Director, Critical Communications

About this role

MongoDB is seeking a senior leader to build a new communications function within the Customer Organization. This role will own the strategy, operating model, governance and execution framework for a spectrum of situations requiring customer and stakeholder communications, ranging from high-stakes operational situations, incidents, critical advisories, security events, product changes, through to recurring action-required and informational type needs.

In this role, the leader will ensure MongoDB delivers transparent, accurate, empathetic, and well-timed communications during key moments of customer need. They will drive cross-functional collaboration across Technical Services, Engineering, Product, Security, Customer Success, Sales, Legal, and Corporate Communications to guarantee a unified and seamless corporate presence across both critical and non-critical events.

This is a highly cross-functional leadership role that is explicitly expected to operate in a player-coach model. You will shape the long-term vision for the function, define the processes and measures of success, and personally guide communications during the most complex and visible situations.

This role can be based out of one of our offices or remotely in the United States region.

What you’ll do

Build the function

• Define the charter, scope, roadmap, and operating model for the Customer Communications function at MongoDB

• Codify decision rights, review workflows, and escalation criteria for all operational communications.

• Orchestrate a scalable global model that ensures 24/7 follow-the-sun support.

• Recruit and mentor a team of specialized Communications Managers known for technical fluency and operational precision.

Own critical operational communications

• Lead communications for high-severity incidents, major customer-impacting events, critical advisories, and other non-urgent operational situations

• Ensure communications are timely, technically credible, audience-appropriate, and aligned across all stakeholder groups

• Create standards for communication cadence, approval paths, message quality, and post-event follow-through

• Help define what good looks like for first customer notification, update frequency, customer action guidance, and post-incident reporting

• Establish standard and measurable processes and methods for recurring operational customer communications.

Drive cross-functional alignment

• Partner with Engineering, Product, Security, Technical Services, Customer Success, Sales, Legal and Corporate Communications to deliver a unified and trusted voice to customers

• Clarify the boundary between operational communications and broader marketing or promotional communications

• Act as a senior advisor to executives and field leaders during critical situations, helping teams make sound decisions quickly and communicate with consistency

• Build strong working relationships with systems, tooling, and operations teams to improve targeting, delivery, and reporting of urgent communications at scale

Improve systems, process, and measurement

• Define the templates, playbooks, review models, and governance needed to make operational communications repeatable and high quality

• Partner on tooling and data requirements so MongoDB can reach the right customer contacts reliably and at speed

• Establish success metrics for the function, including timeliness, delivery confidence, stakeholder trust, and continuous improvement outcomes

• Lead retrospectives on communications performance after major incidents and advisories, turning lessons learned into better process and execution

Candidate profile

You are an experienced communications and operational leader who performs well in fast-moving, high-pressure environments. You know how to bring structure to ambiguity, translate technical complexity into language customers can understand, and build trust through clarity, empathy, and follow-through.

You are comfortable operating with senior executives, engineering leaders, field teams, and strategic customers. You can move between strategic design and hands-on execution, and you know how to build durable operating mechanisms rather than relying on heroics.

Required qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in a customer focused technical, post-sale, operational, support, incident management, crisis communications, or related environment

• 5+ years of leadership experience managing teams and building cross-functional programs

• Demonstrated experience leading high-stakes communications during incidents, major escalations, security events, or large-scale customer-impacting changes

• Strong technical literacy, with the ability to quickly understand cloud, platform, service, and customer-impact narratives

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and executive audiences

• Proven success working across multiple organizations to align stakeholders, drive decisions, and deliver outcomes under pressure

• Strong program leadership skills, including experience building new functions, frameworks, or operating models from the ground up

Preferred qualifications

• Experience in Customer Support, Technical Services, Incident Management, Critical Communications, Escalation Management, SRE, Operations, or Customer Success in a cloud or PaaS company

• Experience building or operating a centralized urgent, crisis, incident, or critical communications capability

• Familiarity with communication tooling, CRM systems, operational notification platforms, and customer segmentation models

• Experience working with global teams in a follow-the-sun operating environment

• Knowledge of incident command, crises management, business continuity, or related operational frameworks

• Strong judgment in balancing speed, accuracy, legal/compliance considerations, and customer trust during high-pressure situations

Success in the role

In your f

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