Global Head of Communications

Responsibilities

• Corporate Narrative & Messaging Architecture: Build a single enterprise narrative that explains what Morningstar does, why it matters, and how it creates value. Establish a messaging architecture connecting corporate strategy, business priorities, and functional storytelling. Align internal and external narratives and translate complex topics, including AI, independence, public/private market convergence, and governance, into clear and credible messages.
• CEO Platform & Executive Communications: Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and senior leaders on positioning, visibility, and voice. Shape executive narratives for employees, media, shareholders, and external forums, and prepare leaders for shareholder meetings, crises, transformation milestones, and other high-stakes moments.
• Media Strategy, Thought Leadership & External Stakeholders: Define the global media strategy by market, business group, and strategic theme. Lead proactive storytelling, media relations, issues response, thought leadership, and investor-relations communications support across influential journalists, creators, podcast hosts, newsletter writers, and other trusted voices, while governing agency strategy and performance against outcomes.
• Digital Channels, Content & AI: Set enterprise social media and digital content strategy, including corporate channels, employee advocacy, video, and emerging formats, with appropriate governance and measurement. Monitor and shape how Morningstar’s reputation, its research, and its experts are represented, attributed, and discovered across AI-generated answers, AI search, and other emerging platforms, partnering with Research, Marketing, Digital, Legal, and Compliance.
• Communications Analytics & AI Enablement: Build a centralized analytics and insights capability across reputation, engagement, and efficiency. Modernize workflows through responsible AI and automation, strengthen data literacy, and improve the speed, scale, consistency, and cost-effectiveness of the function without sacrificing judgment.
• Reputation, Issues & Crisis Leadership: Own enterprise reputation risk and lead proactive issues identification, scenario planning, and coordinated crisis communications. Partner closely with Legal, Compliance, and senior leadership to ensure speed, clarity, consistency, and sound escalation during high-risk moments.
• Global Team & Operating Model Leadership: Lead a global center-of-excellence model with strong regional execution. Define decision rights, escalation paths, and operating standards; manage the global communications budget and agency ecosystem; and lead through influence across a decentralized organization.
• Internal Communications & Employee Engagement: Reset the employee engagement model by clarifying enterprise priorities, reducing noise, and creating shared moments that build trust and connection. Set global standards for relevance, cadence, and channel discipline while enabling local leaders to communicate authentically. Make strategy clear, believable, and relevant to employees.
• Employer Brand Communications: Partner closely with the Global Employer Brand Manager and People & Culture to bring the employer brand and Employee Value Proposition to life through communications and storytelling. Ensure employer brand narratives are effectively reflected across corporate, internal, and recruiting channels and reinforce the employee experience and culture.

Requirements

• 15+ years of communications experience, including 10+ years in senior communications leadership roles within large, global, complex organizations, with integrated responsibility across external, internal, executive, social, employer brand, and reputation communications.
• Demonstrated credibility advising CEOs, executive teams, and Boards on enterprise narrative, positioning, visibility, and high-stakes communications.
• Demonstrated experience developing and leading enterprise media strategy, proactive storytelling, and thought leadership, with a track record of building trusted relationships with influential journalists and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise social media and corporate channel strategy, with hands-on understanding of video creation and production, digital storytelling, and emerging content formats. Brings a modern perspective on how audiences consume information and a willingness to experiment with new channels and approaches.
• Experience modernizing communications operating models, measurement systems, channels, and tools. Strong data and analytics fluency, with practical experience applying AI and automation responsibly.
• Demonstrated experience managing reputation, issues, and crisis communications at enterprise scale, including work in regulated or market-sensitive environments.
• Proven leadership of large, multidisciplinary, and geographically distributed teams, with a track record of building strong leaders and raising standards for accuracy, ethics, and quality.
• A record of using internal communications as a strategic lever to improve employee understanding, trust, alignment, and advocacy in a decentralized organization.
• Ability to align senior stakeholders across business units and functions without relying on direct authority, while maintaining editorial independence and sound judgment.
• Bachelor’s degree required.

Preferred

• Financial services industry experience is preferred.
• Strategic Counsel and Influence
• Leading Change
• Driving Results
• Cross-Functional Influence
• Ability to align senior stakeholders across business units and functions without relying on direct authority, while maintaining editorial independence and sound judgment.

Benefits

• Financial Health
• 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary
• Stock Ownership Potential
• Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission
• Physical Health
• Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plans and coverages
• Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
• Company-provided long- and short-term disability insurance
• Emotional Health
• Trust-Based Time Off