Sr. Director, Global External Communications

About this role

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

What is The Role

Elastic is looking for a Senior Director of Global External Communications to lead how we build reputation, relevance, and influence with the external audiences that matter most to our business.

This is a senior leadership role within Corporate Communications, responsible for turning Elastic's company story and strategic priorities into a coordinated global external communications strategy spanning corporate and technical communications, regional communications, public sector, ecosystem storytelling, and competitive and market moments.

A critical part of the role is helping Elastic translate highly technical product innovation into stories that resonate beyond the developer audience. Working closely with Product, Product Marketing, Developer Marketing, and specialist technical communications leads, this leader will help take the technical narratives and proof created for developers and determine how they become compelling stories for IT decision-makers, business and technology media, and other influential external audiences.

This leader will move us beyond a traditional PR model built around announcements and media relations toward an always-on external communications engine: one that identifies the perceptions we need to shape, the audiences we need to influence, the stories and proof that will move them, and the most effective ways to make those stories travel.

The role reports to the VP, Corporate Communications and will serve as her senior operating leader for global external communications.

What You Will Be Doing

• Lead Elastic's global external communications strategy. Set the strategy for how Elastic builds external reputation and influence across corporate, business, technical, regional, public sector, and ecosystem audiences. Translate company priorities into a focused external communications agenda, making clear choices about where we invest and what we deprioritize.

• Turn technical innovation into stories that influence technology decision-makers. Work deeply with Product, Product Marketing, Developer Marketing, Engineering, and specialist technical communications leads to understand Elastic's technology, roadmap, differentiation, and developer narratives. Identify how technical narratives and proof created for developers can be translated into compelling stories for CIOs, CISOs, CTOs, technology leaders, and the media and influencers who shape their views. This person must be technically credible enough to engage directly with product and engineering leaders, ask the right questions, spot the story inside complex technology, and help their team make it relevant without oversimplifying it.

• Lead and develop specialist technical communications. Oversee communications leads embedded across Elastic's key solution areas. Enable them to operate as strategic partners to their GMs, Product, PMM, Engineering, and Developer Marketing teams, including identifying strong stories within the business, shaping communications strategy for their areas, and translating technical innovation for developer and ITDM audiences.

• Build an always-on earned influence engine. Move the organization beyond a launch-led PR approach to sustained storytelling around the issues and market conversations where Elastic can lead. Create programs that combine technical authority, thought leadership, customer proof, ecosystem credibility, executive voices, and earned media to build sustained influence rather than one-off moments.

• Lead corporate and business communications. Own the earned communications strategy around Elastic's corporate story, business momentum, strategic priorities, major company moments, and reputation. Build and maintain influential relationships with top-tier business and technology media.

• Partner closely with Analyst Relations and Social & Editorial. Work with AR to understand how analysts see our markets, where our positioning is resonating or falling short, and where third-party validation can strengthen our stories. Partner with Social & Editorial to ensure priority external stories are designed for amplification from the outset and can travel across owned and social channels. PR, AR, and Social retain their distinct expertise and ownership while operating against shared company priorities.

• Lead global and regional communications as one system. Own the regional communications operating model and ensure global priorities are translated intelligently for priority markets rather than recreated locally. Build a strong two-way flow in which regional teams activate company stories locally while bringing market intelligence, customer proof, competitive signals, and emerging opportunities back into the global organization.

• Use our ecosystem as a force multiplier. Oversee communications across Elastic's partner and AI ecosystem, identifying opportunities for credible third parties to strengthen our stories, extend our reach, and reinforce Elastic's position in the AI technology landscape.

• Lead global public sector communications. Oversee our strategic public sector communications program, including engagement with government, public sector technology, and policy-relevant audiences in priority markets.

• Modernize the external communications operating model. Build an organization designed for the AI era. Determine where human expert

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