Director of Communications
About Orchard
Orchard is radically simplifying the way people buy and sell their homes. For the average American, the home purchase and sale process takes months, creates anxiety, and is filled with uncertainty and hassle. Orchard has reimagined the end-to-end experience of buying and selling, from innovative home search tools to find the perfect home to the ability to buy a new home before selling your current one. Orchard customers manage the entire experience through a personalized online dashboard, while also getting the support of best-in-class Orchard real estate agents.
Headquartered in New York City and with offices throughout Texas, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia, Orchard has over 500 employees and growing. We've recently raised $100 million in Series D funding at a valuation over $1 billion and have financing from top-tier investors including Revolution, Firstmark, Accomplice, Navitas and Juxtapose. Our investors have also backed the likes of Pinterest, AirBnb, Shopify and Sweetgreen. Orchard is proud to be recognized as part of Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work.
About the Role
As the Director of Communications, you will build awareness and consideration for Orchard and clearly communicate why we are building the best products and services for home buyers and sellers. You will be responsible for developing and executing a multi-pronged comms strategy that:
- Creates an ownable story and brand message among home buyers
- Builds awareness, consideration and affinity among homeowners and buyers in our local markets
- Increases awareness and appreciation of Orchard among investors in the private and public markets
- Increases the profile of Orchard as an employer to help us continue to attract top talent
You will own developing and executing on our Communications strategy, managing media relations, thought leadership, and storytelling that position Orchard as a leader in the real estate and consumer tech industries, and work closely with senior leadership across the company to ensure that we are telling engaging, ambitious, and brand-forward stories. You will lead PR and social media, and develop a storytelling and messaging strategy that sets us on the path to becoming a household name.
The ideal candidate is a strategic storyteller and an exceptional communicator - both written and verbal; skilled at both strategy and execution; has a great mix of business judgment and creative problem-solving skills; comfortable interacting with a wide range of stakeholders, from executives to reporters to our real estate agents; skilled at pitching press; with a track record of increasing the public profile of a company and executive team. We are looking for a strong leader who will manage a small team with headcount to grow.
This is a full-time role that will report into the SVP Marketing and can be based out of any of Orchard’s markets.
What You’ll Do Here
- Lead our communications and social media strategy and execution to drive increased brand awareness, consideration, and affinity, and increase our public profile in an emerging category
- Bring and build relationships with media and deliver regular top-tier coverage - across local and national media, on digital, print, and broadcast.
- Create and pitch compelling narratives, uncovering differentiated media angles that will have a direct impact on Orchard’s business objectives
- Play a key role in our go-to-market strategy when launching new markets and new services/features, with the ultimate goal of driving customer growth
- Partner closely with our SEO team on linkbuilding strategies and pitch regular data stories
- Partner with our People team to increase our profile as an employer brand, including Best Places to Work awards
- Work closely with our executive team to increase our profile in the real estate industry, including industry-specific awards, thought leadership, and speaking opportunities
- Own all reporting, defining and delivering performance metrics and attribution methods to connect PR and social media initiatives to business objectives
We’d Love to Hear From You if You Have:
- 8+ years in consumer PR roles (consumer tech is a plus)
- A proven track record of securing impact-driving press coverage and raising the profile of a company
- Exceptional communications skills and the ability to find and communicate compelling narratives
- Executive presence; comfortable providing strategic counsel to executives and senior leadership
- Familiarity with data stories, SEO and brand and social media activities is a plus
- Are data-driven, scrappy, and have a relentless drive for results
Why Orchard
We're proud to be recognized by Glassdoor, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company and Forbes on their lists of best places to work. We also have a 4.8 Glassdoor rating! Orchard is building the first one-stop-shop in real estate and we’re bringing together the most innovative professionals across real estate, business, marketing, technology and design. We also have some pretty great perks:
- Equity participation
- Flexible PTO
- Up to 18 weeks of paid family leave
- Employee discount on Orchard’s services
We're continuing to work from home until it's safe for all employees to return to the office. Our offices are open for our team members who would like to come in on a voluntary basis and for all team members who work in essential in-office roles. As part of our commitment to health and safety, all employees currently working in our office spaces are required to show proof of vaccination. We anticipate making an official return to the office on a hybrid basis of two days a week in January of 2022 and are excited to see one another in person. Until then, your interviews will all happen virtually. If there is anything we can do to make your process easier, don't hesitate to let us know!
Orchard is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.