Director of Communications & PR, Cleo AI
$200-250k
Salary applicable to US applicants. + Equity
More information about location
AI personal finance assistant
Open for applications
AI personal finance assistant
501-1000 employees
Open for applications
$200-250k
Salary applicable to US applicants. + Equity
More information about location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To change the world’s relationship with money.
Role
Who you are
- We're looking for a PR and communications leader who understands that in fintech, reputation is a growth lever, and that the best PR doesn't look like PR at all
- Someone who can shift our narrative from consumer app coverage to tier-1 investor and business press, build our founder's profile as a voice in AI and fintech, and turn our extraordinary consumer traction into the kind of ambient signal that makes investors come to us
- 7+ years in PR, communications, or a combination of both, with a track record of building investor and media reputation for a high-growth tech or fintech company
- Proven experience taking a company through a significant PR inflection point e.g. a fundraising narrative build, pre-IPO profile, or major category repositioning
- Experience working directly with a founder or CEO to build their personal brand and media presence
- Strong existing relationships with tier-1 business, tech, and fintech journalists
- Ability to translate complex product and financial stories into narratives that land with both consumer and institutional audiences
- Strategic thinker who can set a multi-quarter narrative arc, not just react to news cycles
- Comfortable operating in a high-autonomy environment with limited process and high expectations
- Agency and in-house experience both welcome; US market experience strongly preferred
What the job involves
- This role reports directly to the SVP, Marketing and works in partnership with the CEO
- Own Cleo's investor-facing narrative:
- Build and execute a PR strategy that shifts Cleo's coverage from consumer reviews to tier-1 business and investor press. Think: Bloomberg, FT, TechCrunch, Forbes, CNBC
- Position Cleo in the same conversation as industry leading companies, and even ahead of them where the story warrants it
- Ensure that when an investor or journalist searches Cleo, they find a compelling, consistent story that reflects our actual scale and ambition
- Build founder visibility and thought leadership:
- Develop and execute a content and visibility strategy for our CEO across LinkedIn, podcasts, long-form essays, and speaking stages
- Secure appearances on investor and founder-facing platforms. Think along the lines of 20VC, Lenny's Podcast, Money20/20, TechCrunch Disrupt, Sifted Summit
- Help craft shareholder-style letters, category commentary, conviction pieces and other kinds of writing that make a founder a voice in the industry, not just a CEO with a product to sell
- Turn consumer traction into investor signal:
- Work with Growth and Brand to surface Cleo's user data, financial health impact, and product momentum as proactive press stories
- Build a pipeline of data-led narratives - spending reports, financial health insights, subscriber milestones that generate earned media opportunities
- Build and protect Cleo's reputation:
- Establish Cleo as a named source for journalists covering AI in fintech, personal finance, and consumer technology - not just when we have news
- Develop crisis communications protocols appropriate for a regulated financial product at our scale
- Build and own proactive relationships with tier-1 journalists
- Lead and grow the comms function:
- Define the team structure, agency relationships, and tooling needed to execute at this level
- Set clear goals tied to investor inbound quality, media tier, brand awareness among opinion elites, and founder visibility
- Make PR a company-wide habit: work cross-functionally with Growth, Product, Brand, and Leadership to keep the narrative consistent and compounding
Our take
People are increasingly not satisfied with the products being offered by traditional banks, which have proven slow to react to the needs of younger consumers who expect more from their everyday experiences.
Cleo was one of the first companies to make great use of chatbots that sit within Facebook's messenger app. This chatbot-first approach and Gen Z user base have given it strong virality. It now has millions of registered users, 99% of which are based in the US, leading to a decision to take a year break from the UK market to focus on its US Gen Z customers. And after a successful year in the US its now eyeing up a return to the UK.
Its Series C funding will help the company to double down in the US, where it will make a significant increase in employee headcount, and enable Cleo to maintain and expand its service during an economic downturn.
Financial advice delivered via bots is a crowded space, so Cleo benefits from having a strong brand presence. It has gone for very bold, fun, Gen Z-focused messaging which helps it to stand out from competitors such as Emma, Plum, and Chip.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 6 rounds)
Jun 2022
$80m
SERIES C
Dec 2020
$44m
SERIES B
Total funding: $137.7m
Company benefits
- Meaningful equity with early exercise, plus top-ups on promotion
- Primary caregiver: 18 weeks at full pay / Secondary caregiver: 6 weeks full pay, 6 weeks half pay (dependant on tenure)
- Paid 1-month sabbatical every 4 years
- Comprehensive health, dental & vision insurance
- Learning & development training platform
- Mental health support via Spill
- Company-wide performance reviews every 4 months
- We’ll cover your OpenAI or Claude subscription
- 6% 401K 🇺🇸
- 15 days PTO and 5 rolling days 🇺🇸
- Pension match up to 6% 🇬🇧
- Life assurance 🇬🇧
- 25 days annual leave + an extra day for every year you’re at Cleo (up to five accrued days) 🇬🇧
Company values
- Make it Happen - Own the outcome. Lend a hand, take a hand. Fast execution.
- No bullsh*t - Intellectually honest. Go hard on problems, not people. Data-backed decision making.
- Learn at Speed - Jump in and figure it out. Dig deep, do it right. Learn what matters.
- Bring Good Vibes - Read the room, lift the room. Show up for others. Keep it real, keep it positive.
Company HQ
Finsbury, London, UK
Leadership
Barnaby Hussey-Yeo
(Founder & CEO)Previously a Data Scientist at Wonga, one of the companies that pioneered the smart use of data for loan decisions. Joined Entrepreneur First where Cleo was formed.
Salary benchmarks
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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Cleo AI
- We’ve set up an internal committee of truly passionate people that are dedicated to ensuring Diversity and Inclusion is embedded in how we all operate as a team. We agree on meaningful actions, and get on with implementing them. We have three main focuses right now, which are:
- 1) Improving SocioEconomic diversity across the company
- 2) Increasing the number of women in Leadership roles
- 3) More community outreach
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