EVP, Fintech Communications

About the Role

Mission North is a strategic communications agency for influential companies to build, protect, and renew their impact. Market-shaping brands like Brex, Canva, Ginkgo Bioworks, Betterment, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Airwallex, Gemini, Toast, and Marqeta have turned to us to navigate change and accelerate impact at every stage. Our award-winning culture of curiosity allows us to attract the best communicators and mobilize them around tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.

We are looking for an experienced, entrepreneurial leader to drive the growth and evolution of our Financial Services practice. This is a hands-on senior leadership role responsible for expanding our portfolio of fintech, financial services, insurtech, and proptech clients—and for shaping the strategic direction of the practice as a whole. You will serve as a trusted advisor to C-suite leaders at some of the most consequential companies in financial services, guiding them through defining moments: IPOs and corporate milestones, category creation, regulatory navigation, crisis, and reputation renewal.

You will bring a sharp, published point of view on the issues shaping the fintech landscape, activating that expertise to drive the agency’s thought leadership, visibility, and new business pipeline. You will lead, inspire, and develop a talented team of communications professionals, partnering closely with the SVP who oversees day-to-day portfolio management to set and achieve the practice’s goals.

Responsibilities

• Business Development:
  • Own the practice’s revenue growth—set goals, build pipeline, and close.
  • Drive new business development independently, including identifying prospects, cultivating relationships, and leading pitches from brief through contract, without reliance on executive support.
  • Generate organic growth within the existing portfolio by identifying and timing strategic recommendations that align scope expansions to client needs and business moments.
  • Build and maintain a visible, active pipeline, with regular reporting on BD activity, prospect conversations, and conversion progress.
• C-Suite Client Counsel:
  • Serve as a senior strategic advisor to the executives at our most important and complex client accounts—not just as a communications partner, but as a trusted business counselor.
  • Advise CMOs, CCOs, and CEOs through high-stakes situations—regulatory developments, market volatility, competitive disruption, M&A activity, leadership transitions, and reputational risk—with the judgment, speed, and discretion those moments require.
  • Help clients make strategic decisions about their narrative, positioning, and market presence, not just executing against a brief.
  • Build relationships deep and trusting enough that executives bring you in before the crisis, before the announcement, and when they’re working through decisions that have a communications dimension.
  • Oversee the development of integrated communications strategies for clients navigating milestone moments—IPOs, category launches, acquisitions, rebrands—and ensure the strategic frame is clear before teams begin building.
  • Maintain strong relationships across the portfolio, ensuring quality of service, identifying opportunities for deepened engagement, and serving as the senior escalation point when issues arise.
• Thought Leadership & Industry Presence:
  • Develop and regularly publish a sharp, original point of view on emerging regulation, market shifts, the evolution of fintech categories, AI’s impact on financial services, and other key issues.
  • Represent Mission North at industry conferences, panels, and events as a credible, senior voice in the fintech communications space.
  • Develop thought leadership platforms and programs for clients, including executive positioning, message architecture, content strategy, spokesperson development, and speaker placement.
  • Identify moments in the market when Mission North and its clients should shape the conversation, and activate the team to get there.
  • Conceptualize tent-pole marketing moments for the practice—sponsored media events, roundtables, podcasts, and LinkedIn activations—that increase Mission North’s visibility with key prospects.
• Team Leadership:
  • Collaborate closely with the practice’s SVP and broader account team leadership to set strategy, manage portfolio staffing and forecasting, and achieve shared practice goals.
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of communications professionals, creating clear paths for growth and holding a high bar for strategic quality and craft.
  • Serve as a steward of Mission North’s values and operating principles across the practice and the broader agency.
  • Work cross-functionally with creative, digital, and other agency teams to ensure seamless, integrated execution across client programs.

Requirements

• 15+ years of senior communications experience at PR agencies (in-house experience a plus) at fintech or financial services companies, with a demonstrated track record of impact at each level.
• A proven business developer—you have closed and retained clients independently, maintain a strong and active network of decision-makers across fintech, financial services, insurtech, proptech, and crypto, and convert relationships into pipeline without prompting or oversight.
• A recognized voice in the fintech and financial services space, with a demonstrated habit of publishing, speaking, and contributing to the conversations that shape the industry.
• A trusted C-suite counselor with deep experience advising CMOs, CCOs, and CEOs through high-stakes moments: regulatory change, market volatility, M&A, leadership transitions, and crises.
• Experience with communications milestone moments: launching from stealth, creating a category, navigating a crisis, preparing for an IPO, and managing reputation through periods of change.
• A skilled facilitator and communicator who leads strategic workshops and messaging sessions with executive teams and presents with clarity and authority in any room.
• A strong team leader with experience managing and developing senior-level direct reports, building high-performing teams, and fostering a culture of accountability, growth, and craft.
• Able to work across multiple client portfolios simultaneously, maintaining quality and strategic oversight without losing the thread on any account.
• Bonus: experience in public affairs and advocacy, financial communications, and/or investor relations.

Benefits

• Comprehensive healthcare benefits.
• 401(k) plan with employer match.
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• Basic life insurance.
• Wellbeing benefits.
• Paid time off.
• Paid parental leave.
• Paid holidays.

Pay

Expected salary range depending on experience: $275,000–$320,000, not including year-end profit-sharing bonus. Relocation assistance offered.