Head of Communications

Job description

**About Atticus** At any given time, 16 million Americans are experiencing a crisis that requires urgent help from the legal system or government. The right help could change their lives, but many never get it. Atticus exists to change that. We’re a modern law firm helping sick, injured, and wronged Americans access the benefits designed to protect them. From Social Security Disability Insurance to workers’ compensation to insurance settlements, we help people get the legal and financial help they need when life takes a hard turn. We combine experienced lawyers with innovative technology, delivering a high-touch client experience that helps claimants take the next right step. In six years, we’ve helped hundreds of thousands of clients access more than $10 billion in life-changing aid, but our work is far from complete. We’ve raised over $100 million from Forerunner, GV, and True Ventures, including a Series C closed in April 2025, and we’re scaling rapidly on our way to creating a category-defining business. **About the Role** Atticus sits at the intersection of regulated legal services, consumer technology, and one of the most consequential policy landscapes in the country. Every change at the Social Security Administration, every Congressional hearing on benefits access, every backlog data release – these are moments that shape our clients’ lives, and moments where Atticus has something distinctive to say. We’re hiring our first Head of Communications to turn those opportunities into coverage, credibility, and influence. Your mission: establish our media presence and shape how stakeholders – clients, law firms, the SSA, policymakers, and thought leaders – understand our company and our impact. You’ll own corporate communications and public relations, reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, [Amanda Runner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandarunner/), and partnering closely with [Stephanie Akpa](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-akpa/), Head of Policy and Public Affairs; [Arpit Garg](https://www.linkedin.com/in/arpit-garg-421a128/), Chief Legal Officer; and [Sam Byker](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-byker/), Founder & CEO. You’ll build a communications program anchored in two engines: data journalism and policy-driven storytelling, particularly around the SSA. On the public affairs side, you’ll partner closely with our Head of Policy and Public Affairs to organize Washington fly-ins, stage Congressional events, and build the media relationships that let our clients’ experiences shape policy conversations. This is a builder role, meaning the function will carry your fingerprints for years. You’ll inherit a strong strategic foundation, supported by a noble mission, proprietary data, and compelling client stories. The rest – media relationships, the rapid-response muscle, the newsroom, the team – is yours to design and build. **What You'll Own** - **Communications strategy and operations:** Set the communications strategy, core messages, and a 12-month editorial calendar that grows Atticus's media coverage. Build the operational infrastructure that makes it all run. - **Earned media strategy**: Build a public relations program that consistently lands Atticus in the outlets that shape public and policymaker perception. You’ll turn our data into the kind of insight reporters can’t find anywhere else, earning placement in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and major trades that cover SSA, disability and consumer access to legal help. - **Policy newsjacking and rapid response**: Build the muscle to move quickly when SSA or adjacent policy news breaks: commentary, data, spokespeople, op-eds. Make Atticus the first call when a report needs perspective on the benefits system. - **Public affairs and Congressional engagement**: Partner with our Public Affairs and Advocacy team to design and execute DC fly-ins that put client stories in front of members and staff. Support Congressional briefings, roundtables, and hill events. - **Corporate communications**: Own execution positioning for our CEO and leadership team, thought leadership platforms, and crisis preparedness. - **Agency and stakeholder management**: Quarterback our PR and public affairs agencies. Partner closely with Policy, Legal, Product, and Growth to make sure that our external voice reflects the full company. - **Communications operations:** Own the operational infrastructure for PR and Comms at Atticus – media strategy, content calendar, approval workflows, messaging frameworks, and performance measurement. - **Team building**: Hire and develop the comms team over time as the function grows. **What Success Looks Like In Year One** - Atticus is a regular, credible voice in tier-1 coverage of Social Security and retirement, the SSA, disability benefits, and consumer access to the legal and benefits systems. - We have a rapid-response operation that consistently shows up in the first 24 hours of major SSA policy moments. - We’ve executed at least a handful of well-staged Congressional events and fly-ins that meaningfully advanced our policy priorities and gave clients a platform. - Our CEO has an established executive platform anchored in a clear, distinctive point of view. - Earned media and public affairs outreach are executed under one integrated plan, with a shared calendar and messaging framework, rather than separate workstreams. **About You** - **10+ years in communications**, with meaningful time in a policy-adjacent environment – advocacy, government, a regulated industry, a mission-driven consumer brand, or a firm serving those clients. - **Track record of earned media wins delivered through data and original insight**, not just relationships. You know how to turn a data set into a story a reporter will actually run. - **Public affairs chops**. You’ve organized fly-ins, staged Congressional events, worked with hill staff, and know how to move a policy narrative through Washington. - **A strong writer and editor**. You can move fluently between a reporter pitch, a CEO op-ed, an internal memo, and a set of talking points. You set a high bar for the writing coming out of the function and our agency partners. - **A cross-functional quarterback**. You’re comfortable holding the middle across agencies, Legal, Policy, executives, and Growth, and getting to clarity when interests don’t automatically align. - **Government affairs fluency**. You understand how Congress and federal agencies actually work, and you have the relationships (or the ability to build them quickly) to be effective in DC. - **Genuine compassion for the people we serve**. Our clients are often at the hardest moments of their lives. The comms leader for this company must care about that in a way that shows up in the work. - **Comfort in a performance-driven culture**. Atticus is a data-first company. You’re excited to bring comms thinking into that environment and hold your own function to a similar bar. **Why Atticus** This is a rare opportunity to build a brand that genuinely changes the trajectory of people's lives. You'll have meaningful creative latitude, real budget, an executive team that values brand as a growth driver, and a category where great storytelling is still the exception rather than the rule. - **The work matters.** Every lead is a person who needs help finding legal representation to move forward. - **You'll have real ownership**. This is the senior creative seat reporting to the CMO, and the brand is yours to shape. - **You'll be surrounded by serious operators.** A marketing organization that takes craft seriously and an experienced exec team that values great brand execution. - **We're well-funded and growing fast.** $100M+ raised, hundreds of thousands of clients served, and a clear path to category leadership. - **Remote-first with real connection**. HQ in LA, team distributed across the US, with regular travel for in-person work. We are strongly committed to building a diverse team. If you’re from a background that’s underrepresented in tech, we’d love to meet you. **Salary and Benefits** This is a rare opportunity to join a startup that has strong traction (substantial funding, well-respected backers, tremendous growth, and many happy customers) but is still small enough that you can have a huge impact and play a role in shaping our culture. We’re a certified B Corporation tackling a critical social problem. Our mission to help people in need drives everything we do, and your work here will touch many lives. We offer competitive pay — including equity — and generous benefits: - Medical and dental insurance with 100% of employee premiums covered - 15 vacation days & ~20 paid holidays each year (including two weeks at end-of-year) - Free membership to OneMedical - $600/year reimbursable stipend for internet service - $1,000 reimbursable stipend for education and training outside of work - Up to $1,200/year student loan repayment assistance - 401(k) and optional HSA/FSA - Humble, thoughtful, smart, fun colleagues We anticipate the base salary band for this role will be between $250,000 to $350,000 in addition to equity and benefits. The salary at offer will be determined by a number of factors such as candidate’s experience, knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as internal equity among our team. Location This job is fully remote and we’re committed to empowering everyone with flexibility. Work remotely, and travel to LA (on the company dime) as needed to be with your colleagues – usually quarterly, plus offsites. We care a lot about building a great culture and we think some interactions need to happen in person, so we put a lot of thought into retreats, offsites, and other ways to gather.