Strategic Planning Lead for Corporate Communications

Introduction

At IBM, we believe technology shapes the world. We’re a catalyst for that innovation. We’re driving change that improves businesses, society, and the human experience. Our Marketing, Communications & Corporate Social Responsibility (MCC) team tells this story. We shape IBM’s brand, capture attention in the market, and share our perspective with clients, partners, the media, and fellow IBMers. On our team, you’ll work with bright, collaborative minds who bring passion and creativity to everything they do. You’ll be part of a culture built on openness, trust, and teamwork. Where your ideas matter and your growth is supported. Join us, and help bring innovation to life.

Your Role And Responsibilities

The Opportunity

IBM's Corporate Affairs (Communications & Brand) organization operates with a bias toward speed, collaboration, and minimal bureaucracy. We believe in flat structures, real-time coordination, and using the best tools and AI to work smarter. But as we've scaled to several hundred people across Brand, Internal Communications, External Communications, Social Media, Analyst Relations, including global teams worldwide, we need someone who can architect the connective tissue that keeps us moving fast without adding red tape.

We're looking for a head of Strategic Planning who can build and maintain a sophisticated operating system across our organization - someone who gets energy from creating elegant, efficient systems rather than building empires.

What You'll Own

Strategic Planning & Calendar Architecture (70% forward-looking)

• Design and maintain the integrated external announcement calendar across all communications and brand disciplines, ensuring optimal sequencing, storytelling impact, and stakeholder alignment
• Identify gaps and opportunities in our cadence ("nothing's happening in Q3 - what do we do about that?")
• Connect the dots across divisions to surface conflicts, dependencies, and opportunities for integrated campaigns
• Build visibility mechanisms that keep teams informed without drowning them in meetings
  
  

Operational Integration & Coordination

• Serve as the integrator across Corporate Affairs and Brand, with authority to adjudicate day-to-day scheduling conflicts and resource allocation decisions. Similarly, work across the Marketing function and the company at large to ensure alignment.
• Escalate major decisions and pain points to the Chief Communications and Brand Officer while handling the operational flow
• Serve as a major interface between Communications/Brand and Marketing functions, ensuring seamless information flow and identifying alignment opportunities without creating coordination overhead
• Drive alignment on cross-cutting priorities and strategic initiatives
• Keep the machine running smoothly through simplification, and minimalist systems, not bureaucracy
  
  

AI-Enabled Transformation

• Drive AI adoption across the communications function, with particular focus on cross-functional automation opportunities
• Identify tasks ripe for automation - especially coordination, trafficking, and administrative work - to free teams for strategic and creative work they enjoy
• Champion "automation across silos" over "automation within silos" to maximize organizational impact
  
  

Executive Communications

• Manage communications alerts and briefings to senior management, exercising judgment about what rises to executive attention
  
  

Operational Leadership During High-Stakes Events

• Serve as operational lead during major events and executive engagements (estimated 3-5 times annually – think CES, Davos) ensuring seamless execution of complex, multi-stakeholder programs
• Participate in executive meetings as senior communications representative while managing real-time logistics, adjustments, and problem-solving
  
  

Preferred Education

None

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• 10 years in corporate communications, with demonstrated experience coordinating across large, complex organizations.
• Proven experience designing, managing, and maintaining an integrated external announcements calendar across communications and brand disciplines, with demonstrated ability to ensure strategic sequencing, strong storytelling impact, and stakeholder alignment.
• Experience building complex communication systems, not organization charts.
• Excellence in stakeholder management across peer leaders and senior executives.
• Deep proficiency with collaboration tools – specifically AirTable, project management systems, and a bias toward using technology to solve problems.
  
  

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

The Right Personality:

• You get energy from making things run smoothly, not from being in the spotlight.
• You're allergic to unnecessary meetings and bureaucracy.
• You can toggle between strategic thinking and tactical execution.
• You're comfortable wielding authority without needing a big title or team.
• You're genuinely excited about AI and automation as tools to work smarter.
• You thrive on being the "architect" who designs elegant solutions.
• You don’t sweat the small stuff. You have a sense of humor. You care deeply about your work, but have a healthy sense of perspective about it too.