative, creative thinking, presentation, and problem solving skills
- A keen understanding of consumer needs and insights is a must
- Ability to communicate complex information so that it’s easily understood
- Relentless about uncovering a good story and getting the right story in front of the right audience in a creative way
- You live to pitch media and land big stories
- You're cool under pressure, quick thinking and able to shift gears nimbly to respond to competing deadlines and priorities.
- You're looking to work in a startup goals-driven culture. You thrive on results
- You work best when you have clear goals and a way to measure and improve upon your results.
Nice to have
- PR experience in our top markets and/or with our major customer segments a plus
- Financial services experience a plus
- You may even have had a bad experience with your credit, that’s okay here!
Benefits
Our compensation and benefits are competitive, but there's one thing that Self Financial can offer that many startups cannot: we can positively change the world.
Our perks include:
- Competitive Pay
- Stock options
- Generous employer-paid health, vision and dental insurance coverage
- Enjoy our vacation policy – there is no policy, balance matters
- Educational assistance
- Free gym membership; now with digital options
- Plenty of snacks and drinks (whatever’s in your kitchen!)
- Casual dress code - you must wear clothes from the waist up, at least, for video conferencing
- Virtual team happy hours and events
- Catered company lunches on Mondays and Wednesdays (we’re optimistic they’ll be back eventually)
- Downtown Austin office space (limited availability for team safety)
- Remote work arrangements / flexible work schedule (due to the pandemic)
- Possible ongoing remote work arrangement
How we act with each other is how we act with our customers. We are direct, transparent and respectful, and we hope you embrace that approach.
Self Financial requires all employees hired to successfully pass a background check.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.